Author Archive: Matt

Sports Tech: Using data to shape your team’s tactics

Your team’s star centre-forward pops his Achilles tendon in training – season over. The starting QB dislocates his shoulder a week before the SuperBowl, missing the biggest game of the season. The scrum-half pulls up with a torn hamstring ten minutes into rugby union’s Heineken Cup final; his team struggle without him.

Injuries can disrupt a match or change the entire course of a season, and certainly spoil that pre-game sporting wager you might have placed with betting website like Vernons – hot favourites can instantly find themselves at a disadvantage when their leading goal scorer or most prolific wicket taker pulls out the day before the fixture.

Bad luck, eh? Well… maybe not. New intelligence and the increasing use of data means that clubs are no longer prepared to play a game of chance with their highly prized and valued assets. Their players, in other words.

Using data to shape a team’s strategy is not brand new. The book Moneyball, published in 2003, covered the project embraced by the Major League Baseball outfit Oakland Athletics. The A’s general manager, Billy Beane, had the second lowest payroll in baseball and needed to build a team capable of competing with more illustrious opponents. He has turned Oakland into regular contenders by statistics and data to identify previously unheralded players to bring to the club. Recently, in an interview with the Guardian, he discussed whether he could translate that approach to football and others sports like baseball and pickleball, of course if you are getting started with pickleball online.

Germany, winners of the 2014 World Cup, used data to feed player intelligence and tactics in the build up to the tournament. The German Football Association developed an application called Match Insights – in partnership with a software company called SAP – which, according to The Telegraph, ‘analyses vast amounts of data about members of the German team and their opponents, based on their on-field performance.’

Player performance is analysed using eight cameras surrounding the pitch, and data is used to measure a range of key performance indicators. One example of how this  data was translated practically can be demonstrated by the Germany national team improving their passing speed; reducing average possession time from 3.4 seconds in 2010 down to 1.1 second earlier this year.

Technology can also be used to forecast injuries, which can have a serious impact on the performance of a team. This article discloses that: ‘Major League Baseball teams spent $665m last year on salaries for both injured players and their replacements, NBA teams lost $358m last season; $44m alone by the injury-ridden Los Angeles Lakers. And in the NFL, where the average salary is about $2m, starters missed a record 1,600 games in 2013.’

So, that’s huge! Anything teams can do to mitigate these losses can be of major benefit. As such, the industry of performance analytics is a fast-growing one and data can anticipate that an athlete is likely to be injured before it actually happens.

There is more detail about such analytics here. The NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles have invested a reported $1m on technology (a fraction of the cost of the average salary bill). Players wear monitors that measure agility and acceleration, allowing coaches to identify when performance begins to decline; heart rate monitors that create post-workout recovery reports to indicate when athletes are physically ready to handle more training; a system that captures data on fatigue, stress and aerobic capacity and more.

Last season, the Eagles were the second least-injured team in the NFL, with 14 players who started every regular season game. They had a 10-6 record and won the NFC East division. That compares favourably with a 4-12 record the season before.

Online security: stay safe

It is important to know how to stay safe when you are using the internet. You should never give out any personal information about yourself to anyone online that you do not personally know; no matter who you think you’re talking to.

There are thousands of sites on the internet that allow you to communicate with just about anyone, anywhere in the world and get an instant reply. There are also hundreds of forums available for you to ask questions and get advice within the hour. However, it is important that you keep in mind that anyone can pretend to be someone they are not on the internet. Here are a few top online security tips to keep in mind when browsing the web safely.

Chat room safety

Chat rooms have become increasingly popular with their ability to allow you to talk to just about anyone about anything you like. However, it is vital that you remember not to give out any personal information to strangers, including your full name, address or phone number.

Websites asking for personal details

If you are doing a bit of online shopping, you may have to give out some personal information, such as your credit card details. Of course this is perfectly normal in order for you to make a purchase. However, you should always ensure it is a reputable business and a trusted website.

You can check whether it is a trusted website by the look of the URL: if it is ‘https’, has a green URL box or a locked padlock symbol it means that the website has an SSL certificate – this is a safe website. If however, it has none of the safety signs highlighted, you should rethink about inputting your card details.

Online threats

Protecting yourself and your computer from online threats is really important and therefore the simple answer to this is to ensure you are always using up to date firewall software. By ensuring you update your anti-virus software you are protecting your computer and yourself from viruses and hackers. There is a reason why companies update their software – you must update it also.

By being vigilant when you are online, you can ensure you are safe and protected from any threats.

Four Lessons on Retail Shopping Apps

It is not unusual to see strangers on the street staring at their mobile phones or tablets or looking busy reading something. When attending concerts, you may have seen several dots of light emanating from handheld devices. Like you, they may have been trying to take pictures or recording the song at that juncture. There is no denying that we are moving fast into the digital age. Mobile phones have not only changed the way people communicate. It has also changed the way individuals live and shop.

Many are still using laptops and desktops at home, but handheld devices are becoming computers on the go. The internet has revolutionized mobile technology and shopping app. According to Tech Crunch, research firm Forrester expects online retail to grow at a 10 percent compound annual rate, with the money involved to reach $279 billion by 2015. A Nielsen study found that at least 48 percent of children between 6-12 years wish for an iPad for the holidays. The Nintendo Wii U comes in second, then the iPad Mini. The focus might all be about fun and games, but they want the flexibility of mobile devices more and more than fixed gaming consoles.

Adults in the US also have this affinity for mobile devices with just over a third of the population owning a tablet, according to Pew Internet. Not only do these tablets and mobile phones provide a means of contacting friends, family members, and colleagues. They have become computers on the go. Tablet devices are becoming a prime choice for shoppers looking for both necessities and luxury items. The key is for business owners like yourself to harness this information. This way, you can start integrating online storefronts into your current setup. Shopify has the technical capability to help ease your company into the digital age.

Ease of Navigation

Online stores can take their queue when sales are not picking up as expected. Marketing the site may have been the easy part. But if sales remain low, you may have an online store that is keeping customers from hitting the buy button. Does it take the customer forever to complete the transaction? Are their way too many next buttons to go through that customers end up abandoning the sale? Try timing how long it takes to complete a transaction. Ask friends to go to the site to do beta testing and ask for their opinion.

Clutter-free Web site

You may have several items to sell, so organizing them in different categories helps. You can even opt for a setup where customers can go to a page to answer some quick questions. This will help narrow down the item choices to what they want to take a look at and then buy as soon as it fits their requirements. Understanding that it takes a savvy developer to help you get that website right, you also need to know how the final look should come out. Some retail businesses point to costs as the main reason for not getting this one right. One must prepare to take on the extra cost for now to reap more profits later.

Smarter Shopping Cart

Although online shoppers may appear to be buying items in an instant, they do prepare for them. This means they go to websites to check out the items and compare it to a competitor site. This will include shopping based on the pictures posted, prices and shipping options. Taking all these factors together, they then make the decision to buy online. The problem is that they may close a website by accident without saving their shopping cart. This will mean going through the entire process again and worst case, they just end up at the last online store they were looking at. But if you have an app that allows customers to add items to wish list, they will likely find their way back to your store again.

Explore all the ways you can reach your customers with an online ordering solution from this site https://revelsystems.com/pos-systems/type/retail-pos/. Increasingly a staple for point of sale systems for small businesses and growing enterprises, an online ordering option will allow you to expand your footprint beyond the walls of your building.

Payment Options

The customer has finally decided to buy the item, except there’s one drawback – the payment method. It could be that the customer gets redirected to another site to encode their credit or debit card information. This raises security questions for some customers and might make them abandon the sale. It could also be that you only accept card payments, but they may only have a checking account available. Again, this could appear as another dead end to the customer.

With the booming industry in online retail selling, many companies have found ways to post their online stores and they are also offering lots of coupon codes to offer their customers discounts, you can check here and get all the details. What some of these businesses missed out on is the customer experience that could spell the difference according to Tech Crunch. Do some research on which developers to go to for your online store to get a piece of the market share. It may entail some cost, but you can get a quick turnaround for your buck if you do this right. Cutting corners may work if the risks are not as high. Get this right, so your efforts will be worth it.