Innovate with Design Thinking
The dynamics of a sports organization involve three main forces: the team, the game, and the fan. In essence, the team is the passion that gets the fan fired up, the game is where it all happens, and the fan keeps it alive. Of the three dynamics, the one the sports organizations can control the most is the fan experience.
The team and the game have many variables: Injuries can bench a quarterback or an unlucky miss of a three-pointer with two seconds left in the game could cost a team the championship. But the fan experience is the area sports organizations can shape the most by providing the right products and services the fans want at the right time and in the right format.
Unforced errors are costly when it comes to fan engagement, and this is where Design Thinking can make a big difference in developing innovative products and services in order to drive growth and profitability without disruption
As Maryam Daryabegi, Founder of the New York-based design and innovation firm Innovation Bazar describes, “Design thinking is all about rethinking the possibilities and creating new solutions to complex challenges.”
Sports organizations must effectively manage their scarce resources to deliver value to their customers (fans) and other stakeholders. In this context, fan engagement takes center stage, because it can not only create new opportunity to drive growth but also improve current business operations, leading to both increased productivity and unparalleled fan value.
FANS want three things: to be connected, to feel engaged, and to feel recognized.
By embracing the values of design thinking, we can create opportunities not just for innovative technology solutions but also for analytical capabilities that can be consumed on mobile BI platforms in real time and delivered on the premises or in the cloud. These opportunities can transform how sports organizations run their operations and continue to deliver value-added products and services, improving the overall fan experience.
How can sports organizations go about exceeding fans expectations through design thinking?
At Innovation Bazar, we are passionate about helping organizations to create better fan experiences through leveraging design thinking methodology.
Please feel free to reach out to us for a conversation or ideation.
maryam@innovationbazar.com