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Using Bluetooth to Create “Smart Buildings” in 2020

In today’s world, the constant advancements in technology help to add a whole new level of convenience and efficiency into our everyday lives. For years, many companies have been utilizing the new technology to make their offices run more smoothly. But office buildings are not the only ones that can benefit from using advanced technology in the workplace. In fact, malls and museums were the first to update the Internet of Things (IoT). These public venues found that by incorporating these technologies into their establishment, they were able to create an overall better customer experience. Here’s how you can use Bluetooth to create smart buildings and improve the quality of your business.


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Now that technology has helped to create “smart cars” and “smart homes”, many people have come to expect a certain level of convenience in their daily lives. Turning buildings into “smart buildings” is becoming a must especially when we think of office buildings. Many public venues have already started using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to enhance their visitor’s experience. By simply installing Bluetooth beacons into your public space, you will be able to create a more convenient and engaging environment for both your visitors and your employees. 

Improving Employees and Visitors Experience

Because technology is so widely used today, most guests that visit a public venue will have a certain level of expectations before they even step foot inside of the building. In fact, we are living in a world where a large number of children and teenagers have had technology at their disposal for their entire lives. Because of this, the majority of guests that visit any public space expect there to be some sort of technological component set up to make their visit more convenient. This includes the ability to navigate their way through a public building with ease.
By creating smart buildings and implementing Bluetooth beacons into a public venue, you will be able to easily provide your guests with a clear and efficient route to their destination with a familiar and convenient form of technology.

The Benefits of Smart Buildings

With Bluetooth technology in smart buildings, your visitors will no longer have to stand in long lines or create entrance-blocking crowds. Beacons that are placed near the entrance detect when a visitor is approaching the venue. It can then use the visitor’s smartphone to check them into the venue and the guests can even pay for the visit without ever having to take their wallet out. This helps to eliminate long lines at the entrance and can even eliminate manual ticketing completely. The same system can also be used at certain events within the establishments and other areas like the gift shop or cafeteria. 
When Bluetooth beacons are used in an indoor venue, they are able to help visitors to become better acquainted with the facility at their own pace. Beacons can be used to send information to the visitor’s phone to give them a more personalized experience. For example, many museums use these beacons to notify their guests of any upcoming lectures or events. They can also detect where the visitor is in the museum and send them information about the specific exhibit that they are currently looking at. This allows every guest to receive a personalized tour of the venue at the same time, which allows them the freedom to explore the museum in their own way.
Click here to download our ‘Indoor Navigation with Bluetooth Beacons’ white paper >

Give Visitors a Personalized Experience

When Bluetooth beacons are used in an indoor venue, they are able to help visitors to become better acquainted with the facility at their own pace. Beacons can be used to send information to the visitor’s phone to give them a more personalized experience. For example, many museums use these beacons to notify their guests of any upcoming lectures or events. They can also detect where the visitor is in the museum and send them information about the specific exhibit that they are currently looking at. This allows every guest to receive a personalized tour of the venue at the same time, which allows them the freedom to explore the museum in their own way.

Increase Revenue

Enhancing the customer experience in smart building goes beyond providing conveniences to boosting the bottom line of many operations. The return on experience (ROX) is directly connected to an increase in ROI. Having beacons in your venue/building has the ability to increase your ROI. Beacons can sense when a patron is in the area at a nearby restaurant or store. Once known users have been recognized, the system can automatically send push notifications to their phone to notify them of upcoming events or special offers. But over the longer term, better customer or visitor relationships mean more return visits and a greater likelihood of being recommended to others. In today’s marketplace, it’s the experience that drives value for both guest and host. 
Another way to increase revenue is by sending the visitor information or offers based on where they spent the largest amount of time at the venue. For example, some museums will use their Bluetooth solutions to see which exhibit their guests spend the most time at. Then, they will send a notification to the visitor’s phone to let them know about any upcoming events that are related to the exhibit or any related items that they sell in the gift shop. Again, the better the experience, the deeper the relationship can go.

Real-time visibility into staff and visitor location

Public places that have deployed beacons are not only able to improve efficiency, but they can also improve the safety of visitors and the staff.
Nobody likes to get lost in a crowded venue. Trying to find your way through a large building can be both confusing and a waste of time. Because of this, places like large shopping malls and airports use geofencing systems to help guide their visitors to their destination with turn-by-turn instructions. This helps them to stay on the right path to where they are going without having to stop and ask for directions.
Bluetooth also lets you monitor the well-being and safety of employees. In case of an emergency, employers can easily locate staff and see who is in the safety zones and who is not. This will help increase efficiency and decrease the amount of time it takes to ensure that everyone is protected and safe. 

Employee Productivity

BLE helps management to oversee production on a broader scale. With Bluetooth, employers can easily monitor aspects of the business that need to be improved upon, which can help the venue’s overall operations run more efficiently.
Not only is this technology for smart buildings great for improving the customer experience, but it can also help the business side of your venue as well. When you use a BLE system for your company, you will be able to:

  • Boost Productivity
  • Optimize Operations

Bluetooth technology can use beacons to help simplify asset tracking. Instead of spending time on searching for an asset, that time can be directed towards productive activities. Wasting valuable time on anything that doesn’t contribute to the efficient operation of the organization negatively impacts the bottom line. Asset tracking capabilities help you to keep wasted time to a minimum. Also, this technology can help you to better monitor productivity within the company and use real-time data to see in what areas of production are the slowest. By identifying the problem areas, you will be better able to see how your facility and equipment is being used productively and what equipment may be causing bottlenecks.

Improve Efficiency

When public areas provide indoor navigation through Bluetooth technologies to create smart buildings, they are able to increase efficiency for their guests and their staff. With this technology, visitors are able to simply look at their phone, see all of the points of interest that the building has, pick which one they want to go to, and then find the easiest and quickest way to get there. This not only helps the guest to have a more enjoyable and efficient visit, but it also allows the staff to focus on more important aspects of the business instead of having to give directions to several different visitors.

Control Asset Management

With Bluetooth, management will also be able to look at both real-time and historical data to come up with better asset control solutions. By seeing what assets are used regularly and what assets are not used very much, management will then be able to purchase those assets based on how much they are needed, which will lower the overall asset costs by ensuring that money is well spent.

Eliminate Job-Clocking Mistakes

Beacons can also be used to monitor your employees when they are at work. No longer will they have to fill out an old-fashioned timesheet or worry about whether they properly clocked in or clocked out. With beacons, the system will automatically get an update when the employee comes and goes, which will also help employees keep better track of how many hours they have worked in a week. 

Reduce Emergency Response Times

BLE can also use geofencing technology to ensure that there are no security breaches within the establishment. With this type of technology, the beacons are able to detect when someone has entered a restricted area. The geofence is able to alert employees and management when someone has entered or exited an unauthorized area, which helps the employees ensure that only authorized personnel have entered these areas. If there is a security breach, many employees can be alerted simultaneously, which will allow the closest employee to investigate the breach, which could help to reduce the response time.

We are here to help your business run more efficiently. By implementing Bluetooth technologies to create smart buildings, your business will flourish. Whether you are looking for a complete solution, or a reliable beacon and infrastructure vendor, kontakt.io is your expert to help.

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