On your marks, get set, go!

Frits Polman • jun 9, 2021

Yes! We finally seem to have turned the corner. Museums can reopen their doors in increasing numbers of countries. Visitors can barely wait to visit museums once more, and Guide-ID is ready to share stories with them once more. During the pandemic, we worked to make our entire platform easier to use for existing and new customers. In this blog, I will explain why we are truly worthy of the title ‘world’s easiest audio guide’.

We have a number of years of experience under our belt. As of 2004, as a matter of fact. This means that we have a very good idea of what museums and their visitors want. In 2004, when we started working on multimedia guides, all data showed that small screens distract too much from what visitors really care about: the authentic works of art and buildings. When we switched to audio-only and non-distracting in 2009, the pace of things really picked up.

A blurry person walking through a museum on their way to a different display hall

Rapid and controlled growth

So far, we have completed close to 800 projects in 17 countries! We have also developed a system that both grants us continuous control over all our devices, but also provides valuable insights on the stories that visitors are listening to all over the world. Here’s a fun fact: this amounts to over 423 million stories shared since we launched! We never could have achieved such a large number without investing in working efficiently, continual process improvements, and the monitoring of all that data. Furthermore, we also made a number of mistakes during that period. Thankfully, we learned a lot from those mistakes.

Of course, COVID-19 has had an impact on our company. We have grown rapidly since 2009. With almost all of our clients around the world suddenly being forced to close their doors, we had something to reflect on. But, as I also wrote in earlier blogs, our team is very flexible and always ready to go the extra mile. This was also the case when we were forced to intervene in our costs and expenses. While this was far from a pleasant experience, it was desperately needed for our survival and we are thankful that we managed to keep almost all of our clients. As the CEO, I’m proud of our team – especially when I see and hear that our clients are satisfied with our products and services.

We always achieved rapid but controlled growth, which ensured that we could build a good buffer to address any setbacks. As we’re flexible, we’ll come out of this crisis stronger than we were before it. We’ll be financially strong, with an optimized company process, and lots of new and awesome products!

Marlise Meuter using her mobile phone to scan the QR code for the mobile website audio tour

Onboarding made super simple

For new clients, we made the onboarding even better than it already was. We can easily import content from a range of systems to our platform. If a client wants to share a story via our mobile website or app, they can do it in no time at all. Or if a client wants to offer their visitors the ultimate experience via Podcatchers, our optimized logistics will ensure that we can deliver the Podcatchers even more quickly. Clients can start with a small set of Podcatchers and then expand on this when they can welcome more visitors. It’s a great option to have during these uncertain times, if we say so ourselves.

We are on hand to help you

I truly hope that museums will soon be filled with visitors again, who we can tell some beautiful stories – the more the better. In as many countries as possible, at as many museums as possible, with as many visitors as possible. Our team has ensured that all of our systems are entirely ready for this. In the past month, we welcomed many new clients to our platform. In addition to always providing rapid delivery, we always discuss what represents the best fit for our clients and their visitors. So please submit your ideas and let us share your stories. You know where to find me...