Aim

Bromford Lab want to explore the opportunities offered by Beacons to communicate on a hyperlocal level with communities, pushing information to the local community in context of where they live. This document sets out a test that requires a MVP to explore how it could work and aims to do this within a four week period.

What are Beacons?

First introduced by Apple in 2013 there has been a slow uptake on exploring the tech, however Beacons are set to explode onto the market in 2016. High street retailers are becoming keen adopters of this low-cost, micro-location-based technology which uses Bluetooth Low Energy to communicate with beacon enabled devices. Put simply, they are a small tag which is placed in a space and when a person is close by, it pushes a message or call to action to their phone device.

What could it look like?

While yet to be investigated, we can imagine the following scenarios being perfect for beacon technology:

A customer walks past the street sign leaving their home and a beacon has been attached to the sign. An app on the customer's phone picks up the beacon’s signal. When it hears a Beacon it communications data to the server. It then triggers a relevant message like. “Your housing manager is coming down to your estate today”. It could push the customer to complete an action like “do you want to book an appointment”?
Customers in sheltered/supported housing schemes could be prompted/reminded about relevant community events or local opportunities *this is most likely to be the early test for MVP
There is opportunity for individual messages like “going out? Don’t forget an engineer is coming at 2pm”, though this would likely need more system integration than we can beyond the MVP.

Test Plan A - Adoption/Usability

Introduction/ Hypothesis: (null)	Having experimented with the technology, we are concerned with the lack of ‘active’ updates and the steps required for someone to receive the updates. iOS devices require a ‘Chrome’ tool to be activated on the notifications panel. Android requires the download of a ‘Physical Web’ app. In both instances the proximity of beacons is a passive notification and can therefore easily be missed. Our first test is to measure how willing people are to enable bluetooth detection on their phone. Bluetooth beacons (set up in Bromford offices) will not lead to more hits to new Bromford website.
Location	Bromford (Exchange Court)
Method	Set up a redirect URL to Bromford.co.uk. This url will record web traffic that has come through the bluetooth beacons. We will install bluetooth beacons in the waiting area of EC with a small placard with iOs and Android installation instructions. When visitors or colleagues use the physical web (android) or notification panel (iOS) it will result in a hit for a specific web address that can be used to monitor traffic.
Measures	Outcomes Interest in technology/use of beacons - web hits to redirect url Feedback from users - open questions on yammer unless obvious that more people than expected used beacons, in which case Tom will construct a google form.

The results of this test will determine whether passive notifications are sufficient enough to engage users/customers. If not, we will need to investigate the use of an app for active notification (vibrating/pop-ups) is a better option for Design Brief (B).

Design Brief (B)

Aim	Demonstrate the value of ‘active’ bumping spaces for customers at Bromford schemes.
Location	TBC
Method	Design a method to improve the use of bump-spaces. This includes tech support in the form of bluetooth beacons and/or QR codes and other technology.
Measures	Outcomes A desirable percentage of customers are using the software to connect with others at bump spaces (break-even point may be calculated from cost vs. social value) Customers feel less lonely/more connected/happier (tbc), and attribute this to being encouraged to meet more with other ‘bumpers’ in the bumper club. Implementation What’s the best technology (or other method) for encouraging the use of bump spaces at schemes. Costs incurred on this exercise and projections Issues with the installation and how they were overcome The potential for personal messages (i.e. around repairs) that can be delivered to customers