- Cognizant to enhance SailGP website and mobile app
- Improvements to offer real-time updates on key performance metrics such as athlete heart rate
- Company to also align with SailGP's Race for the Future agenda
Global sailing league SailGP has announced professional services company Cognizant as its official digital transformation partner.
Under the multi-year agreement, Cognizant will leverage its digital transformation and software engineering capabilities to improve audience insights, enable data visualisation and create an immersive fan experience for followers of SailGP, which claims to have 257 million viewers worldwide.
Cognizant will also align with SailGP’s Race for the Future initiative, which aims to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
In addition, with SailGP’s second season due to start this month, Cognizant will work on the league’s official website to make it ‘more dynamic’, while the company also plans to develop the competition’s mobile app in future seasons.
The enhancements will offer real-time updates on key performance metrics such as the athletes’ heart rate or the speed and distance of the boats.
Cognizant will also collaborate with computer software company Oracle in augmenting the capabilities of Internet of Things (IoT) technology operating on the SailGP catamarans to inform decisions, improve performance and, ultimately, make the boats go faster.
Each SailGP boat generates 30,000 data points per second, which the league says makes it ‘one of the most sophisticated IoT devices in the sports space’.
“We are thrilled to join forces with a like-minded partner that shares our commitments and values,” said SailGP chief executive Russell Coutts.
“Starting today, Cognizant will actively participate in SailGP's development and our Race for the Future purpose-led agenda, aimed at accelerating change to a cleaner and more inclusive future.”
The tie-up is the latest major sporting partnership for Cognizant this year. The company kicked off 2021 by being named the title sponsor of the Aston Martin Formula One team.
Ursula Morgenstern, president of Cognizant global growth markets, added: “We are pleased to be SailGP's official digital transformation partner, bringing Cognizant's expertise in digital transformation and software engineering to the forefront of the first climate-positive sail racing championship in the world.
“Many of our clients are sailing enthusiasts. It is an honour to align with an organisation that has demonstrated similar growth and is committed to a sustainable future, as well as diversity and inclusion.”
SailGP’s eight-race season commences in Bermuda on 24thApril and is scheduled to finish in the US next March.
SailGP