Context

I worked with a global governing sporting body responsible for international tournaments and participation across all levels of the sport.

Over the 18 month engagement I designed, I partnered with a consulting team to define a digital unification blueprint, future channel concepts, and supporting strategic frameworks.

The situation

The organisation serves a highly diverse audience, including fans, participants, coaches, clubs, officials, partners, and event teams.

Their digital ecosystem had grown over time and was highly fragmented. Customers were required to navigate multiple disconnected platforms, repeat tasks, and manage multiple logins to complete relatively simple activities.

At the same time, the organisation was progressing a long running transformation programme that had primarily focused on infrastructure, with less clarity around the future experience.

There was a need to define how digital channels should work together in practice, and how this could evolve over time.

The work

I worked with a small core team to analyse how more than 100 digital touchpoints were being used in practice. This led to the creation of an ecosystem map that made fragmentation visible, including disjointed booking processes, duplicated information, and inconsistent access.

We also examined how comparable organisations were approaching channel unification and the use of emerging technologies, including AI. This informed the development of a scorecard the organisation could use to assess its current state and future direction.

From this, I developed a set of channel architecture options and worked with stakeholders to define a future model.

The selected direction centres on a unified and personalised web experience, supported by single sign on, with additional authenticated channels including a centralised learning platform. Tournament specific experiences and mobile applications support different roles within the ecosystem, including participation, coaching, officiating, and events.

To support delivery, I defined a set of prioritisation frameworks, guidelines, and roadmaps. I also worked closely with product leaders to shape strategies for key channels and to address broader challenges such as personalisation and team structure.

A significant part of the work involved reframing how digital experience was understood across the organisation, supporting stakeholders to engage with a more integrated and practical view of how channels work together.

What changed

The strategy has informed multiple streams of work that are now in progress, including the development of a new centralised website and supporting digital platforms.

There is now a clearer and more aligned view of how digital channels should operate as a connected system, rather than as a set of separate initiatives.

Understanding of digital experience across the organisation has matured, particularly in how different audiences, channels, and capabilities relate to each other in practice.

What this demonstrates

The ability to define and operationalise digital transformation at an ecosystem level, aligning strategy, experience, and delivery across a complex organisation.