Australia’s national governing body for swimming and consulting giant Tech Mahindra have teamed up on a tech drive to deliver an elite competitive advantage and boost the sport’s appeal among fans.
Swimming Australia, the country’s peak governing body for competitive swimming, has tapped Indian-origin ICT consulting and services firm Tech Mahindra as its Official Technology Partner.
In a mirror of Tennis Australia’s ongoing partnership with consulting rival Infosys, the arrangement will see Tech Mahindra provide technology support across all facets of the sport, including in the areas of high performance, participation, fan engagement, and administration.
“Our Australian Dolphins have long been a leader and the envy of our peers in international swimming with regards to the technology used to propel the performance of our athletes and coaches on the world stage, and now, leveraging the expertise of Tech Mahindra as global tech pioneers, we can continue to drive that culture of innovation across the breadth of our business,” said Eugénie Buckley, who was appointed CEO of Swimming Australia in late 2021.
According to the association, the partnership will provide both a competitive boost for the country’s elite swimmers and coaches ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, courtesy of cutting-edge data analytics and platforms, as well as enhance fan engagement through an improved and hyper-personalised user experience, leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality.
Buckley noted swimming’s standing as Australia’s most popular Olympic and Paralympic sport, with one in five Australians also engaging in some form of swimming activity across the country. “We currently have millions of touch-points with the community and working in partnership with Tech Mahindra we will continue to evolve and enhance our digital experience to ensure it’s both seamless and engaging, for fans and participants alike.”
Tech Mahindra meanwhile sees the Swimming Australia partnership as an opportunity to strengthen its sports tech portfolio and grow its presence in the Australian market, where the firm has been making considerable investments in its digital and data capabilities as part of a broader localization strategy.
In late 2020, Tech Mahindra bolstered its local ANZ footprint through the dual acquisitions of Momenton in Australia and management consultancy Tenzing in New Zealand.
As for sports, Tech Mahindra’s digital and cloud transformation head Anuj Bhalla says the digital revolution is already well underway. “Cloud technology has altered the entire landscape of the sports industry. Today, the sports business is all about knowing what fans want and providing hyper-personalized experiences to them. At Tech Mahindra, we have been investing big on sports technology to re-imagine fan and community experiences across channels and sports.”