Three business tips global enterprises can learn from Formula 1®: part 1 of 2

Mehul Kapadia examines today’s global business at full speed.

As we near the finish line for the 2014 season, Formula 1® racing extends its lead as the world’s most technically advanced sport. It’s the third year with Tata Communications at the technological helm, and as a fan and a business leader, I’m always thrilled to be a part of the action.

Tata Communications owns and operates the world’s largest fiber network measuring more than 300,000 miles of subsea fiber facilitating over 24% of the world’s internet routes across 200 countries and territories. This comes in handy when you’re connecting the world and millions of F1 fans to all 19 Formula 1® race locations from the streets of Monaco to the deserts of Bahrain.

Our team covers over 124,000 miles annually, responding instantly to race-day  issues and requests, including setting up a trackside data center at each race location in two days and dismantling it in just three hours after the checkered flag waves.  This is a process that would traditionally take weeks. As the Official Web Hosting of Formula1.com, Tata Communications has reached 107 million unique users over the past two seasons, and we instantly share a vast amount of real-time data with up to 7 million simultaneous users during each race.

This weekend, we speed into Austin, Texas for the Formula 1® United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. Behind the scenes at the 56-lap race, Tata Communications will lead everything from connectivity and web hosting to content delivery, professional services, and remote operations. As the Official Managed Connectivity Supplier for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team, Tata Communications will power the rapid transfer of rich data from over 150 of the Mercedes car’s sensors to share vital stats and to report issues from the Austin trackside to the Mercedes factory in real-time, improving speed, handling and stability. Tata Communications will also answer the demand from F1’s global audience for high-quality, live content across different platforms during the U.S. Grand Prix by providing Official F1® licensee/broadcaster Chello DMC with six live feeds and an additional unilateral feed via Tata Communications’ fiber network for broadcast on the Sport1 channels and via the Sport1 app. All in a day’s work.

So today, as the F1 racing world casts its gaze upon Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, I’m reminded of three takeaways that showcase the same enhanced capabilities we develop at Tata Communications for Formula 1® to accelerate operations across the globe and amaze fans are also helping U.S. enterprises reach global audiences faster, expand into new territories, and drive better collaboration worldwide.

FULL-SPEED SERVICE FROM AFAR

Over the last three years, our technology deployment at Formula 1® has developed at lightning speed. As our enterprise customer continues to expand globally, Tata Communications knew we needed reliable technology solutions, regardless of location. Even if the race is on the other side of the world, our “teams” on and off the track need to be connected.

For example,Tata Communications provides Formula One Management (FOM™) with a remote operations center in Biggin Hill, powering live remote connectivity to feeds from the trackside. This weekend, production teams at the operations center will have access to multi-view video feeds for raw footage and a reverse data path, allowing them to operate a robotic trackside camera for the best possible race coverage. The center is paving the way for future innovation in the way the sport is filmed, viewed and enjoyed. It also speaks to today’s global economy where remote operations are essential whether you’re racing cars, servicing cell phone grids, or managing security systems.

In Part 2, I’ll explore two more F1-inspired learnings: Human Collaboration and Driving Innovation. ‘Til then.

Do you agree with Mehul’s thoughts? Leave a comment below.

Follow Mehul on Twitter: @mehulkapadia

Tata Communications was the Official Connectivity Provider of Formula 1® between 2012 and 2019. Tata Communications was also the Official Managed Connectivity Supplier to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, and Official Digital Transformation Partner to ROKiT Williams Racing until the end of the 2019 season.