Creating the Digital Future of Entertainment (Part 2/2)

Last week, I shared my thoughts on how digital transformation has impacted the entertainment industry as well as our operations at Miral.?

The rise of phygital – the concept of using technology to bridge the digital and physical worlds with the purpose of creating an immediate, immersive and interactive experience for users - showcases that it is more important than ever to stress that ‘digital’ does not necessarily imply ‘remote’.?

It’s also worth considering that technology at?our?entertainment experiences and venues isn’t solely owned by us as the destination operator.?Our savvy?customers also bring their own digital platforms to share?their?experiences. From social media to digital translators, we?work with?our?customers’ technologies to further enhance and personalise their experiences and connect?with?today’s digital natives through?a plethora of?mediums. These interactions ensure we stay ahead of the programme. Leveraging technologies that bring us into the future, such as Facepass, for instance, have led to?an?improved digital ecosystem in the entertainment space.?

By leveraging Facepass, our theme parks are spearheading the adoption of advanced contactless technology for the region, with plans for further expansion and implementation underway. Contactless technology has allowed access to our theme parks using Facial ID and enabled contactless payment at our retail and F&B outlets. Digital enhancements have become vital to the progression of our services for health and safety reasons, in light of Covid-19. Since the adoption of Facepass in March 2021, we have received almost 5K Facepass registrations and 16K entries using this technology at our theme parks. Technology capabilities have been initiated and accelerated due to the pandemic and seeing that they have?not only re-assured the safety of our guests but also improved their overall experience, we intend to keep them moving forward.?

Miral’s digital transformation is also taking place behind the scenes. With the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software called Botomate, we can?automate?repetitive tasks using software robots. While it takes a person approximately 2.5 hours to generate a daily sales report, it takes the bot just 38 minutes. This showcases our commitment to investing in automation and creating efficiencies, thereby freeing up resources to focus on what we do best, which is providing our guests with magnetic experiences. During this shift to Botomate, one of my priorities was to ensure that the AI technology wasn’t presented as a rival to our employees, but in fact, a means to give them greater job satisfaction. I believe it lets the machines worry about the mundane tasks while employees concentrate on?adding?human value to?our?guest experiences.?

However, this cannot be achieved without looking to our partners. We are very fortunate to work with world-renowned, industry leading partners that have helped create a conducive environment for innovation. After 2020’s pandemic lockdown, we witnessed a deepened appreciation for in-person experiences. This is especially true as we observe, through Etihad Arena, that the appetite for live entertainment has also returned with a passion. Our partnership with?Cisco?Vision has allowed us to showcase content on Etihad Arena’s 32-meter by a nine-meter LED screen in the plaza and 270 screens inside the venue. This allows us to provide unique and visually-gripping opportunities for sponsors and partners to promote their offerings to guests, and impact people and communities through technology in memorable ways.?

There is no going back to the way operations were two years ago. Our focus at Miral is on accelerating digital transformation and bringing together the best of our teams and partnerships to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests. We recognise technology as the main driver for enhancing guest experience, improving operationalefficiencies, and even generating new revenue systems. Investing in a digital future is no longer a luxury, but a necessity to?ensure?we as a group are ahead of the?digital movement,?giving our guests the very best experience possible.