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A critical function for any organization is the development of a strategic advantage over its competition in order to ensure organizational success and growth. During 2003 University of Florida graduate student and IAAM member Renee Musson completed a study that investigated the current strategic priorities of public assembly facilities, specifically arenas, stadiums, performing arts centers, complexes, and conference and convention centers, when implementing information technologies. Information technologies are tools that through the use of hardware and software collect, transmit, process, and disseminate information. The adjoining table shows the listing of technologies from this study and the percentage of responding facilities that use each. It also depicts the implementations by facility type to allow a better comparison for your specific facility.

For this study, 928 surveys were sent out to IAAM member facilities. A total of 372 were completed and returned for a 40 percent response rate. The survey looked not only at what technologies had been implemented in the various facilities but also the factors that influenced or prevented technological growth.

When given a choice between customer service, employee productivity or revenue generation as the driving factors in technology implementation, most managers listed customer service as their technological priority; however, the study showed that the public assembly facility industry primarily implements technologies that are geared towards employee productivity, which indicate that information technologies are still considered a solution to productivity problems instead of a tool to enhance customer service or for revenue generation.

One not-so-surprising area of growth is in the utilization of web sites. In a 1996 survey conducted by IAAM, only 51 percent of respondents had web sites, as reported in the November/December 1996 issue of Facility Manager magazine. Also, 42 percent of respondents without web pages also did not have e-mail. In 2003, more than 97 percent have web pages and 99 percent have e-mail. So how does your facility stack up? You might be surprised to find that more than 85 percent of all facilities supply mobile phones to their employees but only 27 percent of venues offer online booking. Some of these categories have great potential for growth and the development of a competitive advantage. For example, bar code ticket scanning was only present in 33 percent of the facilities at the time of the survey but the growth trends in this area are pushing that percentage higher every month. Will your facility be left behind?

While there was no significant difference between university and non-university facilities, it should come as no surprise that newer facilities, larger facilities, facilities with bigger budgets, and those facilities with private management were more likely to implement technologies. It should also come as no surprise that facilities that had managers that were supportive of technological growth were more likely to implement technology.

Technology has become a critical component in everyday life and the growth of its use in our society will continue to lead to necessary changes in the way we do business. The critical components that act as barriers to technological growth in our industry include time, managerial experience with technologies, and cost.

As the necessity for technology grows, so will the technology expenditures but to counteract the time barrier and managerial experience barrier, facilities will need to create plans of action to remain abreast of developments. University venues are in a unique position of having the ability to tap into the resources at their universities in order to ensure the success of staff training for technology growth. Look to your information services departments or human resource training offices to see if programs are offered to enhance the technological skills of your staff members.

Jynda Reinhart is assistant director of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida and can be reached at lyndar@ufl.edu. Renee Musson is business manager at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center and can be reached at musson@ufl.edu.