If Humans Use It The Internet Of Things Will Connect It
The world is changing around us all, and we here at Gym Insight are working to track the new trends, and attempting to relate them back to gym business ownership. If you can start a fitness business with a laptop or tablet, the right membership management software and a rack full of kettle bells, congratulations! You are probably on to a good thing. That accessibility comes from the power of your hard work, people skills and Gym Insight software. We would certainly love to help you find your success.
If you haven’t heard the latest buzzword floating around yet, you will soon be hearing about the Internet of Things. So, what is it and what’s it got to do with you as a gym owner? Soon, anything with electronics in it and sensors is likely to have the capability to connect to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or to be hard-wired into the Internet, to share information and allow control from any connected remote system.
The Internet Of Things Will Integrate Information
All of the electronic appliances in your home or workplace that connect to the IoT will give you information and control right from your computer or connected device. In the gym, it will generate a huge amount of data about how members utilize your equipment in real-time. Gym owners, trainers and members will have information, and the vendors that sell and lease the equipment to you will have real-time information also.
What does this all mean? Potentially, members should get improved workouts and tailored training service, you will know what equipment gives the biggest return on investment, and vendors will find out when the equipment needs servicing and what parts to order. I think that the benefit will be better fitness results, greater ROI for you, and faster, less downtime and cheaper service agreements for equipment.
The Logical Digital Progression
Intel Corporation is making a big push for a leading position in IoT technology and applying it to all types of businesses and activities, including fitness. That company’s demonstration video on this link shows a gym member checking in biometrically and then using equipment and even continuing to exercise at home while it’s all part of one integrated database, accessible by you from anywhere.
The IoT’s implications for fitness are anyone’s guess at this point. Despite Intel’s ideas of what it means, radically new technology tends to have rampant unintended consequences. The same will no doubt be true of the IoT. The gym business is very diverse and competitive so that there is always some innovation in business models and technology disruptions. The next five years will see immense changes in what you can do and track in the gym.
Prepare To Be Assimilated
Owning any small business is a full-time job, times three. One of the secrets of long-term success is not waking up one day to find that the world has changed around you, and the marketplace has fallen out from under you. The best that anyone can do to prevent that is to stay in touch with what’s going on.
What’s going on presently is the growing interconnectedness of everything, which is why they call it the Internet of Things. Taking advantage of any new automation and connection tools is bound to be a plus for your business, assuming you figure out how to get the most from it.
It will probably mean refitting your gym with new Wi-Fi-connected equipment. It also means learning how to use the system as whole and determining how to get the most out of the reporting features, and teaching trainers to update their practices. You would be able to extend your training services to include activity done elsewhere (call it homework?) and recorded by wearables and smartphones.
Keeping The Magic Behind The Curtain
Members who are technophobic to any degree might shy away if the tech is too prominent; even though other, more sophisticated segments might love it. If you do support a tech-shy marketplace keeping the IoT aspects of your gym discretely concealed might be a design and marketing strategy that delivers information to the members who want it while staying out of the awareness of those who would react negatively.
The ultimate strategy might involve finding ways to integrate new technologies without the members becoming aware that it is happening. Beyond the information they receive, do members need to see behind the curtain? The strategies that ultimately prove to be fruitful in the evolution of IoT, wearables and any future innovations that become integrated into fitness are as yet undiscovered.
The Internet of Things does make possible a different, more holistic approach to fitness. It creates a closer relationship between equipment vendors, gym members, your trainers and you. All of this is not so all far off in the future. It might be two years, or it might be five, but the Internet of Things is coming to a gym near you very soon.
Bibliography
Alger, Kieran. Step Inside The Gym Of The Future. March 12, 2014. https://www.t3.com/features/step-inside-the-gym-of-the-future.
Fagan, Lawrence. Survey Says Wearable Tech Is Key. November 30, 2015. https://blog.gyminsight.com/3529-survey-says-wearable-tech-is-key/.
Intel Corporation. Gym of the Future with the Internet of Things. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/internet-of-things/videos/iot-gym-of-the-future-video.html.