- The club from San Sebastián is implementing a new project where technology plays a key role in driving innovation
- Its supporters will be able to enjoy unique experiences, interact in a much more personalized way with the club and share their passion with the rest of the community
- The city of San Sebastián will also benefit from this agreement, which will enable it to enhance its relationship with visitors, local enterprises or education through a range of initiatives that will be implemented thanks to this strategic alliance with Microsoft
San Sebastián, June 16, 2016.- Real Sociedad de Fútbol and Microsoft Ibérica have announced this morning a strategic agreement through which Microsoft becomes the technological partner of the football club and will help it to carry out an innovative digital transformation process, during an event held at the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastián. This initiative is part of the people-centered strategic reinvention process that Real Sociedad is implementing through which the club seeks to focus on improving its connection with its fanbase.
As Jokin Aperribay, Real Sociedad President stated during the presentation of this agreement: “We are initiating what we could call a change in culture at Real Sociedad. We want to build a Real Sociedad that focuses on people, on understanding their motivations, identifying their concerns, meeting their needs, as people are the cornerstone of this new era.”
The Real Sociedad President also highlighted that “we want to address the personal motivations of our supporters, share experiences with them, strengthen our ties and also fulfil our commitments to Guipúzcoa.”
Jokin Aperribay emphasized the important links between Real Sociedad, the city of San Sebastián and Guipúzcoa. “Our aim of being a point of reference in Guipúzcoan society must be present in our day-to-day management in all fields: financial, sporting, training and education, as well as in our communications, in the social sphere.”
For this reason Real Sociedad is going to make a series of decisions in order to start building this new era. One of these decisions has been to digitalize the club. According to Jokin Aperribay, “We couldn’t have chosen a better technological partner than Microsoft to accompany us on this journey. This agreement will enable us to share experiences with our people and develop a more fluid relationship.”
As a result of this agreement, Microsoft becomes the technological partner of the Guipúzcoa-based club, enabling it to leverage all the power of big data from Microsoft Azure, making the resources needed available in order to offer supporters an array of personalized content and innovative ways of interacting with the community. Statistics on the players, historical data on the club, detailed information on matches and competitions, are just some the data and information that will now be available to fans, presented in simple and highly attractive visual format.
A new way of experiencing Real Sociedad
This agreement shows how sport and clubs can rely on technology to achieve new objectives that benefit supporters and society in general. “Together, we’ll be a strong leader in digital transformation in the sports industry, backed by the power of the Microsoft cloud and innovative solutions that deliver personalized experiences, 3D and virtual reality, innovative content and services for all fans, inside and outside the stadium, every day and on any device,” stated Sebastián Lancestremère, Sports Business, General Manager at Microsoft Corporation.
“Today marks the start of a strategic relationship in which Real Sociedad and Microsoft will work together on the digital revolution of the club” commented Pilar López, President of Microsoft Ibérica, who added “Apart from the work in the technological field, our alliance with Real Sociedad takes into account the important role the club plays as a social reference in Guipúzcoa, extending our collaboration to areas such as education, entrepreneurship and innovation.”
Over the upcoming months, Real Sociedad supporters can enjoy the arrival of new personalized services and content to match their interests, through the official application for mobile devices. Augmented reality, 360º view of the pitch, possibility of accessing images, replay highlights and exclusive videos, stadium access via smartphone or wearable devices using digital tickets, even ordering food directly from their seat in the stands during games played at the Anoeta home stadium, are just some of the options that Real Sociedad fans will have at their disposal thanks to Microsoft technology. The objective is to offer members and supporters of the club a unique and personalized experience, enhancing their interaction with the club. This new relationship model will encompass gamification concepts, providing fans with a fun and entertaining way of interacting on multiple devices both at the stadium and at home.
Education, entrepreneurship and tourism united by technology
Through this agreement Real Sociedad and Microsoft seek to drive the digital transformation of the club, in order to deliver the best from both organizations and not just to supporters of the team but also to the citizens of San Sebastián. In pursuit of this aim, the official Real Sociedad application will make information about the various points of interest in the area, videos on the team and history of the club, places of interest in San Sebastián etc. available to all visitors to the city, positioning Real Sociedad as a key point of reference for the city and visitors.
Moreover, the Real Sociedad Foundation will also benefit from this agreement, as it provides members with a communication and collaboration platform based on Office 365, bringing the various work teams together in their daily tasks. In addition, more than 90 schools in Guipúzcoa and 70 affiliated clubs will benefit from these collaborative tools so that monitors, teachers, coaches, pupils and players can enjoy a new way of interacting that will drive their interest in sport.
Finally, opportunities will also be opened up to entrepreneurs through the digitalization of the club, as it will make spaces dedicated to fostering collaboration and team work inside the stadium available to local enterprises. Tools such as Office, OneDrive or Skype for Business will be part of the resources provided at these fully equipped facilities where meetings can be held, creating a meeting point that ultimately aims to boost the local economy of San Sebastián.
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