Digital transformation in theatres: What it is and where to begin
Theatres in particular were faced with an enormous challenge when the pandemic hit. How best to reach audiences remotely? Could a theatre’s business work at all without a venue? The questions have evolved now that we’re beginning to emerge from the most stringent Covid-19 restrictions: Should theatres go back to ‘normal’? How do theatres now accommodate both digital and venue-based audiences?
The answers to these questions tend to relate to a theatre’s capacity for digital transformation.
No matter where your organisation is on its digital transformation journey, we are here to highlight opportunities and address the challenges of integrating digital solutions into your theatre so that you can continue to connect with and entertain audiences near and far.
What does digital transformation mean for theatres?
Digital transformation requires making use of digital technologies, strategies and tools to change how a business builds relationships and operates, internally and externally. A digital plan, product, or platform can reduce costs, increase efficiency, improve employee satisfaction and create a more engaged and enjoyable customer experience.
Although it can sound like an intimidating term, it is likely that some digital transformation in your organisation has already happened, even pre-pandemic. Having worked with theatres, opera houses, dance companies and arts centres of all sorts, we’ve found that the most common examples of digital transformation include:
Web-based ticketing, shops and donations, often cloud-based
Digital marketing via customer research, online listings, social media, newsletters
Cloud-based HR system
Use of digital and cloud-based tools in financing and operations
Online productions, remote and streamed performances and digital collaborations
GDPR compliance and prioritising of data protection and privacy of website visitors
Adoption of digital can touch every part of your theatre’s day-to-day tasks and management, both large and small. These changes can be behind-the-scenes, migrating work processes into more efficient digital forms, or they can be boldly audience-facing with the production and commissioning of interactive and digital-first plays.
Opportunities and challenges for theatres
Embracing a digital approach for your organisation will generate new opportunities. You can create a more personalised experience for audience members, giving them more control over their bookings and additional ways to stay in touch between shows; increased communication and collaborations with other venues and artists will lead to exciting new products and partnerships; and digital workflows will help to improve operational efficiency, reduce time to market and improve staff satisfaction.
In building a better customer experience, stronger partnerships with other theatres and more effective marketing channels, theatres create new and bigger revenue streams. In fact, according to a 2021 study by MIT, “digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers.”
Large structural changes are always accompanied by challenges, digital being no exception. The main obstacles we’ve seen theatres encounter include:
Lack of in-house skill or access to expert guidance to make the shift to digital
Securing external funding to help finance the necessary changes
Legal and compliance concerns
Showing ROI in the long term
Identifying the best technology and resources for carrying out the digital transformation
Key to remember is that the Covid-19 years have dramatically accelerated digital transformation across all sectors and have raised the expectations of audiences. Even as restrictions ease, there is no going back to the pre-pandemic status quo. The most significant risks are in organisations being left behind.
Why is digital transformation important?
Beyond the growth opportunities, digital transformation has the potential to break down old ways of thinking and bring about important behavioural change.
When theatre staff engage with people online, remotely collaborate with other production companies and analyse web data and performance, they begin to think differently and more creatively about how to interact with and better understand their audiences.
By gaining insight into audience behaviours and attitudes, theatres can improve their user experience and build more resilient business models.
Looking at publicly available, collective data is a great place to start. At One Further we are helping cultural organisations measure the success of online events and how digital experiences compare with audience expectations. According to the latest Culture Restart survey findings, 64% of respondents found online experiences to be better or much better than expected and 60% expressed interest in buying tickets for online events.
Using site-specific and national data from surveys like Culture Restart, theatres can create and carry out digital strategies that are based on audience attitudes and actions.
Where do theatres begin their digital transformation?
Chances are your theatre has already begun its digital transformation and is looking for ways to improve or accelerate your current practice. It’s important to remember that real change must come through the top, middle and lower levels of the organisation. Parachuting in a single expert with ‘digital’ in their job title simply won’t be enough.
Here is a practical list of tips for getting started in digital transformation:
Begin by determining your theatre’s current level of digital competency and integration and how it aligns with short- and long-term goals
Write out a digital strategy with clear, measurable objectives and step-by-step action points
Try to narrow down a wishlist of necessary technologies, choosing those that best fit with your theatre’s aims, objectives and budget. Do you need any external advice?
Designate the person or team of people that will drive the digital transformation, while remembering that you need buy-in from the top, middle and lower levels of the organisation
Implement training for staff and collaborators and cultivate digital thinking throughout the organisation; everyone begins at a different level of digital competency, so take extra care to make sure nobody is left behind
Once a system is up and running, it’s always worth taking a step back and asking: have any inequalities or gaps in efficiency been inadvertently introduced or exposed? Have the changes caused any unintended negative consequences? If so, what can be done about them?
Help is available for assessing your theatre’s current implementation of digital skills and technologies. The Digital Culture Compass is positioned as “an online toolkit to support arts, culture and heritage organisations to integrate digital technology into their work” and includes a self-assessment tool for defining a framework for your upcoming digital strategy and activities.
How can One Further help?
If your team would benefit from more tailored help, we have worked with theatres across many different stages of digital transformation.
We have delivered a range of digital projects from audits and planning to implementation and reporting, working with theatres like the Royal Court, Birmingham Hippodrome and Shakespeare’s Globe and organisations such as Castle Howard and Newlyn Art Gallery.
We offer guidance on digital strategy across marketing, content and usability research. If your staff need training on any of these things then we can put together a bespoke curriculum.
Do get in touch to hear more about how our team of data, analytics and marketing experts can help your theatre.
(Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash)