Technology provider Built.io, which powers organizations’ digital growth, announced its new fan experience initiative that will help sports teams reimagine how they interact digitally with today’s connected fan.
The Digital Fan Experience Platform is a combination of three different Built.io products and services, some of which have already been leveraged by the Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat for their team and venue apps.
An application development platform allows sports franchises to build mobile or web applications while a content management product separates content from code, allowing teams to manage content across multiple platforms like a VR headset, Apple Watch, in-arena jumbotron or smartphone, among others. Finally, an integration service that has access to different APIs connects various physical devices such as a beacon, sensor or drone along with chat bots, virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.
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Through the use of the new Digital Platform, teams will be able to increase the “VIP feel for fans” — according to Built.io Chief Executive Officer Neha Sampat — as they look to provide more tailored and customized experiences for fans on-site based on their behaviors across team-based apps.
“That whole space becomes a playground,” Sampat said of when a fan is in a venue. “When they enter, are they shooting straight for the restroom or going to the concessions? Over time, as those behavioral patterns start to build, you learn more and more about the fan and can cater a really cool experience to them that’ll be memorable.”
She explained that over time, when and if fans opt-in to have their preferences tracked, Built.io and the franchises it works with can determine how fans engage on social, what they prefer in terms of food and beverage and who are these fans entering a particular arena or stadium. According to Sampat, the sports world as a whole is still at the beginning of building fans’ profiles, with the team then able to provide tailored offers to them based on their likes.
“The opportunities over time as we learn more about fans are endless,” Sampat said. “There’s a real important transformation taking place between the physical world and the digital world, which makes these stadium and arena projects so interesting to us.”
Added Ryan Montoya, Sacramento Kings Chief Technology Officer in a statement: “Connecting our fans with the enhanced tech features of Golden 1 Center allows us to redefine the guest experience. Built.io’s platform allows us to hyper-personalize the fan experience with real-time information, right in our guests’ hands. Together, we’ve re-imagined the sports app into a dynamic digital assistant, gaming platform and remote control to the arena for our fans.”
Sampat said that Built.io, a recent winner of an Appy Award for Best Sports App, is able to provide teams a “whole ecosystem of partners” that it considers micro-services within the sports industry, from ticketing companies and in-seat ordering platforms to navigation tools, that deliver an “end-to-end solution” to the team.
For example, if an NBA franchise launched their combination of a team and venue app with an in-seat ordering vendor through a pre-existing relationship but six months later, a new technology and company entered the picture, based on Built.io’s system, the team could try the new vendor.
As the company’s CEO Sampat explained, “Through the back-end, teams can swap out, experiment, be agile and try new features to see what’s really going to fit with their fans.” Furthermore, if a team doesn’t have a prior relationship with a chat bot technology solution or a company that concentrates in augmented reality, Built.io can provide guidance for an appropriate party to work with, according to Sampat.