Uniguest ‘bold’ tech ingenuity at Braves home

Article posted by Coliseum, May 8^th, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Michael Baez’s world today revolves around return on investment (ROI) and the Sales Strategy at the software company Uniguest (US).

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Michael Baez is the Vice-President of Sales at Uniguest and is based in Florida, US. He started his career as an Engineer with Tripleplay (a Uniguest platform) in the year 2015 and then shifted into sales focusing on Tripleplay’s Internet Protocol Television (IPTV – a way to deliver television content over the Internet) and Digital Signage (a platform that displays digital content on one or more screens) distribution software in the sports and entertainment industry.

In an exclusive chat with ‘Coliseum’, Michael Baez, Vice-President of Sales, Uniguest, US, tells that every venue is the same but different at the same time in terms of use cases. He points out that the greatest challenge is the timing “and when we are going about with our deployment work in the venues, in most cases the timing in not on our side. The procurement and the technology teams rarely align together at the right time so that definitely is a huge challenge when we are doing any type of deployments”. Baez also reveals how they contributed to the distinctive guest tech experience at the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Atlanta Braves home pitch – the Truist Park in Georgia, US – by deploying digital signage and IPTV.

Uniguest

Nashville (US)-based Uniguest is a world leader in providing secure engagement technologies, giving its customers the opportunity to connect with their audience via modern and effective digital channels. Through its Digital Engagement Platform, a suite of digital signage, public-use, enterprise video, and meeting room technologies, Uniguest delivers connected content from anywhere to anywhere for its customers and partners.

Tripleplay

Tripleplay is a platform of Uniguest that allows businesses to deliver media content to any device on any network. It includes IPTV, digital signage and video streaming technology and software. Tripleplay is suitable for many environments, including: Banking, Enterprise, Government, Sports, and Venues.

Michael Baez began by stating that as a company Uniguest specializes in IPTV and digital signage solutions – “I want to focus on not just the venues but how we approach a venue for distribution. Uniguest is not just about putting up a TV channel, pushing a video tool screen but there is a lot more that goes beyond that. We do have experience outside of the stadium environment which helps us bring that into a live venue. We bring our signage solutions right into the stadiums and arenas and fans can enjoy games/entertainment show at the flip of a TV channel.”

To Each His Own

He added that every venue “has its own vision on how they want to monetize, a different vision for marketing, a different vision for sales and the technology team’s preferences are also different.”

Case Study

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta Metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League East Division. The 41,084-capacity Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia (US) serves as their home ballpark.

Atlanta Braves New IPTV/Digital Signage Use Cases

Reiterated Baez, “Every approach is different. Every venue is different. They want to set the tech bar when it comes to IPTV and digital signage. For the Braves, we had to pick up the gauntlet of serving the needs of the sponsors throughout the stadium by providing realtime information, entertainment and engaging content. Deploying a digital signage and IPTV platform was identified as the optimum solution to help to achieve this, with over 700 endpoints installed across the estate.”

He added that apart from the above “we also had to look into the return on investment (ROI) factor and also serve up to the Battery Atlanta, the amazing entertainment facility of the Braves attached to the Truist Park.”

The Battery Atlanta, a $400 million entertainment district that surrounds the Truist Park “and boasts a tonne of brand-new restaurants and bars and it’s great for entertaining and indeed they have a lot of signage and communication down to the fans.”

Informed Baez, “In Truist Park, both the visiting team and the home team could not get a realtime feed of the game so the leverage was our time-delayed feature in the dugouts (a low-roofed structure that serves as a bench for a team to sit on while they wait to bat).”

He was referring to the time delay channels – a television channel carrying time-delayed reruns of its “parent” channel’s programing.

Reaping Rewards

Uniguest’s bold and innovative technological approach has brought in the desired benefits for the Atlanta Braves and the technology team at the ballpark has seen considerable business benefits from the deployment. Being able to dynamically change the digital menu boards and offer on the fly promotions has increased the patron satisfaction and the cash registers are jingling. It has also led to enhanced fans’ experience and engagement.

Wrap-up

Michael Baez wrapped up by stating, “We will continue to grow our software platform and we did automate things as much as we can for the Braves. The approach is to take a look at the revenue generating areas in a venue and maybe enhancing and changing the experience in those areas before we start thinking about the concourse and just some other general areas of the facility where the key focus on the potential return on investment (ROI) interactivity in those spaces is really key to help justify those cause and helps make every department happy in a venue.”

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