Working in a sports organization, you might acknowledge the advantages of digitalizing data and automating manual processes. However, the question arises – should you create your own analytics platform or invest in a ready-made solution? The decision can be tricky as both options come with benefits and drawbacks. This article will outline important factors to consider before deciding to create or purchase a performance analysis system.

Time to Value/Opportunity Cost

If you have ample time at hand, building software internally could be your preferred choice. However, building your own software solution comes with uncertainties such as having no reference timeline, a single point of failure, and a risk to the continuity of your program if that employee leaves. On the contrary, buying a ready-made platform can be beneficial if waiting for 12-18 months for results is not affordable. Partnering with a technology provider who comprehends both your objectives and business workflow considerably reduces time investment and enables you to be up and running within weeks instead of months.

Cost of Maintenance

As a software builder, you will bear the expense of the platform from beginning to end, with only around 25% of the total expenses going towards initial building and rollout. The remaining 75% of the costs is attributed to continual maintenance and support, such as bug fixes, platform migrations, upgrades, among others. Additionally, updates to other applications such as browsers, operating systems, and data ingestion require further coding to adhere to the latest versions. Since data can be prone to errors and vendor APIs can change frequently, assigning these maintenance responsibilities to a vendor who distributes the expenses among multiple clients minimizes the maintenance costs for users.

Connectivity & Integration

Sports clubs have a unique set of applications that necessitate compatibility with external systems such as sponsors and partners. Developing a custom solution can ensure seamless connections, provided that you have a capable team to go through the cumbersome process of integrating multiple smaller solutions. Maybe a more advanced and all-encompassing solution may already exist in the market since most clubs confront comparable challenges. Our commercial solutions can supplement your existing ecosystem instead of entirely revamping the architecture that your IT department has adeptly established.

Compliance/Scope

Building software while meeting compliance standards could be a tedious and costly process. It requires incorporating specialized security measures intended to safeguard confidential information globally, such as sensitive players’ data. The difficulty level increases when the organization has hundreds of personnel, and managing permissions also becomes a sensitive topic. Developing intricate frameworks and regulations regarding user groups, roles, and permissions within a self-developed system may prove to be challenging unless there is a dedicated security team to handle the task regularly. Therefore, it may be more beneficial for a business to opt for a pre-existing solution.

Control

Developing a custom platform necessitates a clear understanding of design, development, and long-term objectives. Although it imparts full control over the functionality of the platform, it requires handling a considerable amount of responsibility and potential risks. When technology proficiency is not the primary focus, creating features in-house may result in uninformed features that are challenging to maintain; staff changes might also pose future issues when adjustments to the code are necessary. Opting for a third-party vendor may feel limiting. We know that this is a potential pain-point for customers and this is the reason why at SportAnalytics customization is king. We offer flexible configurations and integrations to meet your requirements and specific goals from KPI design, development to visualization. You’ll also work with highly-experienced and knowledgeable teams who will ensure seamless launch, integration, upgrades and consistent management of the platform.

Conclusions

IT budgets reportedly increased by an average of 20% in 2019 to make room for larger projects and platform modernization. However, statistics demonstrate that:

• Harvard Business Review found that one in six IT projects have an average cost overrun of 300% and a schedule overrun of almost 70%.
• 52% of large IT projects go over time, over budget, or require sacrificed functionality.
• 56% of IT projects fall short of the original vision, according to McKinsey.

While it may initially seem appealing to build a fully-custom software solution in-house, the time, money, and resources required to succeed are often dangerously underestimated.
A proven system like SportAnalytics provides lower total cost of ownership, decreases your risk, accelerate your return on investment (ROI) and helps you deliver better outcomes to those you serve.
It should be worth not to spend time developing and maintaining your solution, but using it to help make better decisions that improve performance of both athletes and the organization they play for.