AI name of the game in streamlining venue ops

Article posted by Coliseum, February 26^th, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Guy Doucet and Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier are through and through AI people. The duo’s AI expertise has helped the Bell Centre operators in Montreal, Canada, overcome its tech challenges and soar profits and sales.

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Both serve in Alfred Technologies, Canada, and said that after taking up the Bell Centre case, though they are AI guys they went into hospitality.

Guy Doucet is the head honcho of Alfred Technologies and Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier the Chief Revenue Officer. Doucet boasts a career of over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in the technological industry while Gauthier has always been an innovator in any of the industries he has been involved in.

In an exclusive exchange with ‘Coliseum’, Guy Doucet, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alfred Technologies, Canada, and Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier, Partner & CRO, Alfred Technologies, Canada, asserts that artificial intelligence (AI) is a learning process and one should delve into the details for smooth operations of venues or any other entity and AI also help increase sales and keep the coffers jingling.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of living beings, primarily of humans. It is a field of study in computer science that develops and studies intelligent machines. Such machines may be called AIs.

Alfred Technologies

Québec (Canada)-based Alfred Technologies is the only business in the world combining unparalleled hospitality expertise, innovative technologies and precise use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Guy Doucet believes that in the hospitality business “Fifty (50) to 70 percent of the profits are made from food and beverage (F&B). So, we decided to focus on that with our AI expertise when we took up the 21,000-capacity Bell Centre project in Montreal, Canada (the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League), which is like a big hotel – restaurants, concessions and they wanted to leverage their operations using AI.”

The Bell Centre comes armed with five restaurants, 125 different luxury suites and more or less 200 days of operation.

Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier joined Doucet in stating that, “To streamline the Bell Centre operations we deployed operational analysis blueprint and onsite audit of all the workflows – all operation of the beverage – from the loading deck, accounting, moving the stock, restocking – everything was audited by our team just to make sure we can focus every step of the process using AI or manpower. But the most important fact in that is that we need to use tech to help people improve their sales.”

Gauthier added that “as soon as you talk AI we need to have precise data, we need to keep it clear and we need to keep it fireball. Only when all the data is protected can we implement beverage management triggering our AI-powered technology.”

Bell Centre Project Challenges

Gauthier pointed out that the Bell Centre owners/operators had “no overview of the operation for constant improvements. The challenge was that they did not have a realtime view of their stock and if you want to use data, you need to use data on realtime basis, you need to be able to act on them.”

The Bell Centre had to pull up its socks when it came to stock management and Gauthier put in, “We asked them to do some AI modifications in their various warehouse cellars so as to boost the security quotient and ensure that they had enough stocks to offer high-quality products on a gameday.”

Data Key

The duo opined that one has to give real data to increase sales and profits as well as to optimize operations.

Informed Gauthier, “We implemented different kind of technologies from stock reception with AI recognition to inventory striking and ensured they get alert on that, ensured that we manage all the operations and when we implemented all of our tech in the different app inside the Bell Centre we were able to automate almost 85 percent of the task by using different kinds of apps at different steps of the process – stock reception, stocking, inventory management, wine and spirit list updates, operational analysis, restocking, all of that once it is all connected together with 85 percent of the tasks but it will also give you realtime data analysis.”

Added Doucet, “With the Bell Centre project we were not there to replace the existing systems. The objective there was to increase the sales that was the first goal and the other one was to reduce the time they spend to manage all this.”

Sum-up

Guy Doucet and Pierre-Sébastien Gauthier summed up by stating, “AI is a learning process and the more detail one gets, the more precise will be the modus operandi leading to better productivity and that’s our true goal, getting more data and making sure those data will be available for managing people onsite because the more data we give to these people it will result in effective decision-making.”

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