COLUMBUS, Ohio — Imagine no more queue lines when trying to get into a sold-out concert or being able to skip the beer line at a crowded event that seems a mile long.
“In our testing, it brings lines down from 40 minutes to less than three minutes, really processes efficiently,” says Sumithra Jagannath, president and founder of ZED Digital. Her company created a new ticketing technology product called ZIG that could revolutionize ticketing as we know it.
It involves Bluetooth-based sensors placed throughout event centers that can detect where users are located inside buildings. Orders placed on the app – whether they’re admission tickets or drink orders – are instantly transmitted so customers don’t even have to take their phones out of their pockets.
“The sensors will automatically and seamlessly connect with their smartphones, to check for their tickets, and will give an indication if there's not a valid ticket found or let the usher know, this person has paid for three people and people are entering,” Jagannath explains. “So, it's not on the person to stop and look for their phone and scan it somewhere. It takes out that whole lineup that is caused by that entry.”
A press release from ZED explains how the ZIG Smart Venue Ticketing can be used for cashless, queueless and contactless verification using Internet of Things technology at sporting games, museums, amusement parks, public transit and more.
It’s already being utilized in more than 100 cities around the country, including the RTA in Cleveland.
“I mean it’s a disrupter,” Jagannath says. “And that’s one of the reasons we’ve been getting these awards because the technology is seen to be a potential for disrupting how things are done right now.”
In June, ZED Digital won the Global Ticketing Technology Award at the Transport Ticketing Global Summit in London. Last November, the company was named the winner of the prestigious Best New Product at the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions held in Orlando.
Jagannath says she’s been approached by zoo organizations and even Disney Parks.
“This is the first time the IoT has been used in public crowd management context,” she says proudly.