Sport England
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Latest findings on sector's digital maturity revealed
The Digital Futures 2024 report shows progress as sport and physical activity organisations begin to focus on data and AI
We and ukactive have released the Digital Futures 2024 report, marking a successful fourth year of the consultation.
The report provides a measure of how the UK sport and physical activity sector – including fitness and leisure operators, national governing bodies, active partnerships, sports clubs and other providers – is embracing digital and the next steps required for growth.
This year saw 117 eligible UK fitness, leisure and sport organisations complete the consultation, representing 1,600 sites and around four million members nationwide.
The results show an increase in the number of organisations using the latest artificial intelligence (AI) in day-to-day operations (up 3% from 2023), with more saying they plan to use AI in the future.
Overall, the average score for digital maturity and effectiveness among the surveyed UK organisations was 51% – an increase of 4% from 2023.
This level (40-59%) is defined as ‘Digital Experimenter’, typically meaning that operators are making great strides forward but missing the investment, goal alignment and rapid advances to yield a strong performance.
But the figures show there's insufficient prioritisation of digital among many participants, with the authors recommending that this year’s participants follow those that have engaged in the programme since its inception, of which 63% have a comprehensive strategy.
Our strategic lead for innovation and digital, Allison Savich, said: "Four years ago, the sector didn't have a baseline on its digital maturity.
"By adapting the Digital Futures approach and reflecting on what we are learning each year, we are now at a place where we can see clear trends and focus areas for the future.
"These trends will enable us to create even more bespoke support for the sector, based on levels of maturity.
"The importance of understanding your digital maturity is clear: for those organisations who have reassessed over multiple years, they are seeing greater progress in their digital transformation journeys.
"So we encourage any organisation who has not yet assessed their digital maturity to simply start by undertaking the survey."
Getting the foundations right
The report recommends organisations continue to focus on developing a comprehensive digital strategy aligned with their overall business goals.
Having a comprehensive digital strategy will give organisations the opportunity to leverage data and insights for growth.
Our sector needs to prioritise investment in data infrastructure and data and digital skills, else we risk falling behind other sectors (e.g. charities).
For example, AI requires high-quality data foundations – both skills and infrastructure – to be successfully implemented to drive value.
Since 2021, when the Digital Futures programme began, 295 organisations have completed the consultation, which was designed and conducted by the agency Rewrite Digital.
But we know operators are at different stages of their maturity journey – with some saying they're unable to prioritise improvement due to competing priorities, while others are yet to start.
This report is supported by ukactive’s strategic partners Gladstone, EGYM and Technogym, and its contribution partners Leisure Labs, Xn Leisure, PerfectGym, Zoom Media, Keepme and Endurance Zone.
Dave Gerrish, strategic lead for digital at ukactive, said: "The fourth year of our Digital Futures programme shows the steady progress our sector has made in using digital effectively to better operate facilities and welcome even more people through the doors.
"As we enter the next phase of the programme, we’re starting to see the benefits for operators using the insights from the consultation and index tool to enhance their digital maturity and consequent growth in their operations and services.
"We’re looking forward to welcoming more operators on board to progress their digital strategies and supporting even more people to get active."
Digital gaps our sector needs to address:
- Creating or regularly updating your digital strategy
- Better understanding the needs of your customers and employees (in relation to digital)
- Ensuring a stable foundation – quality data and systems
- Growing your digital skills
- Leveraging data and insights to deliver your business strategy
- Considering your environmental impact as you invest in digital
- Starting to embed emerging technologies – such as open data and AI – once you have your stable foundations in place
Key findings from the Digital Futures 2024 report
Based on this year’s survey results:
- our sector has an average score for digital maturity and effectiveness of 51%, making it a ‘Digital Experimenter’.
- returning participants in the Digital Futures programme scored higher, with an average of 55% – especially those involved for four years, which scored 66% on average.
- four operators reached 'Digital Leader' status, the pinnacle of digital maturity and effectiveness, by scoring 80% or more. One of these ‘Digital Leaders’ reached a score of 90%.
- organisations with six to 10 locations saw a 13% uplift in scores, demonstrating that even with fewer resources, smaller organisations can benefit from greater agility.
- the largest improvement was seen in data and insights, which rose by 5% after a decline in 2023. This suggests increased value from the importance of data and insight capabilities, data standards, data security and appropriate infrastructure. Data sources are set to grow due to emerging technology such as AI.
- greater insight was shown in the fitness and leisure sector’s transition to the cloud, with 68% of organisations using cloud-based leisure management systems and 100% considering updates or changes within the next 12 months, laying the foundations for emerging tech interoperability.
Read the report and take the survey
The Digital Futures team welcomes feedback to help us shape where it goes next.
More reading
The Yorkshire Sport Foundation's data and insight manager explains why the Digital Futures survey is so valuable.
Original article link: https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/digital-futures-2024-report