Today Kitman Labs announced iP: Intelligence Platform. This is a first-of-its-kind platform that integrates operational and analytical capabilities with specific application for global sport. I want to share some reflections on this moment because the iP marks a true inflection point – for our company, for sports technology, for industry itself.

In math, the inflection point is the place on a curve where a change in direction can be positively identified. After an inflection point has been reached, nothing that came before will continue in the same direction. Everything – everything – will go someplace new and different.

The iP is the operating system of the future for global sport. And we believe it will take athletes, organizations, investors, fans, and the industry worldwide in an entirely new and better direction.

Why introduce the iP now? Because the pressure on sports organizations has never been greater.

More than ever, they confront unrelenting competitive pressures and higher-than-ever expectations from athletes, coaches, owners, fans, and investors. The prizes for winning compared with the costs of losing are enormous – and getting bigger.

At the same time, these organizations are drowning in data. Facing exponentially growing data sets, teams have just too much to process, too much to harness on their own. They can’t surface the value they need at speed. Worse, data today is fragmented – it lives in different places.

Data fragmentation prevents intelligence. It forces practitioners to jump between different systems and find their most vital information piecemeal. This in turn prevents them from distilling that data by bringing to bear analytics or expert experience for truly impactful decisions on what matters most, AKA intelligence.

Intelligence can’t happen without collaboration, consolidation, and communication. The iP brings data together and unites people around it to refine information into actionable insight.

The iP delivers a complete picture of an organization’s athletes, all in one place, where all the information can be queried and investigated by everyone, together, and at the same time. It’s configurable to a team’s unique players, culture, goals, and style of play, so organizations can unite staff around their data and strengthen instincts to gain enormous competitive advantage. It replaces no one; it empowers everyone.

Why is this new? Because this is the first time teams will have a platform configured entirely to them, rather than having to rely on rigid off-the-shelf solutions.

The iP is not just a place to park data, but for teams to unite their people, their processes and their practices for intelligence from one complete system that’s capable of continuously improving and cultivating their environment and push them forward.