stadium 2.0, using IT to reconcile emotion and business

Mention: This article was written by Eric Lucas, Senior Manager at Orange Consulting

successfully operating a stadium 2.0 is about using IT to create a virtous continuum of emotions

As the term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, user-centered design and collaboration, stadium 2.0 is our name for the next generation of interactive, attendee-centered, collaborative, Sport and Live Events arenas.
The pivotal task, when designing a stadium 2.0, is to start by segmenting between fans/tifos, individuals/families, VIP’s, corporate clients and medias, and clearly isolate expectations and attributes of each segment, what we call “moments of truth”.
Adding the moments of truth ultimately translates into emotion curves, encompassing the in-stadium experience of course, but also the before-stadium and after-stadium experiences.

reconciling emotion with business, through IT

A stadium 2.0 is, first of all, a brick and mortar stadium, providing basics such as comfortable seating and good viewing.
But that is no longer enough: a match day is a day-in-the life event.
Attendees are ready to invest and, as investors, are demanding a return on their investment.
All being equal, they will compare their emotions with those experienced in any other Live Event, like at the Opera, in a movie theater, etc.
This is where IT comes in: it’s much easier today to IT–enable emotion in a stadium, than in a concert hall.
This is good news for the stadium operator - owner or not - , as long as he is matching expected emotions with a well-thought-out business model.
IT per se is not a guarantee for emotion and more revenue: it is all about having a holistic view (see illustration below) starting from the business model going down to the IT service blocks to deliver the expected customer experience and emotions.

Maximizing attendee revenue is one side of the profit equation. Minimizing costs is unsurprisingly the other side.
IT will also help to minimize costs of operations. Some quick examples:

• any device with an IP address, including systems for controlling lighting, heating, etc., can be remotely and optimally managed via IT
• IT-enabled access control generates all kinds of statistics, which can help to optimize staff allocation within the arena or react dynamically to any event

As the attendee experience is viewed end to end ( before the event, in the stadium, after the event), we believe that there is room for continuous improvement on the operations side: better managing the day before and the day after.

written by Eric Lucas, Senior Manager at Orange Consulting