Sometimes you need to step back to step forward: a case for digital facility reports

Sometimes as a tech company you decide to research something in depth, find that there is a huge market, but ultimately realise that it’s a bit too ambitious to achieve right now. 

That’s what we discovered at Vastari when we conducted research for the market on digital facility reports in the summer of 2018. I was so excited about how our platform would be able to help museums, collectors and exhibition producers to conduct more effective due diligence on their partners. A facility report is what is used to figure out whether the partner you’re speaking to has the physical capacity to host the exhibition or loan you’re proposing, and helps a Lender understand what the risks are even if you’re not able to visit the museum or venue.

The findings from our research were so exciting, there was so much potential - and then we uncovered that the attitudes of museums towards a tech company helping with this would not be positive. The facility reports are considered public domain information, and even though there are technology solutions out there to make sure the data stays in the hands of the museums, it was one step too far for a private company like Vastari to develop this at the time.

Earlier this year, we decided to share our findings with the industry rather than sitting on them after all the research we did. We approached the AAM’s Center for the Future of Museums, led by the brilliant Elizabeth Merritt, and she said it would make sense to share these findings with the museum community. 

On Monday, the AAM published the article. Titled “The Case for Digital Facility Reports”, it describes what a facility report is, why they’re important, and shares some of Vastari’s findings from the results of dozens of interviews and surveys to identify the market demand. It mentions 5 reasons why digital facility reports are the future. It even quotes some industry greats like Dr James Bradburne and Christina Schwarz and shines a light on work that Axa Art did in this space.

I hope you enjoy reading it and, as it states at the end of the article, if anyone would like to discuss the future potential of a digital facility report platform with us, we are still very keen for this to happen!