Guy Thier, CIO of Bally Fitness, presented the mobile strategy at Bally Total Fitness.

1. Bally Total Fitness
Technology in Motion

2. • Mobile at Bally
• Fostering Enterprise Innovation
• Bally’s Mobile Technology Vision
• Key Considerations
• Enterprise Benefits
• Future Thoughts
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3. Mobile at Bally
Why mobile
– Fitness corresponds with freedom, movement and action
– Environmental and cultural fit
– Mobile would amplify the experience and environment
Pictures do not convey the environment!
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4. Mobile at Bally
What did we see
– Members already using mobile, but not to engage with Bally
– Employees interacting with consumers while in motion, but then
tethered for system access and transactions
– Technology is detracting from the experience!
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5. Evolution of Mobile at Bally
Innovation Summit Kickoff
Innovation Summit Presentations
Approved Project Kickoffs
Vendor Selection
Designs/Requirements
Development/Test
First Club Live
Dec ’10 Jan ’11 Feb ’11 Mar ’11 Apr ’11 May ’11 Jun ’11 Jul ‘11
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6. Fostering Enterprise Innovation
• Formal innovation processes
– Annual IT Innovation Summit
– Embedded IT
– IT Develop Exploration
• Real results
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7. Innovation Process: Annual IT Innovation
Summit
• Annual summit involving all IT personnel
• Innovation focus areas and teams formed
• Research conducted and solutions proposed by
cross-functional teams
• Innovation ideas presented to IT leadership
during multi-day innovation summit
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8. Innovation Process: Embedded IT
• Permanently embedded IT staff
– Provides open communication with all levels of fitness and
call center staff
– First hand observation of technology, business processes
and member communications
• Seasonally embedded IT staff
– Peak season IT staff embedded in fitness centers
– Shared experiences and conversations with fitness center
staff
– Post peak season debrief focused on how to improve
technology and processes
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9. Innovation Process: IT Developer
Exploration
• After the annual innovation summit, block time
for developers to explore technology in support
of innovation ideas
• Innovation and exploration bandwidth is built into
resource allocations on project plans
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10. 2011 Innovation Projects: Results Center
Key Innovation:
Large scale interactive video display
based upon Microsoft Kinect
• Show a member what their future self
would look like if they adopt a healthy
lifestyle
• Provide members and potential members
with a library of exercise videos for major
muscle groups
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11. Mobile Technology Vision
• Employees interacting with consumers
• Employees interacting with the environment
• Consumers interacting with the environment
• Consumers interacting with employees
• Consumers interacting with each other
• Work anywhere, on any device
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12. Employee to Consumer
• iPad Apps
– Club Tour
– Membership and Personal Training Presentation
– Membership and Personal Training Sales
– Registered Guests
– Who is in my club
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13. Employee to Environment
• iPhone Apps
– Facility Maintenance
– Workout Equipment Maintenance
• iPad Apps
– Repair Requests
• RFID Mobile
– Fixed Asset Inventory
– Preventative Maintenance
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14. Consumer to Environment
• QR Codes on fitness equipment
• Mobile Web
– Guest pass downloads
– Find a club
– Group Ex Schedules
• iPhone/Android App
– Profile maintenance
– Order a smoothie
– Invite a friend
– Kids club streaming video
– Membership ID
• Streaming group ex classes
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15. Consumer to Environment
• WiFi Location Awareness (802.11)
– Automatic check-in
– Post messages to Facebook
– Personalized marketing
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16. Consumer to Employee
• iPhone/Android App
– Find a trainer
– Personal trainer interaction
• Fitness advisor
• Nutrition advisor
• Web
– Meal planner
– Workout planner
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17. Consumer to Consumer - Social
• iPhone/Android – design stages
– Find a workout friend
– Self-organizing interactive communities
– Competition fostering between individuals or locations
• Web
– Facebook communities
– Auto-Tweet activities
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18. Work Anywhere – On Any Device
• Bally IT is 80% virtual
• Employees can work anywhere on any device
using virtual desktops – iPad being the most
prevalent
• Reduced IT office space by 50%
• Reduced desktop hardware and software
support by 60%
• Roll-out to other departments in 2012
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19. Key Considerations
• User Experience is everything
– Augment the environment
– Foster interaction without feeling intrusive
– Emotions through technology
– Common digital language across technologies
• Security
– Transactional security
– Secure access for consumers
• Vendors
– User experience
– Design elements
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20. Enterprise Benefits of Mobile
In locations with new technology:
• Juice Bar sales up 100%
• Member retention up 10%
• Top membership sales in the chain
• Reduced maintenance costs and downtime
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21. Future of Mobile
• Context aware, personalized marketing and
services
– How often do I workout and at which location(s)
– Where do I spend time in the location
– What services do I use (PT, Group Ex)
– What products have I purchased
• Expansive community and social integration
• Mobile Intercept App using natural language
• Voice biometric security
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22. Summary
• Observe the world around you
– How are consumers/employees interacting with other
organizations versus your organization
– How are consumers/employees interacting with each other and
can your organization facilitate or participate in the conversation
• Use technology to amplify your relationship with
consumers
• Almost anything you can imagine is possible, so
innovate
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