Customer Stories / Internet & Software / Hong Kong
Tai Kwun Enhances Visitor Engagement with Customer Data Platform on AWS
Tai Kwun implemented a secure customer data platform on AWS, streamlining customer data, enhancing visitor engagement, and increasing projected visitor numbers over the next year.
10%
projected increase in visitor numbers over the next year
2 weeks
to deploy customer data platform
30%
reduction in IT management time
Overview
Tai Kwun, the cultural heart of Hong Kong, promotes contemporary art through programs and exhibitions. To increase visitor numbers and engagement, Tai Kwun developed a customer data platform (CDP) on AWS and transitioned its loyalty program, streamlining customer data to boost the impact of marketing campaigns.
The platform runs on Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling for simplified expansion, Amazon Aurora for higher availability and performance, and AWS WAF for data protection. With its CDP on AWS, Tai Kwun anticipates a 10 percent increase in visitors over the next year through targeted communications.
Opportunity | Developing a Customer Data Platform to Elevate Arts and Heritage Engagement
Tai Kwun, a cornerstone of Hong Kong's art scene, is curated by its non-profit art and heritage programs. It serves as a vibrant, welcoming space that fosters community inspiration through arts, culture, and heritage. Situated in the heart of central Hong Kong, Tai Kwun offers immersive, world-class experiences, nurturing a deep appreciation for arts and culture within the community.
In 2023, Tai Kwun sought to boost visitor numbers and engagement. Alex Tse, head of ICT at Tai Kwun, says, “We seek to foster a greater appreciation for contemporary art among Hong Kong residents.” To achieve this, the organization decided to implement a customer data platform (CDP) and establish a unified customer database to enhance exhibition marketing campaigns.
Tai Kwun opted for a cloud-based CDP. This decision aligned with the organization's existing local cloud operations for visitor-facing systems like its website and mobile app. "We aimed to develop the CDP on a secure cloud platform, ensuring end-to-end data protection for our customer information," says Tse.
While it feels like our cloud journey with AWS is just starting, we are now better equipped to harness our data and enhance customer engagement."
Alex Tse
Head of ICT at Tai Kwun
Solution | Unifying Customer Data Across Platforms on AWS
Tai Kwun chose to build its CDP on Amazon Web Services (AWS), following a recommendation from its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) HR provider, which also operates its HR system on AWS. To expedite deployment, the organization worked with an AWS Partner to design and implement the AWS infrastructure.
The CDP runs on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Auto Scaling to automatically add or remove virtual server instances. The infrastructure also includes cloud-native Amazon Aurora—a relational database management system—for Tai Kwun Contemporary’s MySQL customer database. Furthermore, the organization deployed Amazon CloudFront for content delivery, Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) to maximize application scalability, and AWS WAF, a web application firewall.
Despite initially anticipating a 6–8-week timeline, Tai Kwun successfully rolled out its CDP on AWS in two weeks. The seamless deployment process prompted the senior management team to migrate its local cloud-based loyalty program to AWS.
By using AWS, Tai Kwun secures customer-related data spanning its CDP and loyalty program environment. Tai Kwun benefited from the robust security measures and certifications provided by AWS, including ISO 27017 and PCI PSS, ensuring data protection and compliance. This also paved the way for easy enhancements to its websites, such as the addition of a payment feature. Furthermore, Tai Kwun strictly adhered to AWS data protection best practices within its AWS environments.
In addition to benefiting from comprehensive security, Tse and his IT team have also saved time through server scaling automation—time they've used to focus on migrating Tai Kwun's remaining on-premises servers to AWS. Tse adds, "While it feels like our cloud journey with AWS is just starting, we are now better equipped to harness our data and enhance customer engagement."
Outcome | Enhancing Engagement and Boosting Visitor Numbers Through Targeted Communications
With the implementation of its CDP and loyalty program on AWS, Tai Kwun has successfully consolidated customer data within a highly secure environment. This unified dataset empowers staff to finely target marketing efforts and foster repeat visits. As a result, the organization projects a 10 percent increase in visitor numbers over the next 12 months, with residents estimated to visit the gallery an average of three times annually.
Notably, this uptick in visitors has been particularly pronounced among millennials, who comprise eight out of every ten visitors. This demographic, alongside those slightly over 25 years old, plays a pivotal role in driving the contemporary art market. Tai Kwun attributes this surge in interest to the enhanced utilization of social media channels facilitated by the CDP on AWS. Tse says, “The CDP on AWS helps us tailor relevant emails to specific demographics and seamlessly distribute up-to-date information through our mobile app."
Tse envisions an even broader impact in the future, aiming to cultivate a stronger connection between individuals of all age groups, including gallery staff, and the institution. He emphasizes the potential for Tai Kwun to inspire a wider audience to embrace Hong Kong's vibrant contemporary art scene. "The diverse nature of contemporary art—spanning sculpture, digital art, and virtual reality—kindles a rapid interest among our staff and visitors alike. With the CDP on AWS, we aspire to fuel a deeper engagement with the city’s dynamic art landscape," Tse concludes.
About Tai Kwun
Tai Kwun is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting art and preserving Hong Kong's cultural heritage. The organization curates and hosts over 900 public programs and exhibitions annually, contributing to the vibrant art scene of the region. Tai Kwun’s exhibitions are displayed in museum-standard galleries spanning over 1,500 square meters.
AWS Services Used
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud Auto Scaling
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling helps you maintain application availability and .lets you automatically add or remove EC2 instances using scaling policies that you define.
Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora is a relational database management system (RDBMS) built for the cloud with full MySQL and PostgreSQL compatibility.
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) service built for high performance, security, and developer convenience.
AWS WAF
AWS WAF helps you protect against common web exploits and bots that can affect availability, compromise security, or consume excessive resources.
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