Welcome to Lifting the Lid on Technology, a podcast series brought to you by Soft Source in association with New Zealand's leading IT vendors and experts. I'm Barry White, the CIO principal consultant at Soft Source. In this series, we explore opportunities and challenges in the world of it. And today I'm joined by Troy Weber, performance analyst from the 2021 Super Rugby premiers, the Auckland Blues. In this episode, we'll talk about business transformation using modern workplace tools with insights from Troy Weber about how the blues use technology to improve their processes, data analysis and to reach a winning performance. Welcome, Troy. Thank you very much, Barry. Thanks for joining the podcast. I've got to say, I've been looking forward to this all week, actually. There's I'm really fascinated by the work you're doing, particularly around data and player analysis. And I'm hoping this afternoon we can have a good chat about that. But I guess to kind of kick things off, do you just want to give a little bit of background to what it is you do, maybe give us a bit of an insight to a day in the life of At the Blues and I guess in particular what your role involves. I'm the team analyst, so basically my role is to watch a lot of rugby. Um, so I, we get a lot of video from games, multiple angles, um, video from training. And my role is to package all that together. And then we do a lot of data on that footage. So we look, um, at everything a player does, everything a team does, and we've got certain benchmarks that we measure ourselves against. Um, so to give you an example, one game we would have probably around 2000 coded events. Wow. So there's a lot of data in that. Um, and then my job is to pick through it and provide information to the coaches and the players and, um, making sure that we're doing what we say we're doing. I think some of the people listening to this will be interested to know that the types of sources, I mean, we sit there on television and we, we see this single frame of the game. But of course, there's a lot more, a lot more information in the background that's been recorded there. Can you give us a bit of an insight into perhaps the amount of that? And, and, you know, with Sky sports, for argument's sake, how many feeds they actually work with those sort of things. So each game we end up with six different views from a game. So we get the broadcast view that everyone sees on the TV. But we also get, um, a wide view that's we can see the wide angle all the time, um, an end on view so the coaches can help show where space opens up. Um. Close views. Our forwards coach is used to that quite a bit. And, um, we also do an opposite side and we have another end of view that's a lot wider. So when you put them all together, there's no hiding. We see everything. Um, and it's I guess for us it's what you do with information. Mhm. Um, so everyone all teams have the same amount of feeds. Um, we actually have quite a good relationship with the other analysts, and we share footage wherever we go. Um, and then it's really up to us how we analyse it, analyse the opposition and make it work for us. That must be pretty hard for the players. They'd be pretty conscious about not doing so potentially on film. And, uh, I guess you have to be careful not to pick your nose. Yeah. The players are brilliant. They understand it's a professional world. The amount of growing from when I first started with where analysis has gone is immense. Um, and the players, they spend countless hours reviewing footage along with the coaches and obviously reviewing their performances, but also preparing for the opposition. And, um, they spend a lot of hours a week sitting in front of a computer and looking at numbers, I think, is it true to say, I guess, you know, I guess from a, you know, public's point of view and I put myself in that seat, you know, we just we just don't appreciate the amount of work that goes on in the background. You know, that'd be that'd be true. Yeah. There is there's a lot of work. There's no it's not the old school, you know, rocking up to training Tuesdays and Thursdays and playing on Saturday. Um, these guys spend a lot of time coaches. They are often have to know how to explain the amount of footage that they go through, but they're spending endless times on their computers in the office, at home, getting the guys ready for the following game. So can we talk a bit about the data? Because obviously this is a technology podcast and, um, that's kind of the video aspect of it. What about what about the data itself? And can you tell us more about the tools and the platform you use for that? We use a software platform to code our games. Um, and uh, we use a company called Sports Code, and we go through and we code a lot of data. We also get data from third parties as well, which we link in. So, um, sports analytics provides us with some match data as well, which we utilize. And um, we basically package all that information into the footage. Um, then it's really once we do that, it's trying to make use of that data. So, um, it's extracting that information out and utilizing tools like power BI, um, which we, uh, import the data into power BI and then that spits out all the, uh, information for the coaches and a nice pretty, um, format. That's a good segue, and probably what's going to be my next question was, why do you need a tool like power BI? Because you and I met each other. What would have been before Covid, I guess. Yeah. And we'll get to that. Uh, where you attended one of our workshops and we did some workshops at the Blues as well. And and that started you on your journey down, down the path with power BI. But but perhaps before today, I didn't fully appreciate the fact that you weren't just dealing with one platform we used to use just Excel before I came across power BI. Um, and we did have some other um, software platforms that we use utilize, but it wasn't until I saw the power that we can get from power BI. I guess it's if you look at Excel, it's just text it to the next level. You're right. We've got I've got different data sources coming from different providers. So I was trying to find a way where I could link those different data sets together. I remember coming to chatting with you guys about, um, you and Chris about it and saying, you know, I've got this information and we're, we're moving away from our old provider. And, um, then you guys mentioned power BI to me and Microsoft Teams, and that was, um, it was pretty much the start of kicking me off into this, uh, area. Don't give us a bit of a I mean, you've a little bit about your background from a technical point of view, because I know when we meet our customers and we talk to people about these new low code, no code tools, you know, it's often, you know, some people are, for example, with a lot of experience with Excel and, and so moving to something like power BI, as you've described as the next logical transition. But your, your dashboards are on a on another level again. And this is obviously an audio podcast, not a video podcast. So we can't show them to the to the audience. But, um, one of the things that motivated this podcast was, uh, looking at the, the quality of the dashboards that you produce are absolutely fantastic. And obviously, Chris and I here at Soft Source, we get the benefit of seeing a few of these. And, uh, you've put a lot of time into these dashboards and they're pretty sophisticated tools. So do you want to just to help people get an appreciation of what these things take? Well, before my life in rugby, um, I had a, I had a software company with my brother. So I have a IT background. It was something I put on the back burner, but it's, you know, I still have the understanding of some of the code and being able to view stuff. It made sense to me. So look, a lot of the dashboards I've designed, there's also some dashboards that we utilize which have also been designed by some third parties as well, like the one in front of myself, which I'm talking about now. It's a, um, player report dashboard that we utilize. Um, so when a player plays a game or the starter comes in, and basically when coaches want to sit with a player and go through their footage and so go through their numbers, they've got a dashboard here, which they can bring up the player, and all that information is given to the coaches so they can review the player's performance. Um, using this information, it's fair to say that you've done some collaboration out there with other people in the rugby world or in the sports world. Yeah. As I mentioned before, we have a pretty close relationship with other analysts in the area, and particularly with Jamie Hamilton, who's the All Black analyst. He's he's been extremely helpful in this area as well. Um, and, uh, Jason Healey. So they, they all in New Zealand rugby. So I guess it's a beauty that we have in this environment where we have a close relationship with other people. So, um, when I have a question, I can contact them. Or like I did the other day, I was stuck, um, trying to link two data sets together, and I caught up with yourself and Chris and just that meeting there. I mean, it was was a little trick that, um, you guys showed me how to do, and it was, uh, that really helped. So just having the ability to have, um, people that you can go to and, you know, when you get stuck on a small problem, they, they most likely have come across something like that and they can, you know, put you steer in the right direction. So, um, from my point of view, it's a it's a great asset for us to have you guys. Soft source is the ability to just pick up the phone or quick flick an email through. And um, you guys always willing to help us out. So I really appreciate that. And thanks for sharing that too. Because, you know, when we when we talk to customers, one of the things we, we, we share with them is we say, well, look, you know, if you're new to power BI, it is a massive community and there is a lot of people out there using the tool set and not just here locally, but, you know, it's got a massive YouTube channel and and it's such a broad range of skills. And so for people who are perhaps listening to this and are new to power BI or keen to sort of explore it further, there are just so many different avenues that you can tap into, right? There's heaps like, um, just utilizing Google and doing a Google search on something. There's heaps of videos that pop up, um, and there's a big, um, power BI and teams environment out there, um, community out there. Um, which, you know, people, it's amazing how willing people are to help. Um, um, it's just knowing where to ask and who to ask. And, um, you know, it's a beauty of, um, this type of platform. Yeah. I think people listening to this might be interested to know how the data gets from the players into the system. Do you just want to give a little bit of insight to that? Because it's this data is collected, but how does it get from the player who's on the field and into the into the platform? Yes. So a lot of the data this gets done manually. So it's um, there's there's no magic bullet out there that will just spit out the data that you want. I mean, we we do get things through with GPS data and information that's automatically generated, but coded data, that's people sitting in front of a computer coding instances. And um, then that's we export that out into, um, a CSV file, which then we. put the CSV files together. And that is important to power BI. Um, so for me it is I'm still new to power BI, so it's um, I know I have to start creating better data warehouses and better places to store data to make it easier to access. Um, and that's probably one of my next steps in my off season. So, yeah, trying to find a data warehouse to store it all. Yeah. Because you're starting to build up a repository of. So at the moment it's all stored on, um, OneDrive in Microsoft OneDrive where data is linked up. But I know I'll get to a point where I start to get datasets which are getting quite large and probably need to be housed in a, a better, a better system. What are the types of data that you're collecting? Like? I took a few notes and I'll just couple them like individual collisions was one of the ones that stuck out and returned to statistics I thought was an interesting one. Can you just give us a bit of a background to just what data you're actually collecting? Because again, I think it's fascinating. So we've got different areas and um, I've got a good analysis team which works with me. And so we look at all the all areas. Um, and so the, I guess the key areas we look at our defense, um, and how how we're doing in that area. Um, you mentioned collisions. So we measure our collisions. Um, so that's basically making sure that we, we get the person behind the gainline and we're dominant in our tackles. And then, uh, we're making sure that we get back in the game. So that's, um, that's a big part for us is you can't defend when you're on the ground. So once you make a tackle, you have to get back up and get, us on the ground. And that's all measured. So there's as as I mentioned before, there's lots of different angles. So we have a look at people going into the contact, making the tackle, what type of tackle it is and then how quickly they able to get back up on their feet and back in the defence system. Um, and also with our attack and all that we look at, it's pretty much the flip side. So we're making sure that we get the gain line, we get quick ball and uh, get yeah, put other teams under pressure. Um, and then hopefully, uh, score a few tries from it. I should say we're recording this podcast a few days after the end of the season. And congratulations. Thank you very much. On a fantastic end to the season. I think you made a city proud. And, uh, uh, and without giving away any trade secrets on this front. Um, um, what difference did some of this data make? Can you give us a feeling for the impact of that? As I said, without giving away any trade secrets? Well, yeah. Thank you. And it was great having that victory in the weekend. And as you mentioned before, it was great for the blues community. Um, it was a long time coming for us, and, uh, we're just thrilled with how our team performed and how hard they work. So as mentioned, they work extremely hard. But, um, we also we also look at a few key KPIs when we play a game. So we've got a style that we want to play. Um, and we know when we play that style we're, we're, we're really good. And, you know, it would be hard to stop us. Um, and it's just trying to get that style going for 80 minutes. And, um, we're getting we're getting there. And the teams, the exciting thing for us is we know there's still a lot of growth in this team. Um, and so, you know, there's it's rugby's about pressure. And if we're executing our play and certain parts of the field executing our game plan, and that's all. And we after every game, we have all these measures that we look at and making sure that we if we tick those off and, um, we know we'll get the result. It's it's obviously not the, the main factor, but it's a significant factor in being able to collect that data and then review it and then rinse and repeat for the next game and say, well, look, we didn't tick these boxes. Yeah, that's right. We know when we tick those boxes nine out of ten times or win the game, and the players understand that and the growth in the understanding of that is immense. Over the over the last years. So we've been we've been working hard the last few years looking at changing the way we play the game. Um, and that guy's understanding of the, of the game that we want to play. And that's the only way you can do that is having a tool of measuring it. So that's where our work comes in every week. We'll see how we're going in those key areas. And if we keep on track, then, you know, good things come. And that's. That's what we saw last weekend. I'm starting to think, Troy, I'm not a member of the tab, but I'm starting to think after talking to you, I should, uh, perhaps take that up and, uh, have a regular weekly phone call to you. Yeah. Um, I don't know if I can give too much away, but it's, uh. Yeah, we're we're confident in ourselves and the team, you know, they know to to do what we do. We know it's hard work because it's what all the other teams out there are working just as hard. But we just have to make sure what we're doing fits what we want, how we want to play the game. So if we could switch gears a little bit, obviously this this is we've talked a lot about data and a lot about power BI. But of course you've also been enthusiastic um, uses and embraces of the broader sort of Microsoft Suite as well. You're using Microsoft Teams now and office 365, of course. Do you want to tell us a bit more about that journey? And so I guess I guess the biggest step was for us, we were we had a software platform that we used to utilize, which was a sports software platform, but we found we it wasn't quite the right fit for us. Um, and it wasn't, it wasn't the right fit for over the whole organization. Um, so we, we were looking for something that could link us all together. Um, and in one package. Um, and with Covid hitting, it pretty much accelerated our path, our pathway. And, um, I was out there trying to look for different options out there that we could utilize. And I remember making the phone call with you and Chris and Pablo and you guys mentioned, have we thought about using Microsoft Teams? And I had heard about teams, but I didn't I wasn't fully aware of it. But chatting with you guys more, I realized that we actually had the backbone of teams already there. We just weren't utilizing it. So we obviously had the Microsoft Suite, um, office 365, and part of that office 365 is Microsoft Teams. And, um, just looking at teams and what it could do and um, understanding that, you know, you can create different teams, different channels and um, being able to link the people that you need in those channels was quite was, you know, quite beneficial for us. Um, we, we use teams for all our training. Um, so everyone has access to viewing the training platform that, um, all our trainings, um, team selection, um, uh, or SNC use it, medical staff use it. So it's, uh, it's really become a, a place where, you know, we can share and collaborate all our information together. Um, um, and it's also we put all our players onto Microsoft Teams as well. So a way for us to communicate to our team, our players. Um, I'm only using mobiles, they're using mobiles. Um, and the players live on their, on their phones. So the best way to get to the players is through the phone, um, and through chats because emails and that they won't, they won't open up their emails and read emails. So it's um, so the, uh, chats on Microsoft Teams, we found very beneficial. Um, the big thing that I also want to point out is the security of Microsoft Teams. Yeah. So it's for for our business. One important factor was security. Um, and there's other platforms out there that provide you with with the same type of stuff. But for us, it was the security. Um, and the ability. because with rugby we get we get players in and we get players out and it's ability to if a player comes in as a replacement player for two weeks, while we've got a player injured, that replacement player that can then be picked up by another team. So it's quite important that their history that they had doesn't go from our team.

Welcome to Lifting the Lid on Technology, a podcast series brought to you by Soft Source in association with New Zealand's leading IT vendors and experts. I'm Barry White, the CIO principal consultant at Soft Source. In this series, we explore opportunities and challenges in the world of it. And today I'm joined by Troy Weber, performance analyst from the 2021 Super Rugby premiers, the Auckland Blues. In this episode, we'll talk about business transformation using modern workplace tools with insights from Troy Weber about how the blues use technology to improve their processes, data analysis and to reach a winning performance. Welcome, Troy. Thank you very much, Barry. Thanks for joining the podcast. I've got to say, I've been looking forward to this all week, actually. There's I'm really fascinated by the work you're doing, particularly around data and player analysis. And I'm hoping this afternoon we can have a good chat about that. But I guess to kind of kick things off, do you just want to give a little bit of background to what it is you do, maybe give us a bit of an insight to a day in the life of At the Blues and I guess in particular what your role involves. I'm the team analyst, so basically my role is to watch a lot of rugby. Um, so I, we get a lot of video from games, multiple angles, um, video from training. And my role is to package all that together. And then we do a lot of data on that footage. So we look, um, at everything a player does, everything a team does, and we've got certain benchmarks that we measure ourselves against. Um, so to give you an example, one game we would have probably around 2000 coded events. Wow. So there's a lot of data in that. Um, and then my job is to pick through it and provide information to the coaches and the players and, um, making sure that we're doing what we say we're doing. I think some of the people listening to this will be interested to know that the types of sources, I mean, we sit there on television and we, we see this single frame of the game. But of course, there's a lot more, a lot more information in the background that's been recorded there. Can you give us a bit of an insight into perhaps the amount of that? And, and, you know, with Sky sports, for argument's sake, how many feeds they actually work with those sort of things. So each game we end up with six different views from a game. So we get the broadcast view that everyone sees on the TV. But we also get, um, a wide view that's we can see the wide angle all the time, um, an end on view so the coaches can help show where space opens up. Um. Close views. Our forwards coach is used to that quite a bit. And, um, we also do an opposite side and we have another end of view that's a lot wider. So when you put them all together, there's no hiding. We see everything. Um, and it's I guess for us it's what you do with information. Mhm. Um, so everyone all teams have the same amount of feeds. Um, we actually have quite a good relationship with the other analysts, and we share footage wherever we go. Um, and then it's really up to us how we analyse it, analyse the opposition and make it work for us. That must be pretty hard for the players. They'd be pretty conscious about not doing so potentially on film. And, uh, I guess you have to be careful not to pick your nose. Yeah. The players are brilliant. They understand it's a professional world. The amount of growing from when I first started with where analysis has gone is immense. Um, and the players, they spend countless hours reviewing footage along with the coaches and obviously reviewing their performances, but also preparing for the opposition. And, um, they spend a lot of hours a week sitting in front of a computer and looking at numbers, I think, is it true to say, I guess, you know, I guess from a, you know, public's point of view and I put myself in that seat, you know, we just we just don't appreciate the amount of work that goes on in the background. You know, that'd be that'd be true. Yeah. There is there's a lot of work. There's no it's not the old school, you know, rocking up to training Tuesdays and Thursdays and playing on Saturday. Um, these guys spend a lot of time coaches. They are often have to know how to explain the amount of footage that they go through, but they're spending endless times on their computers in the office, at home, getting the guys ready for the following game. So can we talk a bit about the data? Because obviously this is a technology podcast and, um, that's kind of the video aspect of it. What about what about the data itself? And can you tell us more about the tools and the platform you use for that? We use a software platform to code our games. Um, and uh, we use a company called Sports Code, and we go through and we code a lot of data. We also get data from third parties as well, which we link in. So, um, sports analytics provides us with some match data as well, which we utilize. And um, we basically package all that information into the footage. Um, then it's really once we do that, it's trying to make use of that data. So, um, it's extracting that information out and utilizing tools like power BI, um, which we, uh, import the data into power BI and then that spits out all the, uh, information for the coaches and a nice pretty, um, format. That's a good segue, and probably what's going to be my next question was, why do you need a tool like power BI? Because you and I met each other. What would have been before Covid, I guess. Yeah. And we'll get to that. Uh, where you attended one of our workshops and we did some workshops at the Blues as well. And and that started you on your journey down, down the path with power BI. But but perhaps before today, I didn't fully appreciate the fact that you weren't just dealing with one platform we used to use just Excel before I came across power BI. Um, and we did have some other um, software platforms that we use utilize, but it wasn't until I saw the power that we can get from power BI. I guess it's if you look at Excel, it's just text it to the next level. You're right. We've got I've got different data sources coming from different providers. So I was trying to find a way where I could link those different data sets together. I remember coming to chatting with you guys about, um, you and Chris about it and saying, you know, I've got this information and we're, we're moving away from our old provider. And, um, then you guys mentioned power BI to me and Microsoft Teams, and that was, um, it was pretty much the start of kicking me off into this, uh, area. Don't give us a bit of a I mean, you've a little bit about your background from a technical point of view, because I know when we meet our customers and we talk to people about these new low code, no code tools, you know, it's often, you know, some people are, for example, with a lot of experience with Excel and, and so moving to something like power BI, as you've described as the next logical transition. But your, your dashboards are on a on another level again. And this is obviously an audio podcast, not a video podcast. So we can't show them to the to the audience. But, um, one of the things that motivated this podcast was, uh, looking at the, the quality of the dashboards that you produce are absolutely fantastic. And obviously, Chris and I here at Soft Source, we get the benefit of seeing a few of these. And, uh, you've put a lot of time into these dashboards and they're pretty sophisticated tools. So do you want to just to help people get an appreciation of what these things take? Well, before my life in rugby, um, I had a, I had a software company with my brother. So I have a IT background. It was something I put on the back burner, but it's, you know, I still have the understanding of some of the code and being able to view stuff. It made sense to me. So look, a lot of the dashboards I've designed, there's also some dashboards that we utilize which have also been designed by some third parties as well, like the one in front of myself, which I'm talking about now. It's a, um, player report dashboard that we utilize. Um, so when a player plays a game or the starter comes in, and basically when coaches want to sit with a player and go through their footage and so go through their numbers, they've got a dashboard here, which they can bring up the player, and all that information is given to the coaches so they can review the player's performance. Um, using this information, it's fair to say that you've done some collaboration out there with other people in the rugby world or in the sports world. Yeah. As I mentioned before, we have a pretty close relationship with other analysts in the area, and particularly with Jamie Hamilton, who's the All Black analyst. He's he's been extremely helpful in this area as well. Um, and, uh, Jason Healey. So they, they all in New Zealand rugby. So I guess it's a beauty that we have in this environment where we have a close relationship with other people. So, um, when I have a question, I can contact them. Or like I did the other day, I was stuck, um, trying to link two data sets together, and I caught up with yourself and Chris and just that meeting there. I mean, it was was a little trick that, um, you guys showed me how to do, and it was, uh, that really helped. So just having the ability to have, um, people that you can go to and, you know, when you get stuck on a small problem, they, they most likely have come across something like that and they can, you know, put you steer in the right direction. So, um, from my point of view, it's a it's a great asset for us to have you guys. Soft source is the ability to just pick up the phone or quick flick an email through. And um, you guys always willing to help us out. So I really appreciate that. And thanks for sharing that too. Because, you know, when we when we talk to customers, one of the things we, we, we share with them is we say, well, look, you know, if you're new to power BI, it is a massive community and there is a lot of people out there using the tool set and not just here locally, but, you know, it's got a massive YouTube channel and and it's such a broad range of skills. And so for people who are perhaps listening to this and are new to power BI or keen to sort of explore it further, there are just so many different avenues that you can tap into, right? There's heaps like, um, just utilizing Google and doing a Google search on something. There's heaps of videos that pop up, um, and there's a big, um, power BI and teams environment out there, um, community out there. Um, which, you know, people, it's amazing how willing people are to help. Um, um, it's just knowing where to ask and who to ask. And, um, you know, it's a beauty of, um, this type of platform. Yeah. I think people listening to this might be interested to know how the data gets from the players into the system. Do you just want to give a little bit of insight to that? Because it's this data is collected, but how does it get from the player who's on the field and into the into the platform? Yes. So a lot of the data this gets done manually. So it's um, there's there's no magic bullet out there that will just spit out the data that you want. I mean, we we do get things through with GPS data and information that's automatically generated, but coded data, that's people sitting in front of a computer coding instances. And um, then that's we export that out into, um, a CSV file, which then we. put the CSV files together. And that is important to power BI. Um, so for me it is I'm still new to power BI, so it's um, I know I have to start creating better data warehouses and better places to store data to make it easier to access. Um, and that's probably one of my next steps in my off season. So, yeah, trying to find a data warehouse to store it all. Yeah. Because you're starting to build up a repository of. So at the moment it's all stored on, um, OneDrive in Microsoft OneDrive where data is linked up. But I know I'll get to a point where I start to get datasets which are getting quite large and probably need to be housed in a, a better, a better system. What are the types of data that you're collecting? Like? I took a few notes and I'll just couple them like individual collisions was one of the ones that stuck out and returned to statistics I thought was an interesting one. Can you just give us a bit of a background to just what data you're actually collecting? Because again, I think it's fascinating. So we've got different areas and um, I've got a good analysis team which works with me. And so we look at all the all areas. Um, and so the, I guess the key areas we look at our defense, um, and how how we're doing in that area. Um, you mentioned collisions. So we measure our collisions. Um, so that's basically making sure that we, we get the person behind the gainline and we're dominant in our tackles. And then, uh, we're making sure that we get back in the game. So that's, um, that's a big part for us is you can't defend when you're on the ground. So once you make a tackle, you have to get back up and get, us on the ground. And that's all measured. So there's as as I mentioned before, there's lots of different angles. So we have a look at people going into the contact, making the tackle, what type of tackle it is and then how quickly they able to get back up on their feet and back in the defence system. Um, and also with our attack and all that we look at, it's pretty much the flip side. So we're making sure that we get the gain line, we get quick ball and uh, get yeah, put other teams under pressure. Um, and then hopefully, uh, score a few tries from it. I should say we're recording this podcast a few days after the end of the season. And congratulations. Thank you very much. On a fantastic end to the season. I think you made a city proud. And, uh, uh, and without giving away any trade secrets on this front. Um, um, what difference did some of this data make? Can you give us a feeling for the impact of that? As I said, without giving away any trade secrets? Well, yeah. Thank you. And it was great having that victory in the weekend. And as you mentioned before, it was great for the blues community. Um, it was a long time coming for us, and, uh, we're just thrilled with how our team performed and how hard they work. So as mentioned, they work extremely hard. But, um, we also we also look at a few key KPIs when we play a game. So we've got a style that we want to play. Um, and we know when we play that style we're, we're, we're really good. And, you know, it would be hard to stop us. Um, and it's just trying to get that style going for 80 minutes. And, um, we're getting we're getting there. And the teams, the exciting thing for us is we know there's still a lot of growth in this team. Um, and so, you know, there's it's rugby's about pressure. And if we're executing our play and certain parts of the field executing our game plan, and that's all. And we after every game, we have all these measures that we look at and making sure that we if we tick those off and, um, we know we'll get the result. It's it's obviously not the, the main factor, but it's a significant factor in being able to collect that data and then review it and then rinse and repeat for the next game and say, well, look, we didn't tick these boxes. Yeah, that's right. We know when we tick those boxes nine out of ten times or win the game, and the players understand that and the growth in the understanding of that is immense. Over the over the last years. So we've been we've been working hard the last few years looking at changing the way we play the game. Um, and that guy's understanding of the, of the game that we want to play. And that's the only way you can do that is having a tool of measuring it. So that's where our work comes in every week. We'll see how we're going in those key areas. And if we keep on track, then, you know, good things come. And that's. That's what we saw last weekend. I'm starting to think, Troy, I'm not a member of the tab, but I'm starting to think after talking to you, I should, uh, perhaps take that up and, uh, have a regular weekly phone call to you. Yeah. Um, I don't know if I can give too much away, but it's, uh. Yeah, we're we're confident in ourselves and the team, you know, they know to to do what we do. We know it's hard work because it's what all the other teams out there are working just as hard. But we just have to make sure what we're doing fits what we want, how we want to play the game. So if we could switch gears a little bit, obviously this this is we've talked a lot about data and a lot about power BI. But of course you've also been enthusiastic um, uses and embraces of the broader sort of Microsoft Suite as well. You're using Microsoft Teams now and office 365, of course. Do you want to tell us a bit more about that journey? And so I guess I guess the biggest step was for us, we were we had a software platform that we used to utilize, which was a sports software platform, but we found we it wasn't quite the right fit for us. Um, and it wasn't, it wasn't the right fit for over the whole organization. Um, so we, we were looking for something that could link us all together. Um, and in one package. Um, and with Covid hitting, it pretty much accelerated our path, our pathway. And, um, I was out there trying to look for different options out there that we could utilize. And I remember making the phone call with you and Chris and Pablo and you guys mentioned, have we thought about using Microsoft Teams? And I had heard about teams, but I didn't I wasn't fully aware of it. But chatting with you guys more, I realized that we actually had the backbone of teams already there. We just weren't utilizing it. So we obviously had the Microsoft Suite, um, office 365, and part of that office 365 is Microsoft Teams. And, um, just looking at teams and what it could do and um, understanding that, you know, you can create different teams, different channels and um, being able to link the people that you need in those channels was quite was, you know, quite beneficial for us. Um, we, we use teams for all our training. Um, so everyone has access to viewing the training platform that, um, all our trainings, um, team selection, um, uh, or SNC use it, medical staff use it. So it's, uh, it's really become a, a place where, you know, we can share and collaborate all our information together. Um, um, and it's also we put all our players onto Microsoft Teams as well. So a way for us to communicate to our team, our players. Um, I'm only using mobiles, they're using mobiles. Um, and the players live on their, on their phones. So the best way to get to the players is through the phone, um, and through chats because emails and that they won't, they won't open up their emails and read emails. So it's um, so the, uh, chats on Microsoft Teams, we found very beneficial. Um, the big thing that I also want to point out is the security of Microsoft Teams. Yeah. So it's for for our business. One important factor was security. Um, and there's other platforms out there that provide you with with the same type of stuff. But for us, it was the security. Um, and the ability. because with rugby we get we get players in and we get players out and it's ability to if a player comes in as a replacement player for two weeks, while we've got a player injured, that replacement player that can then be picked up by another team. So it's quite important that their history that they had doesn't go from our team.

To the.

To the.

Opposition team. So with Microsoft having the ability to turn that person off and completely stop them from accessing any, um, team that they're involved in was higher. Because I know in the past our manager would have to go through trying to remember what team they were in and switching them all off. But it was, you know, it was high chance that they'll forget something or slip through. So the security of teams is very, very helpful because we share a lot of information on teams like our game plans and our and our our structures that we use and things like that. So knowing that we can actually switch that off and stop that from going anywhere else because players, they go to different teams, they, you know, if they're off contract.

Opposition team. So with Microsoft having the ability to turn that person off and completely stop them from accessing any, um, team that they're involved in was higher. Because I know in the past our manager would have to go through trying to remember what team they were in and switching them all off. But it was, you know, it was high chance that they'll forget something or slip through. So the security of teams is very, very helpful because we share a lot of information on teams like our game plans and our and our our structures that we use and things like that. So knowing that we can actually switch that off and stop that from going anywhere else because players, they go to different teams, they, you know, if they're off contract.

They.

They.

Can be picked up. And we just don't want that information picked up and taken with them because it's it's our it's our property, really. Just to finish up, I mean, what are some of the things you're thinking about now? You've just had a fantastic end to the season. I guess for me at the moment. I know we're only just scraping the surface of what we can do with Microsoft Teams. Um, and we've we've only been really utilizing it for the last 12 months, if that. Yeah. So it hasn't been long. So it's and it's just trying to make sure that everyone gets on board and is utilizing it to its full potential. And um, I know we've still got a way to go there. Um, but it's, you know, it's just trying to making sure everyone follows the same protocols and procedures there. Um, and, oh, there's, there's heaps of things that you can, we can utilize. Um, I won't be spending a lot of time playing around more with power BI and getting my head around that and, um, and making sure that, you know, I can like, I know I build reports, but then I look at it, um, a few months later and go, oh, I can do that at a better way, or this is a this is a simpler process. So streamlining things is, um, in my off season. I'll be looking at that.

Can be picked up. And we just don't want that information picked up and taken with them because it's it's our it's our property, really. Just to finish up, I mean, what are some of the things you're thinking about now? You've just had a fantastic end to the season. I guess for me at the moment. I know we're only just scraping the surface of what we can do with Microsoft Teams. Um, and we've we've only been really utilizing it for the last 12 months, if that. Yeah. So it hasn't been long. So it's and it's just trying to make sure that everyone gets on board and is utilizing it to its full potential. And um, I know we've still got a way to go there. Um, but it's, you know, it's just trying to making sure everyone follows the same protocols and procedures there. Um, and, oh, there's, there's heaps of things that you can, we can utilize. Um, I won't be spending a lot of time playing around more with power BI and getting my head around that and, um, and making sure that, you know, I can like, I know I build reports, but then I look at it, um, a few months later and go, oh, I can do that at a better way, or this is a this is a simpler process. So streamlining things is, um, in my off season. I'll be looking at that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now certainly for, uh, you know, Chris and I here at Soft Source I think, and the whole team, you know, one of the things that we feel very passionate about and we try to do with, with customers is try to help them to get that real extra value out of the out of the platform. Because, as you say, most people are only using a tiny little piece of it or a little corner of it, and they just don't realize a lot of the time just how many different things they can do with the tool set. But it does come down to people like you having the passion, you know, on behalf of the team here at Salesforce, it's very satisfying to see the outcome at the other end of it and see somebody like yourself prosper from that. And it's we get a lot of enjoyment out of that and, you know, well done and keep up. Keep up the great work. If I can say that on behalf of all of Auckland, I appreciate it. Oh, look, I'm from from where I am. It's soft.

Now certainly for, uh, you know, Chris and I here at Soft Source I think, and the whole team, you know, one of the things that we feel very passionate about and we try to do with, with customers is try to help them to get that real extra value out of the out of the platform. Because, as you say, most people are only using a tiny little piece of it or a little corner of it, and they just don't realize a lot of the time just how many different things they can do with the tool set. But it does come down to people like you having the passion, you know, on behalf of the team here at Salesforce, it's very satisfying to see the outcome at the other end of it and see somebody like yourself prosper from that. And it's we get a lot of enjoyment out of that and, you know, well done and keep up. Keep up the great work. If I can say that on behalf of all of Auckland, I appreciate it. Oh, look, I'm from from where I am. It's soft.

Sauce.

Sauce.

You know, has opened my eyes to a lot of this. Um, it's I think I've been to three of your workshops now. Just. And I had a I came to one of the workshops where we had other customers in here, and it was it was also good to see, you know, how they looked at things as well. And, um, you know, you might pick up something there. And it was it was I thought it was it was just a good time as we talked about all the stuff, you know, a bit a bit of a.

You know, has opened my eyes to a lot of this. Um, it's I think I've been to three of your workshops now. Just. And I had a I came to one of the workshops where we had other customers in here, and it was it was also good to see, you know, how they looked at things as well. And, um, you know, you might pick up something there. And it was it was I thought it was it was just a good time as we talked about all the stuff, you know, a bit a bit of a.

Community.

Community.

Community thing and, um, being able to share ideas and have a look at what people do. It's quite exciting. We'll try. There's probably a good place to stop. I really appreciate your time and coming to see us today and congratulations again. And, uh, we'll hopefully see you again real soon. Thanks very much, Barry, I appreciate it. Cheers. What a great session. Hearing from the 2021 Premier Team. Thanks for joining us as we explored some of the ways technology has transformed the Auckland blues, enabling greater value from their data and ultimately improving business performance. We hope you enjoyed Troy's insights and we look forward to bringing you more tips and insider knowledge in our next episode.

Community thing and, um, being able to share ideas and have a look at what people do. It's quite exciting. We'll try. There's probably a good place to stop. I really appreciate your time and coming to see us today and congratulations again. And, uh, we'll hopefully see you again real soon. Thanks very much, Barry, I appreciate it. Cheers. What a great session. Hearing from the 2021 Premier Team. Thanks for joining us as we explored some of the ways technology has transformed the Auckland blues, enabling greater value from their data and ultimately improving business performance. We hope you enjoyed Troy's insights and we look forward to bringing you more tips and insider knowledge in our next episode.