SAP powers the ICC Cricket World Cup

article by Brian Karlovsky

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 organising committee has deployed the SAP Business One application to help deliver the tournament to more than one billion fans. The committee has had to grow rapidly from start-up to small business in order to deliver a tournament with expected attendance of over one million fans, and that reaches over one billion people globally.

As a company with a three-year lifespan, it needed an application that is simple, quick to implement and cost efficient.

The organising committee made the decision to run SAP Business One for the financial management of the tournament – which it implemented in just over six and a half weeks. ICC Cricket World Cup, financial controller, Luke Spano, said the committee started to look for a system, the key things for were that it had to be dynamic, flexible and have the ability to report across different budget levels, across three different currencies – Australian, New Zealand and US dollars.” “Having all our data in one location is fantastic,” he said.

“Being able to conduct all of our reporting needs – such as daily ticketing reports – from any location is not only critical, but adds real business value to the entire organisation. At the onset of the tournament decision needed to be made instantly, Spano said.

"And now we are in the midst of it, we can’t be affording to wait before we act," he said.

"Having real-time data and insight is empowering all of our business groups to make the accurate and immediate decisions that are crucial to the success of the ICC Cricket World Cup. he said SAP Business One was the single source of truth across Australia and New Zealand, and that it was enabling the committee to run lean as a team and focus on adding value to the wider organisation.

"Instead of doing the administrative work in the background, we can focus on real-time analysis and delivering insight which adds business value to our stakeholders,” he said. SAP vice president and general manager, global partner operations Australia, Greg Miller, said the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was a true example of a lean and agile small business running simple.

"The complexities associated with delivering such a tournament are encountered by businesses of all sizes every day," he said.

"With SAP Business One, small and mid-size businesses can better manage every aspect of their operations – from sales and customer relationships to financials.”