Reflecting on a summer of sport

Brought in SBC News, August 24, 2021 (Link to article)

Marc Stenum,  Head of Business Development at Enetpulse, explained how the Danish-based sports data provider has used the Covid crisis to rethink how it meets the needs of its clients.

SBC: This summer has been jam-packed with sports. How has Enetpulse continued to meet the demands of your clients during this busy period? Have you delivered any new solutions to help you do this?

MS: The postponements of the Euros & Olympics, was a huge hit to us – just as any other sports fan. But we took it as a challenge and an opportunity to talk to our clients and come up with even better ideas and solutions, now that we had been given an extra year. Most importantly, we have been in a closer dialogue with our customers to understand their requirements even better.

When it comes to new solutions, we’ve, as explained in previous articles, used the extra time to further develop our services. This especially shows in our Euro 2020 white-label solution, which is best described as an all-in-one solution.

At the same time, we keep the flexibility to deliver the elements separately as widgets to those of our clients where this creates the biggest business value for each individual client.

SBC: What has been your primary focus in the process of designing and developing these solutions?

MS: The key focus at Enetpulse has, and always will be, creating solutions that benefit our clients. So I guess you could say that this has played a key role in the overall design and development process for our new solutions.

Something which we have also tried to achieve is storytelling with our data. Accurate, informative data is in such demand now, and what better way to engage people than with reliable and comprehensive live score feeds across a multitude of sports. At Enetpulse, we really do consider sports data a sport on its own. That is the mindset we hope to bring out in our products for our clients.

SBC: With both the Euros and the Olympics delayed by 12 months, has there been a heightened level of engagement with both events? Or has this remained in line with expectations?

MS: There has been a high interest in the postponed events, which was something that we anticipated.

The most significant difference has been the insecurity in questions like “Will the event actually take place?” As a consequence of this late “confirmation” of the event, the Euro solutions have been confirmed correspondingly later.

Everyone who loves sports have had an amazing sports summer of 2020 cancelled, and we could feel it ourselves – the summer of 2021 couldn’t come quick enough. So once the events were confirmed, we were more than ready to show our clients our new solutions.

Compared to previous major events, the interest has been similar, if not higher. A part of the explanation for this can also be due to our improved and more streamlined and user-friendly solutions.

So how have we done this? We have provided our clients longer deadlines, discounts in the ways possible – and generally speaking, tried to stretch things in their favour and be flexible.

SBC: The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging for everyone and have been a clear demonstration of the need to maintain strong relationships with clients. How has Enetpulse ensured that it remains in tune with client needs during this period?

MS: The last 18 months have, without a doubt, been a challenge, which also calls for compromises and understanding for the other part. We’ve chosen to see this period as a way to show our interest in our clients even more and to be on “their side”.

So how have we done this? We have provided our clients longer deadlines, discounts in the ways possible – and generally speaking, tried to stretch things in their favour and be flexible. Even though it’s easier said than done, our main focus has been to show that our clients’ best is also our best.

SBC: And has the pandemic changed the way in which you work alongside your partners at all? 

MS: The most remarkable focus has been an even closer relationship with our clients.

Ensuring that we work closer together, maintain clear lines of communication, and to take a more preventive approach allows us to identify any gaps in our relationships before they turn into problems. This, we feel, has worked incredibly well for us at Enetpulse.

We believe that this approach will ensure that our customer lifetime will increase significantly – simply because we have happier clients. A happy customer is a long-term customer!

SBC: The new sports season has already started. What can we expect from Enetpulse? 

MS: Football. We’ve not only used Euro 2020 as an opportunity to create a comprehensive, user-friendly solution. We’ve also used it as a showcase for our football coverage. From the start of the new season, we have seen Enetpulse take another step of delivering solutions for our customers that can be football fans’ first choice.

The next big thing that you can expect from Enetpulse – and it feels weird to say this when we’re still in the summer months – is winter sports. For many years, Enetpulse has been a leading provider of Winter sports data, and with an increased interest in this area, it is natural for us to take another step here. Not just in our actual coverage. Just as much in the delivery of it, to help taking winter sports, and especially The Winter Olympics, up there where it belongs.

As mentioned earlier, what can be expected from Enetpulse is a higher focus on the comprehensiveness in our solutions, providing our clients with new business options.