The Age-Old Challenge of Wayfinding

Wayfinding is a term that has been introduced previously. It refers to the methods and tools we use to navigate complex environments. Think of the signs at an airport, the maps in a shopping mall, or even the breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel. But in today’s fast-paced world, traditional signs just don’t cut it anymore, especially in hotels, where guests want to maximize their stay without getting lost.

Mobile Apps: The Modern Compass

Personalized and timely communication is essential for providing a positive pre-arrival experience. Endeavor to reach out to guests to welcome them, confirm their reservation, and provide them with information about your hotel and its amenities.

• Personalized Navigation: Imagine an app that not only tells you where your room is but also suggests the quickest route to the pool, gym, or dining area based on your preferences. Personalization is key!
• Instant Updates: No more outdated signs or maps. Mobile apps can be updated in real time, ensuring guests always have the most accurate information.
• Interactive Experience: With augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) features, some apps offer an immersive experience, allowing guests to “walk through” the hotel before even stepping out of their room.

The Impact on Guest Experience

Guest experience is at the heart of the hospitality industry. Hotels that understand and prioritize it always stand out. How does wayfinding via mobile apps enhance this experience?

• Reduced Stress: No one likes getting lost. Mobile apps ensure guests spend less time wandering and more time enjoying their stay.
• Enhanced Engagement: With interactive features, guests can explore the hotel and its services at their own pace, increasing engagement and satisfaction.
• Tailored Recommendations: Based on a guest’s preferences, apps can suggest dining options, spa treatments, or events happening in the hotel.

The Journey of a Guest: Before, During, and After

Mobile apps aren’t just about navigating within the hotel; they play a pivotal role in the entire guest journey.

• Before Arrival: Guests can explore the hotel, check out amenities, and select their preferred room. Some apps allow for virtual tours, giving guests a sneak peek of what awaits them.
• During Stay: Apart from navigation, guests can use the app for room service, spa bookings, or to communicate with the concierge. It becomes an all-in-one tool for a hassle-free stay.
• After Departure: The journey doesn’t end at checkout. Guests can provide feedback, book their next stay, or even access loyalty programs via the app, ensuring they remain connected with the hotel.

Why Every Hotel Needs an App

In today’s digital age, having a mobile app is no longer a luxury but a necessity for hotels. Here’s why:

• Staying Ahead of the Competition: Guests expect modern amenities and digital solutions. Hotels with intuitive mobile apps stand out and attract more bookings.
• Data Insights: Mobile apps can provide valuable data on guest preferences, helping hotels improve and personalize their services.
• Increased Revenue: With features like in-app bookings, promotions, and personalized recommendations, hotels can drive more sales and increase revenue.

Challenges and Solutions

While mobile apps for wayfinding are revolutionary, they aren’t without challenges.

• Technology Integration: Integrating new apps with existing hotel systems can be complex. However, with the right tech team and robust platforms, this can be smoothly addressed.
• User Experience: A poorly designed app can be more frustrating than helpful. Hotels must invest in user-friendly designs and regular updates.
• Adoption: Convincing guests to download and use the app can take time and effort. Offering exclusive promotions or features accessible only via the app can be a solution.

Adopting the Trend: Success Stories from Leading Hotels

In the ever-evolving hospitality landscape, numerous hotels have already embraced mobile apps for wayfinding, setting benchmarks for others. Here are some success stories that highlight the transformative power of these apps:

• The Tech-Savvy Resort: A luxury resort in the Maldives introduced an app that not only provided guests with navigation but also allowed them to book private dinners on the beach, spa sessions, and even scuba diving lessons. The result? A 25% increase in their in-resort bookings and rave guest reviews about their seamless experience.
• The Urban Business Hotel: Situated in a bustling city, this hotel’s app became a lifeline for business travelers. Besides in-hotel navigation, the app offered real-time traffic updates and the best routes to the city’s business hubs. Guests appreciated this thoughtful feature, leading to a spike in repeat bookings.

These success stories underline a simple fact: when hotels align technology with guest needs, magic happens. And in this digital age, mobile apps are at the forefront of creating memorable guest experiences.

Conclusion

The role of mobile apps in revolutionizing wayfinding and enhancing guest experience in hotels cannot be understated. As technology advances and guest expectations evolve, these apps will only become more integral to the hospitality industry. Hotels that recognize and adapt to this trend will undoubtedly lead the way in offering unmatched guest experiences.

Chat with us today to discover how we can help you revolutionize your mobile app strategy in hospitality!

The post Finding Your Way to Exceptional Stays: The Mobile App Revolution in Hospitality appeared first on Phunware.

At the forefront of this revolution is the Digital Patient Experience.

The importance of the digital patient experience cannot be overstated, as it plays a pivotal role in shaping patients’ perceptions and satisfaction with their care. Hence, investment in digital solutions is reportedly an essential action for improved healthcare experience.

After all, a positive patient experience can lead to increased satisfaction, improved treatment adherence, and even better health outcomes.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the exciting world of digital healthcare, exploring how technology is shaping how we access and manage our health. From user-friendly healthcare apps and websites to the latest trends and innovations, and the challenges that come with this digital transformation – we’ll uncover everything including the building blocks of a successful digital patient experience.

Understanding the Digital Patient Experience

Digital Patient Experience (DPE) refers to the use of digital technology for patient engagement activities that take place both inside and outside the healthcare environment. Digital patient experience enhances the journey of a patient through a healthcare organization by making the process of receiving care easier and more efficient.

Unlike traditional healthcare interactions that often involve face-to-face consultations, paperwork, and manual processes, the digital patient experience leverages technology to improve accessibility, convenience, and efficiency in healthcare delivery. 

Benefits of a Positive Digital Patient Experience

The implementation of digital patient experience offers several advantages, not just for healthcare providers but also for patients. Some of the key benefits that come with a positive digital patient experience are:

Improved Patient Satisfaction

With the use of digital technology, patients have access to more personalized touch points with their care providers which leads to improved patient satisfaction and engagement. Patients can access their medical records, ask questions, view their results, and even book consultations with clinicians, all from their mobile devices. This promotes a higher level of engagement between patients and care providers leading to better health outcomes.

Enhanced Access to Healthcare Services

Digital technologies enable patients to access medical services, such as telehealth or virtual visits. This is helpful for patients who find it difficult to access healthcare services, such as aging adults or those living in rural areas.

Better Health Outcomes

Digital technologies enable effective monitoring of patient health records. This enhances diagnoses and empowers the healthcare organization to offer more personalized advice. 

Improved Operational Efficiency

With digital technologies, healthcare operational processes become faster and more efficient. From patient check-ins to storage of medical records, care providers can safely manage and store data in the cloud. Automation of healthcare processes such as scheduling, reminders, and follow-ups simplify operational processes, resulting in time-saving and fewer resource requirements.

Building Blocks of a Successful Digital Patient Experience

Patients today expect the same level of convenience and personalization from their healthcare providers as they do from other industries. Therefore, healthcare organizations must understand the core elements of a digital patient experience so they can meet patients’ expectations. The building blocks of a successful digital patient experience are:

Seamless Appointment Scheduling and Access

The first step towards creating a successful digital patient experience is to ensure that patients can easily book and access appointments. Utilizing online booking platforms and implementing virtual waiting rooms and telemedicine capabilities has been shown to increase convenience for both providers and patients thus, they should be a priority.

To further enhance the appointment scheduling and access process, healthcare providers can leverage the digital experience to guide patients throughout their journey, from booking to attending their physical appointments with instantaneous reminders, and GPS and on-site navigation to easily attend their appointments. 

Personalized Patient Portals

Empowering patients with access to their health records, customizable features, and patient-centric information is an integral part of digital patient experiences. Healthcare organizations should develop personalized patient portals with enhanced patient engagement capabilities.

Learn more about how Phunware’s tech delivers unmatched growth for healthcare organizations

Communication and Engagement Tools

Leveraging secure messaging and chatbots on the patient portals allows for effective. Patients can get quick responses to queries, and access interactive and educative resources. This will enable them to better understand their treatment plans and participate more in their care.

Integrating Wearable Devices and Remote Monitoring

Connecting patients’  wearables and implementing remote monitoring allow for real-time health tracking. Integrating devices such as smartwatches, and smart thermometers with patient portals will enable healthcare organizations to capture real-time patient wellness information and offer proactive healthcare interventions.

Designing User-Friendly Healthcare Apps and Websites

A fundamental part of making healthcare services better and more accessible is to ensure the digital patient experience delivers a good user experience (UX). Many factors contribute to good UX, including:

• Intuitive navigation with clear and concise instructions.
• Clear and organized information structure
• Visually appealing design

Responsive Design for Mobile Accessibility

Easy access to healthcare services on mobile platforms is now a necessity, and this is where responsive design comes into the picture. Responsive design helps healthcare platforms to adapt to different screen sizes, ensuring optimized features and usability across devices. It also entails designing healthcare platforms to be mobile-friendly, e.g., the use of large buttons for touching/tapping, optimizing image, scripts, and other resources to reduce load times.

Additionally, apps focused on monitoring and tracking health data need to provide reliable and secure data handling. This denotes the need for effective backend integration, security protocols, and testing approaches. 

Incorporating User Feedback and Iterative Improvements

To create functional healthcare apps and websites, it’s essential to collect patient feedback and iteratively use it to enhance the platform based on their needs. Some strategies for incorporating user feedback for improvement include

• Conducting usability tests with real users to identify pain points, areas for improvement, and opportunities for innovation.
• Providing accessible channels for users to share their feedback, such as surveys, contact forms, and social media.

Overcoming Challenges in Digital Patient Experience

As promising and transformative as the technologies propagating patient experience, some challenges must be addressed to fully realize the potential of the digital patient experience.

For example, ensuring the privacy and security of patient data is paramount as we transition to more digital technologies. Privacy and data security concerns can be addressed by implementing robust data security systems that comply with all applicable regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). 

Additionally, all digital solutions should be designed with explicit data and privacy settings that give patients control over their data.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Disparities in digital access and literacy can lead to unequal access to healthcare and digital services. This results in a digital divide between underserved and marginalized populations and the general population. Healthcare providers can ensure inclusivity by collaborating with local municipalities to create more affordable access to digital technologies.

Additionally, training programs that provide digital literacy and healthcare information to underserved populations can be an effective way to bridge the digital gap.

Overcoming Technological Barriers

Integrating legacy systems with new digital solutions can be a major hurdle for healthcare providers. It can also be challenging to train healthcare professionals to use new digital solutions and technologies. To overcome these barriers, healthcare providers should focus on creating strategic plans that incorporate digital transformation across multiple platforms. It’s also important to provide caregivers with adequate training and support. 

By leveraging the strengths of digital technologies and existing healthcare processes, providers can effectively mitigate any technological barriers and drive greater patient experience.  

Future Trends and Innovations

With revolutionary solutions reshaping how healthcare works, the digital patient experience is quickly becoming the new reality of healthcare. Digital advancements and innovations have enabled us to transform the traditional healthcare experience into something more personalized, accessible, and cost-efficient.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are beneficial for healthcare in terms of personalized and predictive patient care and diagnosis. This technology can be used to monitor patient health at scale, as well as provide personalized recommendations and support for patients based on their medical histories.

AI and ML can also be used to support treatments with evidence-based data, enabling doctors to make more informed decisions about patient diagnoses and recommendations. An example of this is the Canadian AI company Atomwise, which uses AI-supported technology to analyze medical records and predict potential targeted therapies for cancers. 

Virtual and augmented realities (VR and AR) are also transforming healthcare by providing patients with immersive experiences. Phunware is pioneering geolocation-based triggers that deliver timely directions and content to users as they enter and exit the healthcare facility. With AR, this could be further be applied to wayfinding or other onsite experiences.

Furthermore, medical professionals can provide training for healthcare staff using virtual simulations to mimic real-world scenarios. 

Blockchain technology, although still developing, allows for secure data exchange between providers. This enables patients to easily switch between providers without worrying about loss of data. 

Blockchain facilitates data interoperability which ensures that data is accessible across different platforms and sources. This allows healthcare providers to share information across organizations thus, empowering patients to access the best healthcare regardless of their location. An example of such technology is the US-based company MedicalChain, which uses blockchain technology to securely transfer medical records between providers, resulting in better care for patients. 

Conclusion

As we’ve explored throughout this blog post, the digital patient experience is undeniably a cornerstone of modern healthcare. It is transforming how patients access and manage their health, leading to numerous advantages and most importantly better overall health outcomes.

To create a successful digital patient experience, it’s crucial to focus on these essential elements:

• Developing user-friendly healthcare apps and websites
• Addressing challenges like privacy concerns, digital divide, and technological barriers
• Keeping up with future trends and innovations such as AI, VR, AR, and blockchain

Embracing these key components and prioritizing the patient experience will help ensure your healthcare organization remains competitive and can always meet the changing needs of patients.

If you’re new to patient experience or already have an existing patient experience system but looking to elevate how patients perceive the care they receive in your establishment, chat with us to see how you can improve the quality of service one digital interaction at a time.

We provide comprehensive digital solutions for healthcare organizations to enable them to deliver a satisfying experience for their patients.

Chat with us to know how you can improve your patient experience one digital interaction at a time!

The post Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Digital Patient Experience appeared first on Phunware.

For services, the digital front door is the key that gives you access. It’s revolutionizing how people access the services they need and it’s becoming more essential now that services are transitioning online.

The digital front door is more than access to service alone, it also facilitates other important aspects of services. It enables providers to personalize their services and tailor them to their specific customers. It also allows for more streamlined security protocols to help protect customers’ data. 

In this blog, we’ll delve into the digital front door and how it is changing how consumers access services. We’ll explore the technologies that power these innovative platforms, examine real-world examples of thriving digital front doors, and the prospect of digital front doors and their potential impact on industries worldwide.

The Basics of the Digital Front Door

A digital front door is a virtual entry point that allows users to access a wide range of services and resources from businesses, organizations, or governments through a single, unified platform. This concept has gained significant traction in recent years, as more services are moving online to meet the growing demand for digital access and convenience. 

From healthcare to hospitality, the digital front door is revolutionizing how we interact with the services we rely on every day.

The key elements of a digital front door include:

1. User Experience (UX) – a well-designed user experience is crucial for any digital front door, as it ensures that users can efficiently navigate the platform and access the services they need with ease. This means having a clean, intuitive interface, with clear calls-to-action and seamless navigation.
2. Accessibility – a digital front door should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical skills or abilities. This means that the platform should be designed and developed with accessibility in mind, ensuring that it complies with relevant accessibility standards and guidelines.
3. Security and Privacy – as users will be sharing sensitive information through the digital front door, robust security measures and strict privacy policies must be in place to protect user data and maintain trust.
4. Integration – a successful digital front door should feature seamless integration with existing databases, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or even external APIs.
5. Scalability – as the demand for services continues to grow, digital front doors need to scale to accommodate increased traffic, new features, and additional services. This means having a flexible architecture and infrastructure that can adapt and grow as needed.
6. Customization Options – an effective digital front door should offer personalization and customization options. This will allow your users to tailor the experience to their individual needs. For example, you could allow customers to choose their preferred language, and opt for targeted promotions, and personalized content. Delivering personalized experiences will enable you to better engage with your customers and foster long-lasting relationships.

Benefits of Implementing a Digital Front Door

There are many benefits to implementing a digital front door, which include:

Enhancing Customer Experience and Satisfaction

A digital front door can help to enhance the customer experience by making it easier for them to access the information and services they need. For example, a digital front door can allow healthcare patients to schedule appointments online, view their medical records, and communicate with their doctors through secure messaging. This can lead to reduced wait times, improved communication, and increased patient satisfaction.

A digital front door can help to enhance the customer experience by making it easier for them to access the information and services they need. For example, a digital front door can integrate with EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems to enable patients to manage appointments online, view their medical records, pay bills, and communicate with physicians and healthcare professionals through secure messaging. This can lead to reduced wait times, improved communication, and increased patient satisfaction.

Additionally, a digital front door can be used to provide wayfinding and location-based services to help users find their way around a facility and to locate specific services or departments.

Streamlining Access to Services

With a digital front door, customers can access a range of services through a single online platform. Gone are the days of confusing phone menus, long waiting times, and trips to different departments. The digital front door provides a seamless and intuitive experience, allowing customers to find the information with a few clicks.

Improving Efficiency

Organizations can also benefit from a digital front door if they leverage automation and digitization of processes. Automation improves an organization’s efficiency and scalability thereby reducing costs.

Case Studies of Successful Digital Front Doors

Case Study 1: Atlantis Paradise Island Resort

An outstanding case study is how Phunware’s tech helped Atlantis Paradise Island to provide guests with convenient services with an innovative digital front door. The solution enabled guests to discover and book unique vacation experiences, access interactive self-guided tours, and access real-time navigation across the resort.

Case Study 2: Virginia Hospital Center

Another interesting case study of a successful digital front door implementation is Phunware’s powerful healthcare solution for Virginia Hospital Center (VHC). 

VHC’s digital front door enabled patients to schedule both virtual and physical appointments, manage prescriptions, and find a doctor. The digital front door also integrates with MyChart, which allows patients to view information on their vital signs in real-time along with lab results, medications, and medical procedures.

Implementing a Digital Front Door Strategy

To launch a digital front door, we recommend you start by assessing your organization’s unique needs and goals. This involves evaluating your current service delivery methods, identifying gaps and inefficiencies, and understanding your customers’ expectations.

Having this clear picture of where your organization stands can help you better determine which features and functionalities your digital front door should include to address these needs and align with your overall business objectives.

Once you’ve identified your organization’s needs and goals, then you can start creating a detailed roadmap outlining the implementation process. This should include milestones, timelines, and resources required to bring your digital front door vision to life. A well-defined roadmap can help ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page and that you’re progressing as planned. 

Overcoming Challenges

Implementing a digital front door strategy often comes with challenges. For technology teams, the obstacles often include concerns about deployment timelines and internal investment from staff. For finance teams, you often need to justify the ROI on the investment. 

At Phunware we pride ourselves on needing minimal time from internal IT teams and we provide ROI analysis for all of our prospects to win over their internal teams.

Digital Front Door Technologies and Solutions

The core technologies that make up digital front doors include Software Development Kits (SDKs), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), cloud computing, responsive mobile apps, and web development. Two or more of these technologies are often combined to build digital front doors. The three essential solutions of a digital front door include identity verification, authentication, and account optimization.

Identity verification solutions for example in EHR systems verify users’ digital identities, helping detect and prevent fraudulent activities. Authentication technologies are used to authenticate users, granting them access to digital services. Account optimization solutions allow businesses to tailor their customer service for a particular customer, creating a more personalized experience. 

Ensuring Security and Privacy in the Digital Front Door

One of the most important steps when designing a digital front door system is to establish a strong security policy. This should include measures such as

• Stringent password protection and two-factor authentication (2FA). 
• Preventing data breaches with techniques like privilege systems and strict access control policies. 
• Leveraging encryption to ensure only trusted users with a decryption key can read the data. 
• Implementing a firewall and anti-virus to deter malicious actors from accessing the system.
• Performing regular system reviews to identify potential security flaws. 
• Informing users on how you collect and use their data

Digital Front Doors in Different Industries

Digital Front Door in Healthcare

One industry where the digital front door has made a significant impact is healthcare. With the advent of COVID-19 and the ongoing digital transformation, healthcare providers are leveraging this innovative approach to enhance patient experiences and streamline their processes.

A survey conducted by Accenture found that 21% of Americans surveyed are willing to pay for digital health services. The survey also found that access to healthcare has improved for 26% of the respondents.

From telemedicine to appointment scheduling and remote patient monitoring, the digital front door is reshaping the healthcare experience. For example, instead of having a paper-based or phone-based system, healthcare organizations are now able to offer integrative scheduling, tracking, and payment systems. This helps to reduce administrative burdens while ensuring that healthcare organizations can meet the needs of their users.

Remote patient monitoring has also made it possible for activities such as vital signs monitoring, remote physiological monitoring, and mobile laboratory monitoring. These features enable patients to be monitored even when they are not physically present in the clinic. This helps to reduce the need for face-to-face visits, while also promoting improved access to care.

Digital front doors are not limited to remote services; they also play a crucial role in managing the entire patient journey, even when they visit a physical healthcare facility. From navigating to the facility, finding parking, and onsite wayfinding, digital front doors can guide patients every step of the way, ensuring a seamless experience.

With digital front doors, healthcare facilities can now offer mobile check-in options, allowing patients to check in for appointments using their smartphones. This reduces wait times and administrative burdens while providing patients with a convenient and efficient way to access services.

Digital front doors can also help healthcare organizations monitor dwell time – the amount of time patients spend in waiting areas or exam rooms. By analyzing this data, providers can identify bottlenecks and make improvements to enhance patient satisfaction. Additionally, digital front doors facilitate the distribution of follow-up surveys, enabling healthcare providers to gather valuable feedback and insights for continuous improvement.

Digital Front Door in Hospitality

The hospitality industry is one of the most customer-facing industries, and as such, it is constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience. Hotels are now leveraging digital front doors to enhance guest experiences and streamline operations.

With digital front doors hotels can:

• Provide seamless check-in and check-out experience. Long gone are the days of waiting in queues at the reception desk to check in or out of your accommodation. With digital front doors, guests can now complete these processes through their smartphones or other devices, saving time and reducing stress. 
• Personalize their service and recommendations for individual guests by leveraging the power of data analytics from digital front doors. This personalization can create memorable experiences that keep customers coming back.
• Enhance guest communication with hotel staff and improve service delivery such as housekeeping, and query and issues resolution. This instant communication channel not only improves guest satisfaction but also enables hospitality providers to address concerns proactively and efficiently.
• Become more sustainable and thus save costs. For example, by replacing traditional key cards with digital keys, hotels can reduce plastic waste and save on production costs.

Digital Front Door in Government Services

Governments around the world are switching to digital front doors to transform their services. Digital front doors can help governments to:

• Improve access to services thus, enabling citizens to access services regardless of their location. This is especially important for citizens who live in rural areas or who have difficulty getting to a government office.
• Improve the citizen experience by providing a more convenient and personalized way to access services. Citizens can use digital front doors to find information, apply for benefits and permits, and pay taxes from anywhere.

Digital Front Door in Banking and Finance

In recent years, the emergence of the digital front door has completely changed the customer experience around banking and finance.

Digital front doors enable customers to access banking services from their computers, tablets, and phones. With online access to their bank accounts, customers are now able to manage and track their financial activities within a few clicks.

Digital front doors also give the convenience of logging in to complete tasks opening new accounts, paying bills, transferring money, and managing investments any time of the day.

A digital banking experience report found that about four out of ten customers now have an online bank, and 36% of them check it at least once a day.

Digital banking and investment planning services have especially made it easier for customers to monitor their financial activities. This objective for enhanced customer experience has led to the rise of a growing trend of ‘fintech’ companies that are using digital technologies to deliver innovative financial products and services, such as mobile payments, automated financial advice, and new methods of investing.

Digital Front Door in Education

The digital front door is revolutionizing access to and the delivery of education. From online courses to virtual learning, digital front doors pioneering more accessible learning.

For those of us who grew up going to school five days a week, the idea that education can now be accessed anytime and anywhere is mindboggling. Digital front doors are opening up educational opportunities to far more individuals around the globe than ever before. And from the comfort of school buildings or homes, students are reaping the benefits.

From reducing the cost of attending university to increasing the number of courses available, the introduction of digital front doors in education has been incredibly beneficial. With less time spend commuting and traveling, students now have much more time to focus on their studies. It has also enabled students to access the latest development in their field while saving money on textbooks and other resources.

For educators, the use of digital front doors allows them to offer custom and dynamic content. It also allows for quicker enrollment and feedback by using online forms, surveys, and real-time tracking systems. This helps educators stay connected with their students, to keep the students on track with their studies.

Measuring Success and ROI of a Digital Front Door

A well-designed and optimized digital front door will not only drive cost savings, but also improve customer satisfaction, reduce operating expenses, and lead to more efficient public services. 

Some useful metrics for measuring the value generated and return on investment (ROI) of a digital front door include:

1. User experience: This metric indicates customer satisfaction with the overall user experience. It includes assessing how easily customers can find information, complete tasks, and access services and other forms of support. 

To measure user experience effectively, consider incorporating various indicators that can provide insights into aspects such as customer acquisition rates, customer satisfaction, and most importantly, customer service quality and efficiency.

2. Cost savings: This metric indicates the cost savings of using a digital front door over traditional service methods. To measure the cost savings associated with your digital front door, you can check for the reduction in required physical space and improvement in staff and operational efficiency.

To ensure you are getting the most out of your digital front door, it is important to regularly measure and review all these metrics. Doing this will help you understand what is working and what isn’t, and provide you with insights on how to improve the effectiveness of your digital front door.

Conclusion

Digital front doors are transforming how businesses interact with their customers and service delivery to users across different industries. With features such as solid user experience, accessibility, security and privacy, integration, scalability, and customization- digital front doors have become essential for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s digitally connected world. 

Digital front doors are proving revolutionary across various industries, such as healthcare, hospitality, government, banking and finance, and education, bringing users the convenience, cost savings, and personalized service they desire. As digital transformation continues, the power of the digital front door will only increase, driving further innovation and allowing companies to provide an even greater level of service to their customers.

At Phunware, we understand the importance of digital front doors for businesses of all types, thus we provide you with the solutions you need to succeed. Whether you’re looking to attract new customers with cutting-edge digital front doors or need to offer more convenience for your existing customers, Phunware’s comprehensive digital front door solution can deliver the technology you need.

Chat with us today to discover how we can help you transform service delivery!

The post The Digital Front Door: Revolutionizing Access to Services appeared first on Phunware.

With the continued focus on mobile listed as one of Education Dive’s 5 Trends Poised to Shake Up Higher Ed in 2018, now’s the time for higher education to deliver more mobile utility and make the mobile experience more personal. The smartest approach capitalizes on mobile’s hybrid physical and digital nature to serve students, faculty, staff and campus visitors more effectively.

“A smartphone is a digital device, but it moves through the physical world and includes highly specific geographic location technologies that collegiate mobile apps can leverage.”
– Phunware CEO Alan S. Knitowski (Read more)

Start with Mobile Wayfinding

Because they travel around with users, mobile devices have always been the perfect platform for location-based technologies. Since higher education campuses tend to be sprawling and difficult to navigate, nearly every campus app features a map.

PDF maps aren’t enough any more. Integrating mobile wayfinding capabilities can turn your campus app(s) into an interactive digital guide for students, instructors, staff and visitors, providing turn-by-turn directions from any starting point to any location, indoors and out. If your campus doesn’t have a good mobile wayfinding solution, consider adding one ASAP.

Your campus wayfinding solution should be built on a flexible platform that can work with a wide range of hardware partners and configurations, and preferably integrates well with the existing campus wireless infrastructure. Advanced mobile wayfinding also requires location-enabled hardware like Wi-Fi access points and physical or virtual Bluetooth beacons to provide greater location specificity and implementation flexibility.

The good news is, incorporating mobile wayfinding doesn’t have to be a forklift. You can start with static wayfinding (wayfinding that uses pre-programmed routes, rather than moving with each user in real time) building-to-building or only in key complexes, and expand from there with greater beacon or Wi-Fi density and location specificity. The best solutions make it easy to adjust maps as needed to route users around construction, storm-damaged areas, etc.—and to add, change or remove points of interest at any time.

Learn more about wayfinding and other location-based solutions from Phunware here.

VISIT THE LOCATION-BASED SOLUTIONS PAGE

Adding mobile wayfinding to your campus app can do more than just help students get to class:

• It can enhance security. Use day / time rules to direct app users via paths that are lighted at night. Highlight emergency call boxes as points of interest so users can navigate to them easily.
• It can increase accessibility. With the appropriate user onboarding process, you can provide wheelchair-accessible routing for students who need it. You can even offer relevant verbal cues for users who are blind or visually impaired.
• It can streamline traffic during large events (move-in day, football games, graduation). Anytime there are large numbers of visitors on campus, there are large numbers of people feeling lost and confused. Mobile wayfinding helps these visitors find their way confidently and with minimum frustrated wandering. You can make things easier by installing permanent or temporary points of interest to help these big-day visitors—for example, recycling bins and unloading stations for move-in day, picture spots for graduation or big football games, etc.
• It can help coordinate maintenance, deliveries and equipment requests. Campus staff can utilize the same mobile wayfinding platform to navigate the most efficient routes and save valuable time. Mobile equipment can be outfitted with beacon technology to facilitate asset tracking as well.

Next Steps: 3 Ways College Mobile Apps Can Get More from Location Technologies

Once you have a mobile platform and infrastructure to support location-based use cases, there’s so much more you can do. Here are three smart ideas (and they’re just for starters).

1. Location Sharing. This functionality allows app users to share their locations with each other (with permission control). It really comes in handy for retail, healthcare, and hospitality brands—and a surprising number of use cases for college campuses.

• Shuttle bus drivers can make their location publicly available so riders can see exactly how long they have to wait for the next bus.
• Professors, TAs and tutors can share their location with students during library or office hours, allowing students to message them directly or find them easily to meet in person. Groups such as recreational sports teams, lab groups, etc. can enable location-sharing for events and easily find each other, even in crowded libraries or intramural fields.
• Students in a potentially unsafe situation can share their location with the nearest security officer, who can navigate directly to the student by the fastest possible route.

Want to know more about location technology? Download our Location Tech 101 eBook to learn more about different location technologies and how they can work for your strategic goals.

DOWNLOAD THE eBOOK

2. Mobile Engagement. Universities can use location-based triggers to send messages to individual users or groups of users, and even to customize their in-app experience. Messages can be segmented by user, location, behavior and events.

• On move-in day, the school can send informative messages to new students and parents and trigger a “welcome to campus” experience in the app.
• The school can set geo-fences around buildings to trigger messages to students the first time they enter that location, or on special dates (homecoming, graduation, midterms…)
• School PR and sports marketing teams can promote events to students who are likely to attend. For example, say the Athletics department wants to fill the student section for a women’s volleyball game. The university could geo-fence nearby dorms, restaurants, coffee shops or bars and send a message to students within those geo-fences offering free admission. Analytics can also capture the number of attendees who received this message, proving attribution for the marketing effort.
• Student Health Services can message all students with vaccination reminders and other important health updates. When students come within a certain radius of the health building, when they leave their dorms, at orientation, etc.
• Student Life can promote involvement and retention with targeted messaging based on student behavior. For example, students who visit the rec center five times in a month might receive notification of relevant sports clubs they could join, whereas students who attend multiple events in the fine arts complex might receive notice of upcoming art shows. This approach is much more effective than the usual paper flyer or email because notifications can include a link to more information and schedules within the app.

These messages can get even more targeted with additional mobile data. For example, the Phunware platform touches hundreds of mobile apps and a billion devices worldwide each month. If a given device ID uses your college app and, for example, is a frequent golf mobile gamer, you can target that user with a message about an intramural golf team.

Interested in learning more? Download our Mobile Marketing Automation eBook for a helpful overview and key considerations for getting started!

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3. Analytics. By collecting data over time about app user traffic patterns, university administration can understand what’s really happening across the campus. This data can assist in event planning, construction decisions, building updates, climate control and lighting decisions and more. It can also help the school better understand its student body and faculty.

Phunware can help you make the most of your mobile strategies.

Our team has years of experience with indoor and outdoor mobile wayfinding across all kinds of large facilities, including hospitals, airports and mixed-use developments. What’s more, Phunware’s expertise in mobile app lifecycle management and our full suite of mobile solutions means we’re an ideal partner for any organization’s mobile-first future.

To learn more about our offerings, download Phunware’s Higher Education Feature Sheet.

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The post 4 Ways Higher Ed Can Get More from Mobile and Location Technology appeared first on Phunware.

But AR is just one interesting technology. Shopping isn’t the only use case for mobile retailer tech. And a smart mobile strategy isn’t purely about the app. So what is it about then?

Smart mobile strategy is goal-oriented.

If you start by selecting your favorite shiny mobile use case, you’re putting the cart before the horse. Instead, you must start with your business objective in mind. For example, if you want to improve the shopper experience, there are multiple mobile use cases that can enable you to do so—and some of them are actually driven by mobile capabilities built to empower store associate’s, not the shopper’s.

How can both customer- and associate-facing apps enhance the shopper experience? Download our on-demand webinar, “Redefining Retail: Surprising Mobile Use Cases Keeping Retailers Competitive” to find out.

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Smart mobile strategy is platform-based and user-agnostic.

When it comes to mobile retailer tech, Software-as-a-Service mobile platforms provide strong, scalable backbone that is flexible enough to support a wide range of use cases for many different kinds of users, from customers to store employees to warehouse teams and even back-office staff. The app experience and capabilities may be different for different users—obviously, shoppers aren’t going to have the same mobile needs as store associates—but the underlying platform can and should be the same. This synergy enables integrated data collection and reporting across all user groups, rather than creating another set of silos.

Smart mobile strategy is integrated throughout the business.

When e-commerce first started, it was on its own little island, separate from the rest of store operations. Eventually, retailers realized that e-commerce had to be central to the business. More recently, many brands have thought of mobile as a channel, primarily residing under marketing’s umbrella. That’s starting to change as savvy retailers recognize that the best mobile approach eliminates siloes and affects every aspect of the business.

Roughly half of the retailers surveyed in Boston Retail Partners’ 2017 Digital Commerce Survey reported that they are aligning digital commerce initiatives with the store organization, overseen by a C-level exec who manages anything and everything affecting the customer experience. Because mobile uniquely affects not just marketing and revenue teams but also operations, facilities, fulfillment and even product, Phunware CEO Alan S. Knitowski would take this a step further. As he outlined last year, the companies seeing global success with mobile align their mobile application, media and data science teams under one leader who is responsible for all digital transformation across the organization and manages all of these groups as an integrated unit.

Retail’s mobile-first transformation is a marathon, not a sprint.

By taking an iterative, lifecycle-based approach to mobile, retailers can initiate a continuous cycle of positive change that moves them closer and closer to achieving their business goals.

Phunware has helped many of the largest brands in North America develop smart mobile strategies all across the app lifecycle, and retail is just one of our areas of expertise. Want to learn more? Check out our case study of a Fortune 500 department store to learn about how Phunware’s solution helped expand their use of mobile solutions to improve store productivity and employee performance.

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The post Mobile Tech in Retail: Shiny Objects vs. Smart Strategy appeared first on Phunware.

But what about environments where people want to explore—such as resorts, casinos or theme parks? In these environments, mobile wayfinding really shines. It puts a personal explorer’s guide right in the user’s pocket, helping people discover new points of interest and make the most of their stay. And while enhancing the guest experience, mobile wayfinding can also help drive incremental on-property spend and improve guest services’ efficiency and performance.

5 Reasons Mobile Wayfinding Is a Smart Investment for Hospitality Brands

A recent article in Techzone360 describes how mobile and location technologies are powering the smart hotel of the future, yet the hospitality industry as a whole seems confused about how to start or where to go next. According to Econsultancy’s Digital Trends in the Travel and Hospitality Sectors, mobile experiences and analytics represent the top priority for tech investment in 2018. However, another survey—The 2018 Lodging Technology Study from Hospitality Technology—declares that just 26% of hoteliers plan to upgrade their guest-facing mobile apps in 2018, while 22% plan to add or upgrade location technology.

Confusion aside, mobile-first digital transformation is coming to the hospitality industry, and large properties stand to benefit significantly. Whether it’s added to an existing app or anchoring a new one, mobile wayfinding is a strategic way to gain quick advantages now, while building a scalable foundation for your mobile-first future.

Here are five reasons mobile wayfinding is ideal for large-property hospitality brands:

1. It personalizes the navigation experience. People carry their smartphones with them everywhere these days and they’re used to relying on mapping apps to navigate when traveling. Mobile wayfinding brings that convenience to app users when they’re on property, even indoors. Digital signage and paper maps just tell people where things are. Mobile wayfinding tells app users where they are in relation to every point of interest on your property and provides turn-by-turn navigation anywhere they want to go.
2. It streamlines the necessities for your guests. By helping app users find their rooms or parking spots quickly, you’re reducing frustration and speeding them towards the enjoyment (and hopefully spending) part of their stay.
3. It facilitates discovery. As users explore their interactive map of your property, they discover points of interest along the way and can quickly and easily tap or swipe to get more information. Push notifications also invite further exploration—for example, as an app user passes a particular shop or spa, a push notification could be triggered to entice or incentivize a visit. (Mobile engagement also opens up potential revenue-driving partnerships with retailers and food service concessionaires.)
   Learn more in this eBook: Mobile Marketing Automation: Why It Matters and How to Get Started

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4. It can be built on a scalable and flexible foundation. Because the most advanced mobile wayfinding works with a wide range of sensor and location technologies and at different levels of granularity, you can start with the most affordable approach and expand your investment and use cases over time. For example, you can lay a foundation with static wayfinding, enabled by GPS and your existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, then move to real-time “blue dot” wayfinding with more extensive beacon, vBLE and/or smart lighting implementations as your roadmap extends. Increasing beacon density enables greater precision and accuracy and, as you expand, also enables you to use those beacons to trigger more use cases. For example, increasing beacon density on a casino floor might enable app users to navigate directly to their favorite slot machines or tables, or enable a virtual treasure hunt experience for resort patrons with kids.)
5. It’s attractive to multiple target audiences.
   • For vacation travelers, mobile wayfinding offers an added convenience, intriguing technology and a more personalized experience.
   • For meeting planners, it’s a way to help attendees reach specific events and locations relaxed and on time, navigate complex floor plans and even attract conference partners by extending wayfinding to the booth level on a convention floor.
   • For large group travel, mobile wayfinding offers a way to keep large groups connected with tour leaders, find each other easily and navigate to specific meeting points and events with ease.
   • For online travel agents, it’s an added proof point that your property is staying on top of consumer technology trends and ensuring an ideal guest experience.

Use Cases for Enhancing the Guest Experience

With a personal explorer’s guide to your property, guests will be able to:

• Find their rooms quickly and with less frustration
• Discover new points of interest on every journey—including retail and food services, entertainment venues, rides and experiences, etc.
• Locate empty parking and find their cars later (with parking system integration)
• Take the fastest route to amenities and points of interest (especially useful when running late to a show, for example, or hurrying to get to a specific ride or spa appointment)
• Use location sharing to find friends and family anywhere on property or to locate the nearest staff member

Use Cases for Improving Operations and Driving Revenue

Mobile wayfinding isn’t just for guests. By adding wayfinding to employee mobile apps, you can empower even temporary staff to be more efficient and productive while gathering valuable contextual data about both employee movement and guest behavior on property.

With mobile wayfinding in guest and employee apps, your organization can:

• Integrate with RFID or use beacons to track luggage or cleaning carts and more
• Utilize location sharing between staff and supervisors to help optimize headcount at key locations and times
• Share staff member locations with guests to facilitate order delivery, first aid and general guest support
• Add analytics to track guest traffic patterns and help alleviate bottlenecks
• Integrate with your guest management platform to personalize staff touchpoints, push notifications and more
• Collect contextual data on app user behavior while on-property—where they go, where they don’t, frequency of visits, times of day, etc.—then integrate with your guest management platform to better inform your profiles.
• Improve productivity by optimizing employee routing for room service, food and drink order delivery and more.
• Partner with retail, food / drink, entertainment and other guest-service concessions for special location-triggered offers, etc.

Among hotel execs, managers and staff:

• 91% think it’s important to generate insights from guest data to improve the guest experience
• 86% agree that all hotel employees require mobile access to be most effective in their jobs

Source: The 2017 Smart Decision Guide® to Hotel Guest Experience Management

Choosing a Mobile Wayfinding Partner

Mobile changes fast. Even if you have a digital team that’s familiar with mobile strategy, they may not have the necessary skills or bandwidth to enable mobile wayfinding. That’s why it’s usually best to seek an experienced development partner with a licensable wayfinding solution.

If you need to build a new guest- or employee-facing mobile app, look for a provider with a complete, brandable solution and/or custom development program. If you’re just adding mobile wayfinding to an existing app, look for a provider that offers easily integrated mobile building blocks (known as SDKs, or software development kits) that enable indoor and outdoor mapping, routing, and blue-dot navigation and can be customized for your needs.

In addition, look for a mobile wayfinding partner with:

• The flexibility to use your choice of enabling technologies (or a combination), as mobile wayfinding can work with GPS, Wi-Fi, physical beacons, virtual beacons and even smart lighting
• A user-friendly interface that allows you to change maps and points of interest (POIs) easily
• A proven track record of success with mobile wayfinding (ask for case studies)
• Experience working in today’s sprawling hospitality and entertainment environments with super-high ceilings and tight corners, huge indoor / outdoor spaces and labyrinthine corridors
• A lifecycle approach to ensure your mobile presence is built for scalability, expanding use cases and interoperability with myriad mobile technologies

Phunware has been at the forefront of mobile wayfinding for years now, helping organizations across multiple verticals guide and delight app users with personal mapping and navigation tools. Our experience extends from luxury residential to retail and mixed-use properties, large entertainment venues, hospitality environments and more. To learn more about our approach, check out our wayfinding solution videos or download our Hospitality Solution Overview.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

The post Mobile Wayfinding: The Explorer’s Guide for Resorts, Casinos and Theme Parks appeared first on Phunware.

There’s another small-seeming mobile feature that is super helpful in multiple scenarios: location sharing. App giants like Google Maps, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger all allow users to share their location with one another—it’s a great way to coordinate with friends (and get advance notice when somebody is definitely going to be late for the movie).

If, like many retailers, stadiums, hospitals and other physical venues, you have an app for the on-site customer experience, consider adding location sharing capabilities to it. This seemingly small feature provides convenience and social connection by helping people find each other within your campus or facility. Here are some examples of how location sharing comes in handy—useful information if your organization is looking for new ways to enhance the customer experience.

5 Places Location Sharing Really Shines

1. Healthcare: Hospitals and Medical Centers

Patients can share their location with hospital staff so they’re easy to locate in appointment waiting areas or anywhere in the facility. Critical physicians and nursing staff can share their locations with administrators so they can be found in an emergency. Staff can even share their location with patients or colleagues when en route to bring extra blankets, medicines, etc.

2. Hospitality: Hotels, Casinos and Restaurants

Guests can share their location and order details with staff, ensuring seamless delivery. Staff members can respond with an order receipt and the delivery location.

3. Theme Parks and Large Entertainment Venues

Visitors can create location sharing groups with each other, making their friends and family easy to find, even in crowded conditions. In a first-aid or medical emergency scenario, visitors can share their locations with the appropriate staff, who can use navigation to reach them as quickly as possible. Other staff, such as lifeguards or ride attendants, can share their locations with managers, helping to ensure coverage at all times.

4. Retail

Store associates can share their location with app users so they’re easy to locate via in-app mapping and navigation. Alternately, shoppers can request customer service and share their location, enabling associates to navigate directly to them.

5. Airports

Families or groups traveling together can create location sharing groups to stay connected throughout the terminal before, between and after flights. Baggage-handling and flight prep staff can share their location with administrative staff to help orchestrate and coordinate flight transitions.

Adding Location Sharing to Your App

If you’re considering enabling use cases like the ones above, Phunware offers licensable location sharing functionality as part of our Location-Based Services platform module, which also powers indoor mapping and wayfinding. To learn more about the power of location-based technology, watch our webinar:

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For more information about location sharing, download our Location Sharing feature sheet or reach out to me anytime. I love talking about new ways to make apps even more functional and valuable for businesses as well as people.

Download our eBook Location Technology 101 to learn more about the types of location technology and how they work together—so you can start envisioning the possibilities.

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The post “I’m Here. Where Are You?” How Location Sharing Comes in Handy appeared first on Phunware.

Retail’s New Playground: a Guided Tour of the Cisco Toy Box

Welcome to the Toy Box

At check-in, you receive an empty shopping basket and an iPhone 8. This being a convention, of course you need caffeine, so you stop at the Coco Café. The friendly staff greets you and introduces the café’s MenuPad, which presents the available fueling options. You opt for a large mocha latte and use the iPhone you were given to buy your drink via Apple Pay, directly on the menu board. Well, that was easy.

Let’s Go Shopping

You fire up the ToyBox app on your iPhone and got to your shopping list. If this were a real-world shopping experience, the store app would be integrated with your customer profile, so everything you’ve searched for online or added to your online shopping cart would appear in your list when you arrived at the store. Here at the Toy Box, your shopping list shows all the retail technology “toys” you expressed an interest in.

You choose your first item and select “Route.” Using Phunware’s real-time indoor navigation, the Toy Box app gives you turn-by-turn directions right to that item inside the store. (Imagine you’re in a large hardware store, looking for a new flathead screwdriver…. How great would it be to have clear, accurate directions to the right spot on the right aisle, right in the palm of your hand?) You head out towards your first item in the Toddler Toys section of the store.

But Wait, There’s More

As you navigate to your first item, a push notification pops up on your iPhone—”New Item Has Arrived!”—showing you a featured product along your route. You can choose to see more information about that product, but you decide to stay focused. You find your item in Toddler Toys and choose “Scan with MishiPay” to purchase. The Toy Box app opens to the scanner screen in the MishiPay app. You scan the item’s barcode and get details on price, name and brand, then add it to your cart. Behind the scenes, the store inventory automatically adjusts to reflect your purchase.

Not Just for Shoppers

The Toy Box wasn’t only about helping store shoppers explore and navigate from item to item smoothly and seamlessly. The same technology that powers these shopper experiences can supercharge associate productivity related to stocking, restocking and completing Buy Online, Pickup In Store (BOPUS) orders. It can also help store associates navigate to shoppers requesting assistance and even notify them if VIP customers arrive.

Smart, integrated store experiences like the one offered at the Toy Box may seem futuristic, but they are rapidly becoming the norm. Learn more about how some retailers are using mobile to maintain a competitive edge in our webinar:

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The post Exploring the Toy Box at NRF 2018 appeared first on Phunware.

Know what’s even smarter? Harnessing the unique capabilities of LED lighting to enable more than just the illumination of spaces—to improve business processes and customer engagement. Here’s how some forward-thinking companies are experimenting with smart lighting for indoor wayfinding and more.

Visible Light Communications: Morse Code Meets Smoke Signals Crossed with Wi-Fi

We’ve talked about using beacons and GPS to enable mobile indoor wayfinding and other location-based services. These different technologies provide different types of location data inputs that can be ingested by a platform (like Phunware’s) and turned into an app user’s location on a map, for example, or used to trigger a proximity-based marketing message.

To learn more, check out the eBook Location Technology 101: Understanding Bluetooth, Blue Dot, Geo-Fencing and More.

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All digital messages break down to 1s and 0s. With visible light communications (VLC), 1s and 0s are communicated as “on” and “off.” Because they’re built on semiconductors, LED light fixtures can be programmed to switch on and off in specific patterns so fast that the human eye can’t perceive any flickering. Light sensors—like the camera in your mobile phone—can perceive these patterns and decode / receive the digital message being sent. Smart software (again, like Phunware’s) can turn that digital message into a user experience.

VLC Is a Bright Idea for Indoor Mobile Wayfinding

In fact, wayfinding is one of the most exciting use cases for this technology. Here’s how it works.

• Company A updates its indoor lighting with an energy-efficient LED system, which uses VLC technology to pulse out a fast, unique “I am here” message.
• Company A’s mobile app includes indoor wayfinding. When the wayfinding feature is active, the app leverages the smartphone camera to detect VLC signals.
• The back-end mobile platform interprets each unique VLC signal to pinpoint where the app user is in relationship to the smart lighting system.
• The mobile app represents the user’s location visually on an indoor map and provides turn-by-turn navigation to the user’s destination.

LEDs provide extremely accurate location data for use in mobile wayfinding. The user’s device and position can be identified within one-tenth of a second and updated as often as five times per second. VLC-enabled LED lighting fixtures come in a range of sizes and styles, and can be installed as quickly and easily as traditional lighting fixtures. They represent a smart way to upgrade any facility’s lighting for both energy-efficiency and future mobile use cases.

Solving for the Pocket

VLC’s accuracy depends on a clear line of sight between the user’s device and the VLC module. If the user’s device is in a pocket, purse or messenger bag—or if the camera is temporarily tilted or blocked—location accuracy can be affected. Incorporating Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) physical or virtual beacons as part of the wayfinding solution provides a safety net for instances where devices may not be directly exposed to the LED light, with accuracy up to one meter.

Smart Lighting in More Ways Than One

A VLC-enabled LED lighting system, coupled with a location-enabled mobile solution, lays a foundation for multiple future use cases across every vertical. Mobile wayfinding is just the start—location analytics can help organizations understand consumers better and optimize operations. Mobile data can reveal where people congregate within a space, where bottlenecks occur, how long people stay at a given location and much more. These insights can be used to help shape facility design, streamline foot traffic and serve the public better.

To learn more, check out the eBook Mobile Data: the Missing Link in Your User Acquisition and Engagement Strategies.

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When you look farther along VLC’s trajectory, the potential gets even more exciting. Many experts believe “Li-Fi” (light fidelity) networks may complement or even replace Wi-Fi, offering data transfer rates of up to 224 gigabits per second with greater security and higher bandwidth. IEEC Spectrum, the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology, likens Li-Fi with IoT (Internet of Things) applications: “We already have nearly all of the infrastructure in place to get it to work. LED lighting is prevalent, intelligent LED lighting is becoming more prevalent, and it’s all affordable and easy to install for consumers.”

Phunware’s mobile platform works as well with VLC as it does with beacons, GPS and Wi-Fi. In fact, Phunware recently partnered with Acuity Brands to provide a joint solution for a indoor wayfinding enabled by LED lighting. We’re offering a fantastic 90-day trial of this solution—get the details here.

The post Lighting the Way: How Smart Lighting Can Enable Indoor Wayfinding appeared first on Phunware.

The latest cool tech making new experiences possible in the mobile space is virtual BLE beacon technology, which essentially “virtualizes” physical beacons. Mobile platforms like Phunware use beacons as sensors to trigger all kinds of cool mobile experiences—from providing indoor blue dot navigation to sending you a personalized push notification with 25% off those boots you’ve been wanting when you’re just outside the shoe department.

A virtual BLE beacon is essentially an imaginary beacon that can do the same job as a real one. From a tech standpoint, the virtual beacon works differently than the physical one. From the marketer or user perspective, they’re the same. They can both be used to trigger engaging mobile experiences and to gather location, time and other contextual data that marketers can use to understand and target their audiences.

To learn more, check out the eBook Location Technology 101.

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Virtual Beacon Systems Are Easier to Install, Maintain and Manage

Physical beacons are awesome. They’re small and affordable, and they can be placed discreetly in any number of locations in a given environment. But like any physical device, they have to be installed and maintained by a person. Someone has to put them in place, change the batteries and move them around when needed.

Because multiple virtual beacons are enabled by one piece of hardware, however, they require installing and maintaining far fewer devices. The vast majority of the management and maintenance happens through a simple software dashboard. That saves time and hassle.

Virtual Beacon Systems Are Incredibly Flexible

You may not be able to stick a physical beacon on an incredibly high ceiling, but you sure can slap a virtual beacon up there. They can be added easily to an existing Wi-Fi infrastructure or physical beacon implementation. You can even create a hybrid solution that combines physical and virtual beacons to help balance costs.

Making Location-Enabled Experiences More Attainable and More Awesome

Flexibility and easy management mean that virtual BLE beacons bring location-enabled experiences within reach of more organizations—and more people. These same qualities make it viable to install more virtual than physical beacons in any given space. As a result, you get much greater accuracy and performance. And thanks to machine learning in the software backbone, the more a virtual beacon system works, the smarter and more accurate it becomes.

It’s Exciting Here at the Tipping Point

When people first got smartphones, nobody really imagined all of the different ways we’d use them—and there are still possibilities to uncover. As technology matured, use cases grew exponentially, and suddenly we don’t know what we’d do without our smartphones.

Virtual BLE beacon technology is poised to be the innovation that makes location-enabled mobile experiences ubiquitous. But for the average Joes and Janes among us, it might be hard to imagine all the ways organizations can use vBLE technology. Let’s take a look.

• A hospital nurse administrator could monitor and track every piece of valuable patient-care equipment that moves around departments—IV pumps, patient beds and more—right from her phone. She could know exactly where Doctor Adebayo is and how many minutes it’s going to take for her to get from the patient floor to the ICU. She could get an instant alert that Mr. Davis has been in recovery by himself for too long, and speed an assistant to make sure he’s all right.
• A regional outdoor store manager could quickly and easily move beacons around to gather data on shopper dwell time near a new display. When a seasonal summer department goes up, store marketers could install virtual beacons in the area to trigger highly targeted “Happy Camper” messages to shoppers right when they peer into that cool new tent, and trigger the mobile app to change over to a camping theme throughout. In the stockroom, temporary employees could use mobile to guide their re-stocking efforts, getting turn-by-turn navigation through the store and precisely to the exact rack where that flannel shirt needs to hang.
• An airport could install a dense array of virtual beacons to collect highly granular traffic data in baggage claim areas, leveraging all of that information to understand passenger traffic patterns in detail before a planned remodel. During the holidays, the airport could expand its beacon system throughout the terminal, enabling multiple marketing partnerships with retail and food / beverage concessionaires—and delighting app-using passengers with seasonal savings, or even a holiday-themed app scavenger hunt to help keep weary traveling families entertained.

These ideas are only a jumping-off point. As mobile continues to evolve and mature, location-enabled experiences and use cases will continue to expand. Personally, I can’t wait.

If you’d like to learn more about how connected mobile experiences are going to transform operations, management and the customer experience across verticals, watch our on-demand webinar “Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.”

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The post The No-Geek-Speak Lowdown On Virtual Beacons appeared first on Phunware.

Here’s a quick checklist of the groups and departments that are typically involved, along with their primary responsibilities:

Marketing

This team is primarily responsible for providing all content for your app to the app developers. (Also referred to as “assets,” the different pieces of content required for your app might include text, images, brand-approved colors, directory information, maps, etc.) Marketing will work with Patient Experience and your development team to define the user experience for your app. This team is also responsible for ensuring brand standards and promoting your new app, both internally and externally.

Patient Experience

This department—or those who fill this role—will be the voice of patients and visitors in the development process. As such, they will play a big part in defining the user experience for your app. Post-launch, Patient Experience is usually responsible for gathering ongoing feedback from patients and visitors.

Learn more in this on-demand webinar: Using New Technologies to Enhance Patient Satisfaction

WATCH THE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Volunteers

Because they are often the first people to meet and engage with patients and visitors, volunteers are critically important to the success of your app. It’ll be their job to share the app with patients and visitors, encourage downloads, answer questions and help get new users up to speed.

IT, Innovation Lab and/or Product Teams

If it involves technology in some way, you can bet the tech team is going to want to be involved. If you’re working with a third-party developer, most of the technical tasks are handled for you. But your technology teams may be needed to help coordinate any necessary integrations with existing systems (such as scheduling, etc.). You may also want their help to assist with QA and testing just before launch.

Facilities

If you have a hospital wayfinding app, you’ll need help from Facilities to confirm the content and provide ongoing updates about construction, facility closures, etc.

Learn more in this eBook: Your Hospital Wayfinding App Launch Guide: Everything You Need to Be Successful

DOWNLOAD THE eBOOK

Finance

Since you’re already in the development process, Finance should have already signed off on the project. However, the dev process may reveal more features your hospital would like to include before launch. In that case, you’ll need Finance to provide approvals and any additional funding required.

Development

Very few hospitals or hospital systems have the in-house resources to develop their own apps, so most likely you’ll be working with a third party like Phunware. Your development partner will be responsible for guiding you through the process, establishing a schedule and checkpoints along the way, developing your app to functional and brand standards, and helping you make the most of your app through launch day and beyond.

Your Hospital Wayfinding App Champion

Finally, every app launch team needs a champion—a point person who’s responsible for generating internal excitement about your app, keeping teams up-to-date, and tracking your progress. This person will be part cheerleader, part coach, part project manager, and all-important to your team.

Believe it or not, launching a mobile app for your hospital can be fun and exciting! With a little organization and the right development partner, you can sail smoothly through the process. Want to learn more about successfully launching an app for your hospital? Check out our Hospital App Launch eBook for tips on planning for launch day, marketing your app internally and externally, training staff and volunteers to use your app and more!

Download the App Launch eBook

The post Launching Your Hospital Wayfinding App: First, Build Your Team appeared first on Phunware.

In reality, beacons have none of that capability.

A Beacon Is Not a Location-Tracking Device

A beacon is a small device that transmits an identifying code, essentially saying, “I’m here! I’m here! I’m here!” over and over, to any device that is programmed to listen. To interact with the beacon, a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device must be loaded with an application that will recognize the beacon’s code and trigger an interaction with the server. From there, the device and the server communicate—the beacon’s job is done.

Learn more in our eBook: Location Technology 101: Understanding Bluetooth, Blue Dot, Beacons, Geo-Fencing and More.

DOWNLOAD THE eBOOK

Power to the People

The power isn’t really in the beacon; the power is in the hands of the user.

When users download an application, they do so because they believe the application will benefit them in some way, either by entertaining them, giving them information or discounts, allowing them to connect or shop, or otherwise delivering content to them that they care about. They realize that in exchange for this benefit, they must allow the application to collect information about them—that’s how the application knows what content they care about. And of course, the brand benefits as well: it gains deeper insight into its users’ demographics and buying behavior. Beacons simply help make this exchange more relevant.

With beacons, brands can instantaneously reward users with relevant benefits. Imagine taking a trip to the museum:

1. Prior to arriving, the user downloads the museum application to his smartphone. The application asks for some identifying information and for permission to respond to Bluetooth signals.
2. Once the user arrives at the museum, the smartphone recognizes the Bluetooth ID emitted by a beacon near the museum entrance. The smartphone understands that this ID is for the museum application and wakes up that application on the user’s phone.
3. The museum application then sends a message welcoming the user to the museum. As the user moves through the museum, the application “hears” the call of the beacons placed at each exhibit. When the user comes within range of a beacon, the application sends detailed exhibit information directly to the user’s phone.
4. Finally, as the user leaves the museum, the beacon at the exit broadcasts a Bluetooth ID to the mobile phone. The phone sends a message to the user thanking him for his visit and a link encouraging him to support the museum with a donation or to return for the next big exhibit.
5. In this scenario, the Bluetooth beacon never tracked the user, nor did it transmit personal information. The beacon was only a signpost that made it possible for the application to provide the user with the location-specific benefits he requested. Personal information was always within the user’s control. Bluetooth communication was always within the user’s control.

Beacons Are Your Friend, and Friends Respect Boundaries

All friendships require honest communication and boundaries. Bluetooth beacons are no different. They can only communicate with users when they are enabled, and they only communicate to the relevant application. Beacons are the best kind of friend because the user sets the boundaries and the beacon is happy to comply.

For more information about how enterprises across industries are using mobile software and location-enabled hardware to enhance the customer experience, download our on-demand webinar: Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.

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When you think of a beacon, what comes to mind? A fire on a remote mountain? A blinking light at the top of a building? A lighthouse? Just like these traditional beacons, wireless beacons are designed to communicate an important message to everyone within a certain proximity.

Beacons are small Bluetooth-enabled devices that transmit a continuous signal. The signal is “heard” by devices within a certain distance (from a few inches up to about a hundred feet) from the beacon. If a device has the relevant app installed when it recognizes the beacon, it will begin to communicate with the server to “ask” if it has any relevant information to share.

Many companies today are using this location awareness as an opportunity to send contextually relevant push notifications to users’ devices—things like special offers, reminder and welcome messages, and other alerts.

In other words, beacons help people connect in context. Learn more in our on-demand webinar, Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.
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What Role Do Beacons Play in the Network?

Beacons are invaluable tools for mobile interaction, but they are only one element in the location technology universe. It’s important to understand the role of the different location technologies, and where beacons fit in.

GPS is accurate, but because it depends on satellite communication, it doesn’t work well inside a building or anywhere without a clear line of sight to the sky. Additionally, because GPS location detection is persistent, it can increase the load on network traffic and drain the battery of a mobile device.

Wi-Fi networks can be very precise at location detection, especially with multiple routers and add-on software to triangulate their signals—essentially turning the Wi-Fi network into a mini-GPS. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi users are required to consent to network connection, which adds an additional step to the interaction and may reduce the frequency of engagement.

Beacons provide the greatest accuracy; and with the introduction of Bluetooth Low Energy technology (BLE), beacons can be deployed almost anywhere. Whereas once the battery consumption of Bluetooth technology limited its applications, the advent of BLE has opened up a new world of location-enabled possibilities.

Learn more in this eBook: Location Technology 101: Understanding Bluetooth, Blue Dot, Beacons, Geo-Fencing and More.
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Each BLE beacon has a very small footprint and is designed to operate for years on standard coin cell batteries. BLE also supports enhanced range capability of up to 200 feet. Beacons are not only easy to deploy—the fact that they only interact with in-range mobile devices limits costly network traffic and reduces the drain on mobile battery life. Recently, the introduction of virtual Bluetooth beacons has made beacon management and maintenance even easier. Learn more in The No-Geek-Speak Lowdown on Virtual Beacons.

Beacons Help Drive User Engagement

Beacons enable businesses to engage users in real time, a practice that has been shown to deliver a 45 percent interaction rate (five times higher than that of traditional push messages).¹

• Retail locations use beacons to provide their most loyal customers (those with the store’s app on their smartphones) with customized offers while they are in the store. Beacons placed in a certain department or on a certain display can be detected by in-range mobile devices, and thereby trigger a message containing a coupon, special offer or additional product information.
• Schools can use beacons to keep track of district-owned mobile devices. If a student moves a device beyond a specific threshold, like a classroom door, an alert can be triggered.
• Similarly, hospitals can use beacons for asset tracking, thereby reducing time spent hunting down pieces of equipment (not to mention theft and loss). Learn about more powerful healthcare use cases in this on-demand webinar: Using New Technologies to Enhance Patient Satisfaction.
• Anyone in a large building or campus environment—hospitals, universities, municipalities and businesses—can use beacons to help people find points of interest or to trigger “you are here” notifications in a wayfinding application.

Beacons Deliver Valuable Interactions

Although they are relatively small and simple, beacons are powerful technology that can enable groundbreaking use cases. For more information about how enterprises across industries are using mobile software and location-enabled hardware to enhance the customer experience, download our on-demand webinar: Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.
WATCH THE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

¹PR Newswire. (2014) inMarket: Beacons Done Right Increase Interactions by 5x; Beacons Done Wrong Lead to App Deletion. Retrieved October 1, 2014

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While BLE (now called BlueTooth Smart) hardware beacons have been in the market for quite some time, the location-based marketing world shifted when Apple released a standard they call iBeacon. Apple’s beacon establishes an iOS friendly way BlueTooth Smart beacons communicate with Apple devices.

Beacons are quite simple to understand, and very powerful tools for real-time, digital engagement when paired with mobile applications on a consumers smartphone that are equipped to “hear” those beacons. Beacons are typically small plastic housings, often the size of a matchbook with a single beacon transmitter chip and a watch battery.

However, the iBeacon standard behavior is for a beacon to emit its own identifier several times a second, nothing more. Each iBeacon is then programmed with it’s own unique identifier and placed in key spots around a the interior of a building; on shelves within a retail store, in sections at a stadium or near exhibits at a museum. The venue applications are “virtually” endless.

Once the iBeacons are in place, a smartphone or tablet running iOS will then hear them as they announce themselves. In much the way the Doppler Effect works, approaching a beacon generally means the signal it emits is heard more clearly by the smartphone. A rich mobile application can then be programmed to know which iBeacons are associated with each real-world location. Each iBeacon essentially is a zone within a building, for example an iBeacon with identifier XYZ is determined to be located at the entrance to the women’s department within a store. That triggering event as a smartphone enters the women’s department beacon “zone” opens a world of possibilities for brands and advertisers including: sending greetings, messages or content to the smartphone upon entry, hailing an associate to assist a customer in-aisle, lighting up nearby digital signage with personalized content, changing application behavior to turn on in-store shopping mode or influencing the mobile advertising the user will see.

Beyond the incredible new set of customer service, marketing and engagement possibilities for brands and advertisers as they look to leverage the ubiquity and personal access to opted-in consumers, there is an increasingly fragmented field of hardware and software providers popping up. One of today’s differentiators that beacon providers will present is proprietary beacons that do not follow the iBeacon standard.

While there are several reasons and benefits touted by the beacon manufacturers for going with a proprietary approach, ultimately this is not a good long-term solution. Issues could arise such as:

• The mobile rich application must carry a “ride along” set of software from the beacon manufacturer, called a Software Development Kit (SDK) which increases the size of the application that must be downloaded, stored and run on the consumer’s smartphone, taking up more space.
• Non-standard beacons cannot be heard and interpreted by iOS itself, meaning that the application must double the work of the OS by detecting, calculating and positioning itself, which increases processor load and drains the smartphone’s battery.
• Using open iBeacon-based standard beacons means you can source beacons from multiple vendors.
• Most important is that Apple expects the iBeacon standard to be followed. While this is speculation, past behavior from Apple predicts that the app-store approval process will reject applications that run proprietary beacon SDKs.

There are some risks with the current iBeacon standard. It is possible for someone to “spoof” an iBeacon capturing the beacon’s identifier, programming that id into another beacon they set up elsewhere and then triggering false entries from that remote location. This should be considered for any apps that will use the beacons to earn or offer items of value like loyalty points or prizes, or instant coupons. But beyond those considerations, the iBeacon standard is the safest bet for retailers, museums, airports and other facilities that want to take advantage of location’s power for consumer marketing and engagement.

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