Over the past decade, the relationship between cultural institutions and the public has profoundly changed. If we look at the evolution of visitor services, the most evident milestone concerns the phases prior to entering the facility. Yet, just as the visitor crosses the museum’s threshold, a technological disconnect often occurs.
On one hand, we have an audience accustomed to booking, paying, and organizing their leisure time entirely via smartphone. On the other, an on-site visitor experience that, in many institutions, still relies on obsolete hardware.
Industry Metrics: Where Does Museum Digitization Stand?
To understand the scope of this phenomenon, it is essential to look at official data. According to recent research by the Digital Innovation in Culture Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, online ticketing in Italian museums has grown from 25% in 2018 to the current 58%. This means that more than half of the visitors interact with the museum through a seamless and immediate digital ecosystem.
Furthermore, according to the Observatory’s data, 72% of cultural institutions state they have invested in developing skills related to online presence and digital ticketing (up from just one-third in 2018). The sector has grasped the value of the web, but innovation risks stopping at the ticket office.
The Gap Between Web Purchases and the Physical Visit
What happens today when a visitor, after purchasing a ticket on their phone, enters the museum? Very often, they are greeted by queues at the desk to rent a physical audioguide. This step abruptly interrupts the fluidity of the experience.
Continuing to use dedicated hardware devices entails several managerial criticalities for museum directorates:
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Ongoing operational costs: Devices break, batteries deteriorate, and they require manual updates for every new temporary exhibition.
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Hygiene and logistical issues: The continuous sanitization of devices and the management of returns absorb precious time from the gallery staff.
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Lack of data: A traditional audioguide provides no real-time statistics on which artworks are listened to most or in which language.
The visitor already has the most powerful and hygienic device possible in their pocket: their smartphone. Forcing them to use a foreign device represents a step backward compared to their daily habits.
The Natural Evolution: Bringing the Museum into the Visitor's Smartphone
The solution to bridge this gap is called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Embracing this philosophy means allowing visitors to consume cultural content directly from their own phones, eliminating all friction.
Instead of renting a device, the visitor scans a QR code next to the artwork and immediately accesses a dedicated web or native application. This transition resolves the logistical problems of the ticket office and transforms a cost center (hardware maintenance) into a potential revenue and data generator.
The Advantage of a Native and Independent App
For this transition to be effective, the museum must not surrender its identity to generalist tourism aggregators. The optimal choice falls on exclusive whitelabel solutions—customized applications featuring the museum’s proprietary logo, colors, and fonts.
With a system like Velis Art, the museum can offer multilingual audioguides with natural voices and immediate translations, while also guaranteeing offline usability for exhibition spaces, such as underground galleries, lacking Wi-Fi coverage. In this way, digital innovation is not limited to the moment of ticket purchase; it accompanies the visitor for the entire duration of the exhibition, simultaneously collecting valuable data—in an aggregated format and in full compliance with privacy regulations—to constantly improve the cultural offering.
