At this Fireside Chat session — now available on demand at Acceleration Economy — Cirque du Soleil IT exec Philippe Lalumiere recounts the dramatic steps his company, and he personally, needed to take in response to COVID, and how important technology is in the company’s business strategy.
Highlights from Philippe Lalumiere and What You Will Learn:
- Post-pandemic, after 95% of employees were furloughed, the Canadian entertainment company went through big challenges to get up and running again.
- The role of SAP’s ERP in the company’s strategy: “Not too many ERPs can support the complexity of our reality,” Lalumiere, said referring to the company, which operates several live circus shows in Las Vegas, annual tours across the globe, and all aspects of the business from food and beverage to ticketing to global recruiting. SAP ERP was instrumental in helping. Cirque du Soleil uses materials management, production planning, sales and distribution, financial accounting, and other SAP apps.
- The company’s focus is to avoid having customers see everything that goes into its onsite experience, and its applications are key to making that possible. “We want you to be awed, dazzled,” Lalumiere said.
- Cirque is exploring digital technologies and the metaverse to help enhance customer engagement beyond live shows.
- In other tech initiatives, Cirque is exploring facial recognition to capture audience members’ emotions and reactions to different aspects of a show, such as what and how many objects a juggler juggles.