Enhancing Guest Experiences Using In-Unit Technology, with Suneel Goud

[00:02:19] I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. And we are here today with Suneel Goud, who is the c e o and Co-founder of Guest View Guide, which is a sharp N n E C company. Sunil, welcome to the show. Thank you. It's great. Finally get, get yeah, get coordinated. I know we've, we've changed a couple of times. I appreciate your patience.
[00:02:41] Before we get started, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and, and how you aim to found this organization? Sure, sure. Uh, as far as a little bit of my, about my background, I've been in the technology space for, uh, Most of my career and, uh, the last probably 12 to 15 years I have been working in new product development.
[00:03:04] I was at, uh, Microsoft and helped launch products like Microsoft Surface. I was on that original team and there for the first few iterations of that, uh, and then worked on other, uh, hardware and software products like the Amazon Echo and help build out. Some of the ecosystem around that to help drive engagement with the Alexa Voicey platform.
[00:03:28] And, um, so working on things like smart lighting and, and switches and other things like that. And then I came over to, uh, sharp any the, to basically run a innovation business unit for them. And that that's where we developed, uh, uh, gas peptide. And that's what the primary responsibility that I'm focused on.
[00:03:50] Right. So was guest guide something that came about from what you were working on at Sharpen Sea, or was it something that you knew in your mind needed to be developed and that's how you did it? Well, so. As innovation business unit, what we are looking for are new opportunities, uh, to develop products to diversify our business and look for new business models.
[00:04:16] And, uh, what we saw is, so we're, we're focused on display techno, I'll start with that. And um, what we saw is that in the vacational rental industry, that it was a rapidly growing industry. And that there was a real gap there. And we saw that there are a lot of people who are coming over from hotels, for instance, and they have a certain type of expectation, but they get to these units and there's no one there.
[00:04:44] Mm-hmm. And sometimes it's very difficult because the, it's, it's not their home and they don't know how to find and use things. And so they struggled there and we saw a real gap and we saw. We really saw an opportunity to take technology and apply it to that, uh, to help solve some of the problems that we saw.
[00:05:02] Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love, um, seeing over the last couple years how much you guys have really innovated, uh, within that space. And I think so much has changed, you know, from many, many years ago having the, the binders in the units and, and the information and you know, being in somebody's legacy markets, and I'm sure there's many of us that can relate to this, that you still sometimes find those binders that they're end up in a closet or something.
[00:05:28] Yeah. Back in those days. It's tough. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, although. See a number of, uh, products that are coming to help address the solution, whether it's ours or there are various apps out there or tablets. Uh, Although these solutions are coming to market, the really, the primary thing that people are using today still are the binders.
[00:05:50] But I, I think the reality is, is for a guest, they're, they're on vacation and they don't wanna go on vacation and feel like they have to do homework and read this binder. And I Exactly. No, using technology can really help. Engage people in a way that we're used to, uh, um, finding out information. We use our phones every day.
[00:06:12] We're on our PCs every day. And so like thinking about the way that we can, uh, meet those needs for the, that guest in the way that they're used to, uh, finding information. Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And I like that within the unit. I mean, it's a very, it's a solid piece of machinery, right? I mean, like, it's, it's substantial within the unit and it just, it gives a nice look and feel to how somebody should be exploring what they can do in the area and on the property.
[00:06:40] But can you speak a little bit to that? I mean, what, what exactly what, what are the features that it offers and, and what do you include on guest Few Guide for the Property Manager? Yeah, so I, first of all, what I'll do is just start out in case people don't know what Getsu Guide is, and tell 'em a little bit about, just briefly what it is.
[00:06:59] But it's a in-unit digital concierge. And actually I have a, uh, one on the wall behind me that you can see in my background. And, uh, it basically is designed for. The hospitality space and, and property managers and operators. So not just in vacation rentals, but a across the, uh, hospitality space. But to help those property managers and operators to enhance the guest experience by giving them everything, giving those guests everything they need to know about the property in local area, uh, to help in terms of saving time through things like.
[00:07:35] Automation of tasks or, uh, facilitating communications. And then lastly around helping to drive more revenue. So with every guest that you have, staying in your property. So you can really maximize that opportunity by putting things in front of them that are gonna help really improve the stay for that guest, but at the same time, be a revenue generating opportunity for, for the property.
[00:08:00] And isn't customizable though, like for like you go to a property manager and they already have stuff that they worked with the local market and this everything, so they can give you. The, the programs that they've already put in place, you can kind of put that into, into the system, but can they put in their, like, their photos and, and their branding and, and all that?
[00:08:20] Is that something that they can do like at Will or do you set it up for them? How did that work? Absolutely. It's a, it's a hundred percent. Customizable, it's, uh, it's a tool for the property managers. It's not really, uh, you know, us controlling everything in the background. Sure. So there is a management console that you use to control your devices.
[00:08:40] So if you have a hundred devices out there, you control that centrally through, uh, cloud-based software. And so, But the way that we set this up is very flexible. So if you have certain properties that are on the beach, for instance, and you have other properties that are in the city, you can group the type of content that you have and say, only A, you take this information, this is about our organization as a property manager, and imply that to everything.
[00:09:08] Mm-hmm. For these ones, apply it just to these units and maybe then you have some stuff that's specific to the. You know, maybe about the appliances or other things, and you can apply it just to that unit. So you have flexibility to do that, and you can put whatever you want. So if you have local vendors that you're working with and have partnerships, you, you can put those things in there.
[00:09:29] And the nice thing about the device is that we have really. Build this in a way to, um, when the device is not in use to help showcase some of the things that you wanna showcase. So whether it's some local photography to give that unit the feel of the, uh, of that local area. Uh, that that's one thing that you can do.
[00:09:50] But then you can intersperse that with advertisements of maybe there's some, uh, local business or winery, for instance, that you wanna, uh, uh, promote and that that can cycle through intermittently and, and showcase that, uh, when the device is not in use. Very cool. Very cool. And what is it, what is it like for a manager in order to do this?
[00:10:12] So if I, I decided I wanna do it in a hundred properties, like what is the, the cost to get into this and how long does it take to actually deploy it out the property? Yeah. So first of all, the cost is, it's $40 per unit per month. There's no upfront fee. We run on a subscription model. They don't buy equipment then, okay.
[00:10:32] You don't buy the equipment. So, um, it is, um, pretty high-end equipment, but we run on a subscription model, so there's no upfront fee, uh, as far as the, uh, but by the way, there. Volume discount. So as you scale up, we, we have discounts to, uh, uh, help accommodate that. As far as the deployment of this, the way that it works is that, You would buy the devices and then the property manager, whoever their maintenance person is, or uh, whoever's managing those, uh, units physically, would actually go out and install it.
[00:11:08] And it's pretty simple. It's just, uh, hanging onto the wall. So we have a bracket that you drill into the stud, into the wall, and then, uh, and then you put it up there, plug it in, and then it connects via wifi after that. So really it's, it's pretty simple in terms of, uh, the setup. And so you set up all the content through your management console.
[00:11:32] We have some base content that's automatically pulled in there, so if you hang it, it's not gonna be mm-hmm. Uh, empty automatically. Right. But, you know, we really encourage our customers to Right. A way to start to add content, uh, to the. So it, it, it is a pretty quick setup, but, you know, I think there is a little bit of a, a process to refine the content and get it to where you want it.
[00:11:59] Sure. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Now, are you connected with property management systems as well, or what does that look like? Yeah, we, we are connected with numerous, uh, property management systems and, uh, and I, I think we probably have at. 12 different property management systems or more that we're connected with today, but e for, even for those folks where we're not, uh, connected to that particular property management software, uh, we're at always looking to expand that.
[00:12:28] So it doesn't take long for us to get integrated. We have. Our, that process down. So if someone was interested in the product and they didn't see their property management software, uh, system on our page, uh, we have th there's a space for them to, uh, make a request and then we will try to get integrated with that software.
[00:12:47] Okay. Yeah. And that's nice too, that they can also, even if they, even if they aren't connected though, they can still load their content in through the backend, I would imagine. That's right. They can, they can put that in, but ideal. So there, there are really, uh, three ways to get, uh, information in there. So one is that they could, uh, get connected to the property management software system, uh, through an API connection.
[00:13:11] And that's the best cuz then everything seamlessly flows back, uh, back and forth through the system into ours. Um, The second way is oftentimes, you know, even if we don't have that API connection done yet, uh, one thing that we use as a stop gap in the meantime sometimes is that we, uh, a lot of these.
[00:13:32] Property management software systems have a ICA L link that you can grab and you can put that into our system and that just helps pull that calendar information out there and all the reservation data. Uh, so you that, that's a fairly seamless process and quick as well. Uh, and then the third way is, uh, you know, if you don't have any system, So you don't have a Google calendar, you don't have a pm s you don't have anything.
[00:13:57] You can still put it in manually. So those are the three ways you could get information in there. Mm-hmm. Interesting. Do you, um, so like connecting to the pmms is, does that give you the op, uh, possibility or the ability to welcome a guest? Like when they come in, it's like, Mr. And Mrs. Hener, thank you for, you know, your arrival and here's your, like, if you had an itinerary or something, you could put all that on there as.
[00:14:19] Absolutely. I mean, I think that's one of the things that really helps us drive a lot of engagement with our device because yeah, I think it is just, um, You know, it's a real pleasant surprise for people when they walk into the unit. Yeah. And see, you know, hi Miss who's there, uh, you know, welcome to the property.
[00:14:38] And, and so they notice it right away. Right. And uh, and then the fact that it's just this large format, interactive screen is another thing that just kind of grabs their attention. Cause it's not something that they're used to seeing. And I mean, honestly, that's one of. The things about our product that I think really helps drive a lot of engagement with our product.
[00:15:00] We have over a 90%, uh, engagement rate. Uh, so, um, I, I think that's a primary thing, is having that welcome message when a person walks in the door. Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's technology and hospitality all in one coming to here. And you know, the other thing too is that, There's that kind of touch of, of having that up there and you know, saying, welcome Ms.
[00:15:28] Husna. Or there's other things too, like. The property manager can put their branding on there. They can, uh, do things like add a welcome video, uh, during that check-in process or that, um, where they're kind of checking into the DI device, so to speak. And that really gives that property manager an opportunity to.
[00:15:50] Tell their story and make that connection with the, with the guests because, you know, a, a lot of people, and I'll tell you even before I, I've been staying in vrbo os and, uh, and right after Airbnb came out, um, For years, even before I got into this industry four, four years ago. And to be honest, I didn't know that there was a property manager behind the scene really doing all the work.
[00:16:18] Right, right. And right. Yeah. There's a lot of people don't. Amazing experience and yeah, it, it's so critical, especially when you talk about re bookings, to get that message across so that guest knows. If I rebook with you, I know what kind of service to expect, and I'm not just going on Airbnb the next time and rolling the dice, the rolling the dice, uh, the next time.
[00:16:47] But I, I know that you're gonna provide, The kind of great service that I got during this trip. And so making that connection with your brand is key. And I think some of the things like especially right at the beginning where you're seeing the branding, you're getting the welcome video and you're seeing that branding throughout, I think is really helpful.
[00:17:05] Uh, uh, for the property managers. Mm-hmm. I'm thinking Lauren Madewell with her videos, like how entertaining that would be if she had these Yeah. Units. Like people would just sit there and watch her videos. She's like, pick ups all the time. So I love that. This whole concept is really how many, how many actual property management groups do you work with are, or maybe the better question, how many units do you actually have deployed?
[00:17:30] Are you doing it just in the US or are you in other countries too? Right now we're just in the US and we chose to do that because I think the market is pretty sizable here in the us. Yeah. And it's fairly well developed. Uh, so we saw that there was plenty of opportunity without trying to fragment our efforts.
[00:17:52] Uh, we're still a small team that runs, uh, Guest view guide business. And so we wanted to make sure that our, our efforts were focused. It also allowed us to avoid the, the act of having to go through regulations of de many different countries. Sure. Uh, as well as the language issue that comes along with being in some other local markets.
[00:18:14] So like if you going into some of the European markets, for instance, you have to adhere to their, uh, rules around language. Yeah. And so we just decided at this point, while. Focusing on our growth, that there's plenty of opportunity here in the US for us to, um, to gain traction. Mm-hmm. Very. Yeah, would, would love to.
[00:18:36] I'm sorry, did I answer your question completely? I, I wanna make sure that, um, well ask do you have any units you had Oh, so you didn't gimme that? I wanted the number. Okay. Um, I can't give you the exact number, but I can tell you that we have several thousand units out there today. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, that's, that's great to hear.
[00:18:53] So, Sunil, I, I'm just curious, I wanna get pick your brain a little bit more overall on tech within the space. I mean, you've been. In technology for a long time, not just on the vacation rental side, but you're very experienced on, on just tech in general. But what have you seen in the last year? I mean, what do you think is, is the biggest, um, change that's happened and, and just any, anything that you're seeing of what people should be just keeping in mind as, as we move through this year from a tech perspective?
[00:19:21] Doesn't necessarily have to be guest experience tech, but it could be. I think there are a few things that I will point to that I, I see changing in the industry. Some of it more immediate, and some of it I think that is gonna happen over the long term. The longer term. So the first thing that I have seen is even free pandemic.
[00:19:42] There were already issues with labor shortages in this market, but it that really was exacerbated during the pandemic where, uh, because a lot of these thi these, a lot of hospitality, uh, businesses stop temporarily. People had to go find other jobs. And I think what they found is like they could work remotely and, uh, and.
[00:20:07] They, they ended up leaving the industry and so I think you ended up with more of a shortage in the industry. And so property managers have had to figure out, like, as things have come back, um, how to try to attract these people but to do more with fewer people. And so I think that also, Allowed people to start like looking for other options.
[00:20:33] And I think technology is one thing that can help solve some of those things. And so if you look at our pro, uh, our product as just one example, uh, you know, there are tools in there to help with automation. So if you're contacting the guests to let them know about certain things like. It's Thursday, you need to take out the trash tomorrow.
[00:20:53] Just do that one time, automate it in the tool and have that message pop up on the screen every, you know, every Thursday when it's, uh, they need to be reminded. You never have to do it again. Right. So there are tools like that that can, uh, help but also doing things like, you know, we have very rich content in our system, so, Maybe someone calls you about how to operate the AV equipment, and that's a regular thing that people, uh, call you about within your units.
[00:21:24] Just create a video and put that in the device and that will allow you to kind of head off those calls. So I think there are ways to take technology and help fill some of the gaps that you'd have, uh, as a, as a, um, in because of the labor shortage. Right? So I think that's one thing that you, uh, have seen is that.
[00:21:48] Kind of forced people into adopting technology to help solve some of those gaps. And now they're starting to see the benefits. And so that's kind of creating a little bit of a snowball effect for some of this technology to gain traction. So I would say that's one thing that I have seen already happening.
[00:22:08] I think what you're gonna continue to see, And I see this talked about a lot, um, particularly in the, the hotel industry where they're talking about the use of AI and how they can use that to better understand, uh, their customers, the, their, their guests. And, um, I think you're gonna continue to see that because.
[00:22:32] As a hospitality operator, whether you're in vacation rentals or in a hotel, uh, you know, the goal is to really customize and provide a very personalized experience to the guests. And the more information you know and have about them, uh, the better you can tell or that experience to the guest. And so I think that you will continue to see, uh, as AI gains more and more traction that come being used in the, in the hospitality.
[00:23:02] The second thing that I think that, uh, you'll see is that as you collect more data, you know, people want that, uh, personalization, but giving up that information also creates issues around privacy, right? And so I think that, uh, you'll start to see. Continued focus on, uh, getting better in terms of, uh, protecting people's data.
[00:23:26] Uh, because I think that especially with some of the things that have happened in the last several years with whether it's with like Facebook or other things that have been in the media a lot because of privacy, people have gained a lot more awareness of how their data is actually being used, and they wanna make sure that it's being used to better their experience, but that people don't have a free for all.
[00:23:46] Access to that information and how they use it. So that's the second thing. And then the third thing that I'll say is that, along with that, I think that you have, uh, uh, issues with um, um, just. What, what do I wanna say? Like, um, protection of that data. Like you have a lot of people that are trying to hack into those systems and, uh, and, and try to steal that data.
[00:24:17] And so I think you're gonna see, uh, more and more focus around e essentially that. Protection. Yeah. Data protection. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So those are probably the, the three things, or really, I guess four things. So one in the near term and then, uh, three that I see that are gonna continue to change over time.
[00:24:37] Yeah. So we have no idea where we're gonna be in three years, essentially. All this stuff. It just, it just, you, it's so interesting. I've talked to so many people over the last year and a half. You look at the advancements of technology in vacation rentals and how it's just leapt past the hospi, the hotel side of the business, and it's like, what can we do in the next, you know, we, we did a lot of that over covid, so like really over like an 18 month period.
[00:25:03] Where are we gonna be three or four years from now? I mean, it's just really anybody's guess at this point. Cuz stuff is just coming rapidly. I mean, brilliant people like yourself working in this technology world and understanding what can be built and the possibilities and kind of being creative and thinking.
[00:25:18] I mean, I just, I wonder like, or, you know, are we gonna have like, you know, pretend butler's in people's rooms and so telling them how to cook their meals and doing all kinds of fun stuff like that. I don't, you know, there's just so many possibilities out there. I think it's like almost like watching the Jetsons when we were younger, but now you know, it's gonna be reality.
[00:25:36] Well, I mean, I think one thing that you're gonna see is that as things get better, we're gonna take. More and more of the work out of it for the guest and yeah. The, you know, using technology to do that. I, I, it's funny because I think about how my wife and I, a lot of times when we're going on vacation, sometimes I feel like we spend more time planning our vacation than we do actually on vacation, right?
[00:26:04] Oh, for sure. Sure. Yeah. True. Yeah. And I think as you get, collect more and. Data about people. You can start to learn about their behaviors and preferences and suggest things to them to say, Hey, I know that this is what you usually do. Here are the types of things I'm gonna recommend and, and instead of spending 10 hours researching something, I have something that's been highly curated already.
[00:26:34] And it, you know, I can say, well, wow, that's the best of this type of thing. Whether it's like going out to a particular restaurant and you say, you know, I don't need to spend four hours looking for a restaurant. It, it told me like three or four good choices that. The type of restaurant that I like and it's, and now I can just enjoy my vacation.
[00:26:53] Right. Yeah. So, and, and I think the other thing that you see is that a lot of times when people go on vacation, There are more and more people that are in dual income households and they kind of plan things just in time. And I, I can say I'm guilty of that sometimes where we go on vacation, we show up and we're like, okay, what should we do?
[00:27:14] Right, right, right. Yeah. And then you end up planning your vacation while you're on vacation. Right. Yeah. And then that takes away time. You could be out enjoying it. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So I think like, you know, those are other areas where, you know, technology can help. So, um, Annie, I mean, I think it, it it, to your point, like I think that the way things are going to change is you're gonna just start to see more and more of that work, uh, taken out.
[00:27:42] And that's gonna be done through te. Yeah, I'm, I'm curious, so your thoughts on apps versus in room devices. Obviously you guys are in room, but it, one, is there an app component to what Guest U Guide offers? Um, or just what, what are your thoughts on the effectiveness? And I think it can be argued both ways of which is more effective, or it just really comes down to personal preference in a lot of cases.
[00:28:06] But what, what are your thoughts on. Well, so right now we do not have an app component to our solution, and so we are just a in unit device today. Mm-hmm. Um, I think there are pros and cons to each of 'em. And so if you think about, uh, an app, one thing that is nice about it is that it's mobile and that you can, uh, start interacting with that guest from the moment that the.
[00:28:35] Their unit, right? Mm-hmm. And so, right. That's, that's definitely an advantage. Uh, one of the disadvantages I'll say to things like apps is that, um, they can also be outta sight out of mind, right? Mm-hmm. It's like, if you don't think about, Hey, I need to pull this out and start looking through things, then you just, you might not get the exposure to the types of things that you're trying to, uh, showcase to your guest, right?
[00:29:01] Then that's o one of the areas where I think our, our technology really shines because people, first of all, like I mentioned earlier, they notice it the moment that they walk into the unit. And just because of the form factor and the fact that it's an interactive digital device. It, uh, it captures people's attention and draws 'em in.
[00:29:23] And we, we spend a lot of time on, uh, refining our ui. And so I think that makes it very, um, engaging and, and people wanna hang out and play with it and, and discover the things that are there. And so I think that like, that's important too, because. If you don't draw that person in and capture their attention, you can put all the work in the world in developing great content.
[00:29:50] Yeah. But if you never get people to discover it in the first place, then all the work is for nothing. Right, right. And every app, I guess, so many emails that it's like you get an email to download this app and that app, and it's like, sometimes it's just you've had enough. But I, I do agree with that, that when you walk into the room with, with your devices, they could definitely get your attention.
[00:30:08] Right. So, I mean, I think that, Um, they both have their, uh, advantages and disadvantages, and I think there are ways for them to work together to really create a, uh, end-to-end experience for that guest. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I kind of, I was kind of thinking like, as Alex was asking that and you were talking through it, I think of the number of times where in, you know, old days you look through a book and I'd, we'd choose a couple of activities or a restaurant or whatever, we go do an activity and then we forget, oh my gosh, what was the restaurant that we wanted to go to?
[00:30:41] Or what was that thing that we saw in the book? And if we, if we had been able to like maybe scan a QR code of the things that I decided I wanted to do off of the device and bring it with me so that I didn't have to go back to the unit to, to prod my memory, that would be kind of cool. Cause I've, I've done that.
[00:30:58] Even the last trip we took to California, it was, we did that. It's like we had all these ideas and then we got two hours away from that hotel. We're like, what would the that, what would, that one thing that we could, we could remember what the name of it was. Um, right. So, I don't know, just thinking out loud, that would be kind of cool to be able to do.
[00:31:13] Mm. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, for sure. I remember we were at v RMA in Vegas last year, and granted there was the app, but uh, we were standing there and, and somebody said, I just want a paper map. Like, just give me something I can move onto right now. Yeah. Sometimes it, the, the tangible thing, you know, back to the basics.
[00:31:33] It, it does make a lot of sense. Um, there's just so much congestion between emails now that it's like everybody's inbox is, is just insane. So I, I think keeping things simple and just having it right in front of them at the moment that they need to use it is, is, is key. So what do you, what do you think, um, what do you think sne about, I mean, other things that are going on within the industry?
[00:31:53] We talked a little bit about chat G p t before we, we hit record, but that's definitely a hot topic right now. I'd love to get your thoughts on that and what, what it's gonna do to the world as everybody. Clamoring about it? Well, I think, uh, Chan g p t is a great tool. I've actually been playing around with it quite a bit over the last, uh, month or so.
[00:32:18] And I think, you know, what I can really do is to just help you to be more efficient in your work and to, um, I, I would say that's the main thing. It can help you to be more efficient and we are looking at ways to use it within our organization today. And so, uh, one actually example is from a marketing standpoint, we're using it as a way to just generate more ideas and to start to formulate some initial things like, um, early drafts of content, whether that be an article or whether that be things like.
[00:32:57] Email, uh, templates or other things like that. Uh, what I would say is that it's not a perfect tool. So whether it's like chat G P T or Jasper ai or other things like that, uh, sometimes the, the content that comes out of it is All right. And so I, you, you always really do need that human touch on there to uh, mm-hmm.
[00:33:19] Really tweak that and, and get it to a point where it sounds like a, a human writing edit. Not, not, not a computer writing it, but I think that it can be hugely helpful in starting when you, sometimes when you sit down and you're creating content, uh, it takes a lot of time to come up with ideas and really draft those things.
[00:33:40] And, um, this can help you to get from. Zero to 70 or zero to 60 in a very quick period of time, and then you can take it from like 70 to a hundred, uh, percent, you know, wi with that human element. So I think it, it's a powerful tool from that standpoint. Uh, we're also just thinking about ways that we might be able to use this to help our, our customers.
[00:34:06] And so mm-hmm. When you think about, for example, We were talking about things like itineraries. When a guest gets there, how do we help our customers create more and better content? So if you're on that couple's weekend, using tools like these to say, Create a quick itinerary of things to do, the top things to do in the local area for a couple, right?
[00:34:33] And it can, right, do a decent job of coming up with some ideas. And then you may have to take that and say, well, that doesn't really fit or, okay, it, it missed these other three things that I would highly recommend and put it in there. But it gives you that start, right? And, uh, sometimes we, we look at things like that and we.
[00:34:52] We should be doing those, but we have a hundred other things on our plate and we don't ever get to 'em. Right. But if you can take something like this that might seem. I don't have the hour or two to go spend the time doing this, but now I have a tool that helps me to kind of get a start in a matter of 30 seconds or a minute.
[00:35:13] Then now all of a sudden, maybe getting it to the end is only a, a 20 minute process. And, and so I think it can help with things like that. So we're looking at, um, new ways to leverage some of these tools, uh, to, to help us grow our business and to help our customer. We're starting show season. So, um, curious, curious as to what, like on the horizon for guest you guide, are there any big advancements, any big, um, announcements that you're gonna be making that you wanna tell us first?
[00:35:42] Yeah, sure. Well, uh, there is one thing that, uh, we haven't broadly told the world yet, but we just released and. We release a new feature in our product that is around, uh, advertising, analytics, and analytics. As we talked about earlier, we view as something that's very key because it helps you understand your guests and serve them in a better way, understanding their preferences and behaviors.
[00:36:11] And so, um, we've developed some new tools to help you look at the advertisements that you run. Products or services that you're promoting and understand the effectiveness of those and whether it's drilling into those and seeing, okay, what are the most effective times? What are the specific services that I'm advertising that seem to be doing the best?
[00:36:35] Are they doing the best at CER in certain properties? So you can start to really look into that data and then optimize, uh, what you're, what you're advertising. Um, so analytics is, uh, we, we have put some time into developing this and I think we have a really good result, but we're gonna continue to, uh, uh, add more and more stuff around.
[00:36:58] Analytics, uh, in, in our product over time. Yeah, I'm excited to see where it goes. Now. We're, um, we're heading into spring B R M A this week. And I know you're not going to be there unfortunately, but I'm sure we'll get to see, see your team. And this is actually gonna air post, post-conference, but we'll look forward to seeing you at, uh, Vince the rest of the year.
[00:37:17] I'm sure you'll be at, at the international conference, right? And maybe some other ones this summer. Definitely, definitely. I'll. See you there for sure. But first of all, I do wanna say Alex and Annie, thank you for having me on the show. This has been, um, absolutely. It's been really great to be on the show.
[00:37:33] Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. No, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, if anybody wants to reach out to you, Sunil, what's the easiest way for them to contact you? The best way for them to reach me is via email. Uh, so they can reach me at sg o u d sharp n e c displays.com and uh, they can either do that or they can go to our website, guess view guide.com.
[00:38:03] And, uh, there, there's a spot there where they can reach out to the team and that could be directed to me. Awesome. We will include that in the show notes. And if anybody wants to contact Annie and I, you'd go to Alex and annie podcast.com and fill out the contact form right there. Um, and until next time, thank you everybody for tuning in and Sanel.
[00:38:23] We will see you soon and. Thanks everyone. Okay, thanks. Bye.