Microsoft Sports Digital Platform as a Service aims to lower the digital transformation barriers of a lucrative niche industry

Microsoft recently announced its Microsoft Sports Digital Platform (MSDP) solution as a service (which it calls MSDP SaaS). The platform is aimed at driving digital transformation at sports organizations, with tools to deepen fan engagement through rich experiences (both in and away from sports venues), and with custom content; all while increasing monetization opportunities and value to sponsors and third parties.

Sports fandom is increasingly a multiscreen experience. Microsoft estimates that sports fans consume an average of 10 hours a week on TV, while 45 percent follow on a second screen, be it tablets or smartphones. And that is just during a game or match; fans spend countless hours engaging with a brand in the off hours, via apps, social media, video content, game recaps, and a team's official store - presuming all of that content is available. 

As Sebastián Lancestremère, general manager of Microsoft Sport describes, MSDP SaaS is the company's initiative to offer a sports platform as a service for the first time.

"The service scales the platform to a more affordable basic layer of main services up to more in-depth customer needs, allowing each project to grow according to customers' visions, bringing transformation to more sports organizations than ever before," says Lancestremère.

MSDP SaaS is available worldwide, but so far Microsoft names a sole customer, Spanish football club Valencia CF (founded in 1919); also a sole implementer, being Madrid-based Global TMS.

"We are launching this new way to offer Microsoft Sports Digital Platform supported by Global TMS, but the goal [in the] midterm is to increase the number of partners that are going to be able to give these kind of services to the sports ...