On July 4 the ADM audience was received at Dimension Data… oeps NTT. It was a very special occasion and not only because the Cycling Teams for the Tour de France 2019 were presented in the centre of Brussels in the afternoon. Talking about a perfect timing… On top of that the re-branding into NTT was finalized ànd we had a ‘sneak preview’ of the Innovation Center. It is scheduled to open in October of this year. Plenty of activities and interesting people telling stories on the experience of a cyling fan.
We all were overwhelmed by the professionalism, passion and service mind of the speakers…
Ruth Rowan (Chief Marketing Officer NTT) introduced NTT in a few slides. (see video on the "Related" tab on this page)
Did you know NTT is
- one of the largest ICT companies in the world by revenue (USD 11 billion combined revenue)
- a combination of 28 companies
- present in 57 countries across 5 regions
The Tour de France-application is a nice example of the R&D investment totaling USD 3.6 billion counting 5.500 R&D professionals.
At the basis of NTT’s activities called ‘intelligent business’ they connect customer needs to the solutions their: ‘together we enable the connected future’.
NTT has been innovating together with A.S.O. for many years. To mention Yann Le Moenner, CEO Amaury Sport Organisation: ‘Millions of fans all over the world are now connected. We need to make sure we can make them part of the greater race experience.’
The official Tour de France organisers (A.S.O. or Amaury Sport Organisation) are also active in other competitions (slide 5) and create different experiences such as the ‘power of ‘live’ moment’ e.g. as if you are present in a football stadium and taking a selfie… (snaptivity).
Five years ago following the cyclists was done manually. A bike drove in between the cyclists and tried to note the distance in km, in sec (milli sec) etc.
The NTT-solution for A.S.O. is centered on data capture, data process and analytics, and telling great stories with data. Data are made available to offer fans a number of new ways to view and appreciate the race…
As of 2015 fans could see live data on what was going on in the race. People were involved in the debate.
In 2016 stories behind the sprint finishes and the stories behind the biggest climbs were added.
Predictive analytics was introduced in 2017 with animations that drove deeper insight into the race. Data was used to predict likely outcomes.
The question was raised how to keep on innovating. So in 2018 trackers were installed on the bicycles (not the riders!) taking data analytics to the broadcast.
All kinds of interesting information could be captured such as
- Live gradient
- Live elevation gained
- Virtual general classification
- Maximum speed on descent of group
- 3D mapping and virtual fly through
It is supplied to TV Channels as well as to the fans. The information is open to everybody.
In doing this A.S.O. was able to attract quite a lot of younger fans with the extra information. Moreover the experience of watching the Tour de France at home on your screen completely changed. Is was as if you were present at the Tour…
The trackers showed in a ride during the Tour de France how Mark Cavendish won from Peter Sagan while he was slower in the last meters and this just because he started the sprint exactly at the right moment.
Tens of millions of people watch the Tour de France on a TV screen. For what concerns the ‘second screen’ (smartphone, iPad,…) an increase of 159% was realized with the extra info and experience but also thanks to social media.
This year a lot of new features are tested or become part of the production cycle using technologies such as animation, Machine Learning, AI, data analytics, AR. The purpose is to bring the data storytelling to life. As such NTT is disrupting and transforming your future fan experience with ‘Intelligent Innovation’.
While increasing the scope of the innovation over the last 5 years with 364% the cost to support was reduced by 42%.
NTT is on the road for 3 weeks now with a dedicated team composed of colleagues from all over the world. Even when they had to buy a suitcase for the guy from South Africa to come over to Europe… Proof of NTT’s commitment to a sustainable world is not only a theory but a common practice in their daily job.
And then we went for a ride in the ‘innovation center’ on the bikes with trackers. While cycling a huge dashboard indicates speed, distance, hearth-rate… Many people have done a test ride but pictures (and this video) speak for themselves!
For video's about NTT, and the use of technology during the Tour de France, have a look at the "Related" tab on this page!
Pictures of the evening can be found on the "Pictures" tab
