The buzz around wearable tech just keeps getting louder. Forecasts show adoption at an annual compound rate of 35% over the next five years, with anywhere from 148 million to 200 million units shipped by 2019.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Could the #Arts be the sticking point for #IoT #wearables?” user=”comparethecloud”]
So what does that mean for the arts? A recent study by Carnegie Mellon University in the US looked at how wearables are being used by the creative industries today, and considers how they’re likely to be used in the not-too-distant future. Many of the predictions gel pretty neatly with the kinds of queries we’re taking each week from arts organisations about the possibilities of wearable tech.
Take smart glasses for example. Google Glass may be currently on hiatus, but in the arts industry smart specs are still generating loads of interest. Glass was used for media and entertainment purposes 54% of the time in field trials, so the arts could well be the place where smart glasses find their most enthusiastic early adopters.
in the arts industry smart specs are still generating loads of interest
From our perspective they hold the promise of accelerating the shift towards a truly digital box office. Imagine if you could equip front of house staff with smart glasses at multiple points in the foyer to cut CoBO queues and use facial recognition technology, barcodes or QR codes to make checking in really simple? It could be a complete game changer. The first brave theatre team just needs to take the leap.
Look to other sectors and it’s already happening. Virgin Atlantic recently experimented with Google Glass as an alternative to airport check-in desks. It allowed staff to access all the information they needed to about a passenger’s booking, freeing them up to provide more attentive service. The response from customers was overwhelmingly positive.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Imagine a #CRM app for #smartglasses which discreetly displays sophisticated #customerinsights”]
The next step would be to imagine a CRM app for smart glasses which discreetly displays sophisticated customer insights (e.g. donor status, genre preferences, frequency of attendance) right in front of your FoH staff’s eyes. It could spur the development of new techniques for improving service and deepen the relationship with customers.
Glasses aren’t the only wearable format of course. What if you could have real-time ticket sale data, ROI reports and email marketing stats delivered to a screen on your wrist? Salesforce, the cloud based CRM platform is already making this possible by making its enterprise software accessible via an app for the Apple Watch. It allows users to access data, request reports by voice and respond to notifications with a few taps on the wrist.
With more enterprise apps on the horizon for Apple Watch, the idea of using smartwatches to improve the way we work in the arts is intriguing.
the idea of using smartwatches to improve the way we work in the arts is intriguing
We’re already using cloud apps on our devices to stay on top of emails when we’re out and about so the transition to doing the same thing on a small wearable device doesn’t seem so farfetched. Salesforce says that its app “bridges the last mile between insight and action”. Extend that idea to the box office and it’s not hard to imagine a CRM app on your watch could help marketing, FoH and fundraising teams react quickly to notifications and demand signals as they happen in real time.
Exciting? We think so. Notifications would alert you when something important happens,for example when you sell out a show or cross a milestone in your fundraising goals. You’d have key stats enabling you to react faster to data in real time; for example, the number of open opportunities in your fundraising pipeline. Access to stats could be far easier with a single swipe or a voice command.
Of course we’ve thought about our own software and how it might work on a smartwatch. Perhaps like a health tracker it could nudge users towards better behaviour through regular updates on marketing campaign metrics, perhaps congratulating you when you achieve a higher email open rate than usual, or prompting you to make a course correction quickly when something doesn’t go quite as planned.
Used in tandem with iBeacon technology, you could market extra services or products to customers, or ask them for feedback on a specific aspect of the venue or service, based on where they are in or around your building.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Using #SmartWatches is potentially more secure than radio comms in a theatre setting” hashtags=”iot”]
Front of house teams could use smart watches instead of a radio when dealing with customer issues and potentially broadcasting sensitive information, for example VIPs, major donors or people with access needs. It might also be useful for venue management by pushing notifications to your watch to let you know how seats are filling up in the auditorium, for instance.
Your Google Glass-wearing digital box office team could, meanwhile, make check-in even easier by helping customers ‘tap in’ when they arrive at the venue.
When it comes to actually making this a reality, software suppliers who want to adapt their arts CRM and box office software for wearable devices would need a reliable cloud infrastructure first. Making the most of these opportunities will require a massive shift in perception and changes to infrastructure. Bandwidth in general needs to increase and arts venues need to invest in reliable in-house WiFi – none of which comes cheap.
Even if we can get the IT systems in the arts sector up to speed, adoption of wearable technology still has a long way to go
Even if we can get the IT systems in the arts sector up to speed, adoption of wearable technology still has a long way to go. But it’s important that arts organisations begin to prepare now for a sudden shift in acceptance. A recent incident on Broadway shows just how much theatregoers’ behaviour has already been altered by the arrival of new, personal technology. Looking further ahead, what if a brain-sensing wearable could allow gallery goers to get inside the minds of curators to create a brain-based dialogue on new installations? Ready or not, it’s coming.
Libby Penn is Managing Director of Spektrix
As Managing Director, Libby gets to bring her two greatest loves together – theatre and technology. Managing the UK side of the business, Libby is responsible for our sales and growth throughout the UK and Europe, whilst overseeing our service delivery and leading the team in the UK. Libby also works with the rest of the management team to formulate the company’s long-term business strategy, and coordinates with our North American team to develop a global marketing strategy for the business.
She first met Spektrix co-founder Michael in the depths of the ADC Theatre where she spent her time directing shows during university. Libby has an MPhil from Cambridge University in American Literature. She also did a year of directing at LAMDA, where she won the Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award which funded her to create a documentary on child soldiers in Uganda and was aired on the BBC.
Torn between a need to pay the rent and a desire to direct, Libby found a compromise: working as a producer in advertising, with clients like Coca-Cola and Unilever. Libby's career has seen her working in a series of start-up environments, helping grow them into profitable businesses. Most recently, she was working specifically in digital at global agency Huge.
Favourite play... any Greek tragedy.
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