Sarfraz Ali, VP and General Manager of EMEA at Smartsheet: “A task that once took up to a week now only takes a matter of hours”

You’ve probably heard of Smartsheet. It’s one of the world’s leading work management platforms, and one that’s trusted by over 90% of Fortune 100 companies. And, as Sarfraz Ali explains, it’s also transforming the world of sports technology.

He cites McLaren Racing as one example. “[Its] content team has the mammoth task of uploading, cataloguing and then distributing terabytes of imagery and footage from each [Formula 1] race,” Sarfraz told us. This was a manual task that could take days, but by using AI to automatically tag and catalogue images has meant fans and sponsors have access to photos within “a matter of hours at most”.

In this interview, Sarfraz explains how Smartsheet is working with sports companies around the world to provide similar improvements. And it’s not just about saving time: it’s about gaining insights that would otherwise be hidden in a sea of data.

“We’d encourage any sporting organisation to really assess how they manage their work and identify bottlenecks,” said Sarfraz. Your first step? Read the rest of this article to discover how others are already doing exactly that.

Related reading: Maarten Gijssel, Managing Partner at IDRO: “Athletes can now receive instantaneous feedback on their lactate levels during training and competition”

Tell us your elevator pitch

Smartsheet is the AI-powered, enterprise-grade work management platform that helps you manage your work at scale. Simply put, Smartsheet helps you manage your work better. Your programs, projects and processes. Whatever you do, whether you’re a multinational corporation or a small business, Smartsheet is where you can plan your work, do your work and scale your work–all in one place. And, we’re applying generative AI to the workflows people are already using in our platform to make it easier, faster and cheaper for them to manage their work in Smartsheet. 

We are trusted by 85% of the Fortune 500 to drive their business forward, including Volvo, General Mills, Uber and more. With customers across 190 countries, we truly are a global organisation.

What sports does your tech apply to? And have you been surprised by its use?

Smartsheet is such a versatile platform, that there isn’t one sport that it is solely applicable to. We have use cases across the global sporting world, from UK-based McLaren Racing to the Seattle Kraken based out of the US. Each of these came with unique challenges and circumstances that required innovative thinking to overcome.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I was surprised, but one customer I’m particularly passionate about is the support Smartsheet has provided for the Special Olympics USA Games, the world’s largest sports organisation for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. The team leveraged Smartsheet as the organisation’s central collaboration hub, used by thousands of stakeholders throughout the organisation. Their teams were able to manage all participant and volunteer schedules, outreach programmes and the provision of resources such as mobility devices.

Related: How cloud computing transformed football – even at park level

Can you give an example of a complex problem in sports that you – or your company – have been involved in tackling with technology?

We’re particularly proud of our work helping the Climate Pledge Arena and the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken. Opening in 2021, the arena has made history as the first net zero-certified venue in the world, powered exclusively by renewable energy. However, its opening also coincided with the pandemic, which brought about major and unprecedented challenges to how they managed projects – both for the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena teams.

To help them successfully navigate both the pandemic and their opening year, we worked with them to help drive efficiencies across the board. The Climate Pledge Arena marketing team integrated Smartsheet into its creative workflow and event management processes, from concert announcements to ticket sales; from providing them a centralised hub for easy access to projects to empowering them to easily adapt to events as they happened during the pandemic. 

For instance, one performer had to reschedule seven times, requiring the team to be fast on their feet and communicate thoroughly with each other. With Smartsheet, the team has streamlined and automated processes for event management. 

All this is done in tandem with the busy Seattle Kraken game schedule, whose own sales and ticketing team used Smartsheet to manage its premium suite ticket inventory. This included schedules and availability, food ordering, suite donation and primary contacts. The team even used the Smartsheet app to get real-time access to suite inventory data from their mobile phones before, during and after games. 

We’re pleased to say that the Climate Pledge Arena has been exploring rolling out Smartsheet to additional departments, to drive new efficiencies for the organisation as a whole.

What is an example of a club or team improving their performance through technology that you find particularly interesting? And why?

Our work with McLaren Racing is a great example of this. In the world of Formula 1, every second counts – both on the track and off. With cars clocking speeds up to 350km/h, blink and you might just miss them. This is why thousands of photos are taken at each race, letting fans relive the excitement and providing stakeholders with content. 

However, getting these assets into the hands of fans and partners post-race is a huge undertaking. McLaren Racing’s content team has the mammoth task of uploading, cataloguing and then distributing terabytes of imagery and footage from each race. Until recently, this was all done manually and would take several days. 

We partnered with McLaren Racing to implement Brandfolder, our digital asset management platform. Using AI-based automation saved them hours of work by automatically tagging images based on logo recognition, and cataloguing them into collections specific to each partner. A task that once took up to a week now only takes a matter of hours at most, meaning McLaren’s fans and partners can now more quickly access and share them whenever they need to.

Related: Jussi Kaasinen, CEO and Founder of Movesense: “There is a huge need for remote patient monitoring in the medical and health sector”

What do you believe is the biggest opportunity in sports tech right now?

Undoubtedly, the integration of AI. There is so much potential for the technology across sports, from benefiting athletes directly with use in recovery to being used to manage the huge workflows of teams and sports organisations. It really is a game-changer. Here at Smartsheet, we recently announced a new suite of AI tools that offer actionable analysis, insights and enhanced visibility for our customers.    

When it comes to technology, what are the most common mistakes you see sports organisations make?

From our experience, we’ve seen that organisations can initially be hesitant to embrace new technologies. Teams often rely on legacy systems which aren’t purpose-built, or old ways of doing things. Over time, these things impact the efficiency and ability of organisations to be agile and proactive.

There are a host of tools out there that can really empower users to make smart decisions and boost their productivity. For instance, we recently integrated GenAI tools into Smartsheet which help users analyse data, generate formulas and offer actionable insights. We’d encourage any sporting organisation to really assess how they manage their work and identify bottlenecks. Often through addressing these, benefits disseminate throughout organisations creating teams that are more aligned, proactive and productive.