In today’s highly connected world, the word “smart” has been attached to everything from refrigerators to factories.
Despite the growing evidence proving the benefits of digital transformation, some venue operators are skeptical about whether a “smart venue” is necessary, affordable, or even realistic.
That’s totally understandable. After all, most of us resist change.
However, facilities that adopt even a basic level of smart technology are seeing real operational and financial benefits.
Keep reading to learn more about what smart venues are, why they’re beneficial, how to determine your venue’s level of digital maturity, and what you can do to become a more connected venue.
A smart venue is a physical space that uses connected technologies to optimize operations and enhance the customer experience.
Some of the common technologies you’ll find inside a smart venue include:
By incorporating all of these modern tools into your venue, you can transform the way you serve customers—delivering stronger and stronger experiences along the way. For these reasons, it comes as no surprise that the smart venue market is expected to increase from $14.3 billion in 2023 to $34.5 billion in 2028, a growth of more than 19.2 percent each year.
There’s a reason today’s leading venues are increasingly embracing technology: Doing so delivers a ton of benefits.
Using advanced technology, smart venues employ real-time data analytics, surveillance systems, and crowd management tools to monitor and respond to potential risks. These proactive measures improve overall safety by ensuring rapid responses and better protection for event attendees.
In the event an emergency happens, smart venues also enable you to respond faster. Using an incident management system, you can track incidents in real time to rapidly coordinate your responses.Smart venues optimize operations by leveraging data, automation, and predictive analytics to allocate resources efficiently, thereby reducing costs and waste. This includes managing lighting, climate control, and maintenance based on real-time data, ensuring that the venue provides a seamless experience to visitors and staff alike.
Smart venues enhance the guest experience by offering personalized services and interactive features. Such venues provide real-time information, wayfinding assistance, and mobile apps for easy navigation. By offering high-quality connectivity, augmented reality experiences, and customized services, smart venues ultimately make the visit more memorable for attendees—increasing the chance they’ll come back in the future.
Powered by energy-efficient systems—such as LED lighting and renewable energy sources—smart venues tend to have lower carbon footprints than their counterparts of yesteryear. These modern venues have smart waste management and water conservation measures, further minimizing environmental impact. In an age where customers increasingly care about sustainability, this benefit can’t be overlooked.
Smart venues reduce risk by using advanced technology for early threat detection and crisis management. By employing surveillance systems, sensors, and data analytics to identify potential security, safety, or operational issues, they enable facility managers to take a proactive approach to risks and mitigate them before they spiral out of control.
Using access control systems, surveillance cameras, and robust cybersecurity measures, smart venues safeguard both physical and digital assets. While advanced authentication methods and encryption protect data, AI-powered systems help identify and respond to potential threats. Altogether, this adds up to a much stronger security posture.
The benefits of smart venues speak for themselves. So how does your facility stack up?
There are five stages of digital maturity for venue operations management:
As you begin determining how “smart” your venue is, ask yourself these questions:
Wondering how you can evolve into a legitimate smart venue?
It starts with having the right tools.
By investing in a modern computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), you get all the tools you need to optimize facility management in one feature-rich interface.
With the right solution in place, you can request and track activities, stay connected throughout the venue via Wi-Fi, cellular, and even offline access, and stay connected to your team wherever they happen to be. With conversation thread histories, the ability to schedule conversations, and event day alerts that notify relevant stakeholders of traffic, weather, and parking updates, it’s the easiest way to keep your team aligned.
Taking your facility to the next level and becoming a smart venue is only possible when you have a feature-rich CMMS powering your operations.
To learn more about how to take the first step in your journey to becoming a smart venue, check this out.