The
Miami Dolphins are making progress on a plan to collect data throughout Sun Life Stadium to use in fine-tuning the fan experience, said
Tery Howard, the organization's chief technology officer, at a conference Thursday.
“We want to know who you are, and how do you interact with us,” she said on stage at ITEXPO in Miami Beach.
Two years ago,
IBM approached the Dolphins about using its Smarter Cities analytics technology to help optimize stadium operations. The organization installed more than 1,000 sensors or beacons with the goal of picking up data from special smartphone apps, stadium cash registers, gate sensors, weather and traffic systems, Howard said.
“We want to be able to say, 'Hey you, there is a closer concession stand 50 yards away that has the same menu items and there’s no lines there,'” she said.
Howard was joined on a panel by
Herman Nell, chief information officer at
Rent-A-Center, and a technology officer from
Teradata Corp.
A woman in the audience asked the panelists if collecting data on customers was dehumanizing.
“Actually, mass marketing without data is more dehumanizing,” Nell said. “I don’t think any executive can afford to be unethical in how they handle data anymore. There’s an immediate reaction from the public and you pay dearly for it. There’s a big shift toward respect for customers in how you use data, especially credit card data.”
