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[liliseye360-blog]

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[blastlab]

An alternative approach to beacons at supermarkets

So far most of the debate about beacons has revolved around its use in the context of apps installed on mobile devices of consumers. This is mainly because massive attention is directed at marketing benefits, push notifications in particular, of deploying BLE technology.

However, beacons can also be used at supermarkets for gathering data from monitoring the movement of shopping carts and hand baskets, not visitors. In fact, there is a number of advantages related to such attitude.

When data is the key

First of all, predominant goal for choosing this option is to gain detailed insights into actual behavior of consumers in real-time. Not socio-demographic data. Why? Once the customer is in the store, it is crucial to understand which sections are of interest to him, where he stops and for how long and to identify the „black holes” in order to get a better understanding of the customer journey. On the basis of these insights, store management is able to create heatmaps  in order to optimally re-design the store layout and activate less frequently visited areas.

Anonymity

One of the greatest advantages of this approach is data anonymity. The system follows only how the baskets and carts are used. In other words, it tracks how fast the cart is moving, which route it takes and where and how long stops take place. Without linking this with private data or any kind of customer identification.

So how does it work?

From a technical point of view, a little beacon is attached to a shopping cart or basket. It is then detected by stationary BLE beacons installed in the shopping area. Stationary beacons gather data from basket beacons and send them directly to servers.

Customers do not need to download any app, which is a common doubt expressed by retail chains. If the primary goal for them is to gather detailed data, not necessarily to communicate with customers, this is a viable option without certain drawbacks that are characterized by app-based solutions.

In fact, Blast Lab’s approach to BLE technology in which beacons communicate with each other can be similarly applied to hospitals, rest-homes, kindergartens, day-care and many more. We will cover this topic more in depth in the upcoming posts.

image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

[blastlab]

Micro-location and indoor navigation in public administration: smart citizens in smart cities

A lot has been said about the use of Bluetooth Low Energy technology in retail with benefits such as turn-by-turn directions, personalized, location-dependent marketing communication, gathering data regarding customer journey etc. Let’s not limit ourselves, however, merely to commercial, profit-oriented use cases.

We are also all familiar with uses of Bluetooth Low Energy technology in assisting disabled, deaf or visually impaired people in accessing buildings, integrating and digitalizing all the processes in hospitals from patient’s perspective as well as the staff, management and equipment one. In addition, an impressive numer of museums already use beacons to power up their audioguides.

Recently, during our talks with various organizations, we have been faced with a slightly different stakeholder in city areas: local governments and their issue on how to create more friendly public administration for residents in the digital world of smart cities.

Probably most of us have to or had to deal with blurry procedures when trying to done things like building permit or vehicle registration (it is worth noting that these procedures are very often not clearly understood by clerks as well). Very often we get frustrated just by thinking about what’s next: wandering around from counter to counter in order to receive information, staying in long queues, visiting again an office to deliver missing documents etc.

But there is a way to facilitate these processes and mitigate the hassle and frustration for citizens with BLE technology. Taking indoor navigation as a foundation, we can build a complete mobile platform which will essentially be a personal assistant to every resident equipped with a smartphone. The side result (important though!) would also be the streamline of the work of clerks who won’t need to devote so much time to explaining every visitor what, where, when and in which order to perform certain steps of a procedure.

So how can it work exactly? Here are some of our ideas:

 Smart app which, by typing in basic information regarding where we live and what  need to get done, would present us an entire procedure, step by step, with all the required documents in each phase, and where exactly we have to or can go to in order to complete it.

Remote booking of a place in queue or a visit from your smartphone so that one does not have to waste a lot of time at the office itself. The system could inform you in real-time about how the queue is proceeding in order for you to arrive at the office exactly on time.

Turn-by-turn, indoor navigation to particular counters or rooms according to our „citizen journey”, based on the steps that need to be undertaken in order to complete a certain procedure.

Integration of the BLE technology with GPS in order to direct citizens to remote public administration building whenever a procedure requires visits in dispersed offices.

 Automatic update of the steps order or required documents in the procedure whenever the law changes.

Real-time notifications in the app regarding basic information like opening hours, and any changes to procedures which have already been commenced by us.

Personalized, accessible (by citizens) account in the app for every citizen where all the information would be stored. The systems would inform clerks that a particular person has just entered the building (or is approaching) and could prepare all the necessary documents in advance.

Obviously, implementing such solution requires a lot of initial work from the entire office staff, especially in terms of content management, in order to guarantee that all the information in the system is up-to-date and complete. Because of this, there is a great risk that the staff will be reluctant to the deployment as this equals to a little revolution in their worklife. There is no doubt about that. Nevertheless, clear benefits for citizens prevail as we talk about this idea with people.  Well, it doesn’t seem like rocket science but we strongly believe that it would make our lives as residents of smart cities a lot easier. What do you think about that?