Collaborations > Guiding a national sports association through the selection of a new IT and data hosting provider

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Guiding a national sports association through the selection of a new IT and data hosting provider

Overview

By leveraging our expertise in market insight and best practices, we assisted a national sports association in identifying an optimal IT provider (local or cloud-based) which best aligns with their cost-benefit needs and fulfills their minimum required security standards.

Challenge

With their international engagements, national associations can be at high risk regarding politically motivated (hacking) attacks. In parallel, their charitable character can lead to budget constraints and limited resources.

The association’s general secretary has directly informed us about their plans to reevaluate their current IT provider situation. Due to its criticality and social reputation, we briefly offered our help and were very happy to act as an independent advisor.

After a short introduction and kick-off meeting through which we gained insight into the association’s structure and needs, we helped our client by giving recommendations regarding minimum necessary requirements and also pre-screened proposals of potential IT providers on the association’s short list.

One of the most challenging/critical points was the comparison between data being hosted in cloud solutions vs. re-establishing a formerly used on premise solution. Cloud providers can offer a full-service stack from a single source at a low price, however their connection to the open world can include further attack vectors.

Our client, Deutscher Eishockey Bund e.V. (DEB), is one of Germany’s national sports associations. The purpose of the association is the general cultivation and promotion of ice hockey in Germany.

Besides the national team, the DEB also organizes coach and referee trainings, further education and also coordinates Germany’s participation in international tournaments and events (e.g. European or World Championships) across all age categories.

Solution

After an initial assessment of the proposals, we engaged in interviewing the IT providers alongside the general secretary to specify critical needs, as well as to clarify any potential outstanding questions.

With our expertise and having the association’s needs and thoughts in mind, we successfully provided decision-making support, which was afterwards presented and approved by the association’s management.

To ensure a smooth transition, we’re happy to offer continued support throughout the changeover process. This includes monitoring the implementation phase and conducting post-changeover testing to verify successful migration.