The KBO-Champion NC Dinos chose Microsoft Azure AI solutions to take another leap forward

Collaborate with Microsoft to create a more pleasant and innovative fan service environment.

The NC Dinos are living the dream where people gain courage and the world becomes full of joy through baseball. To this end, the club and its players must be fully committed to winning each game and giving fun and inspiration to the fans who visit Chanwon NC Park to watch the games. For the NC Dinos, who work hard to deliver a fun-filled customer experience to its fans through IT technology, the partnership with Microsoft and its world-class cloud and AI capabilities ensures a day at the ballpark is always a winner, regardless of the final score.

Kiosk—created based on Azure Cognitive Service technology, is an innovation in fan services.

To build Changwon NC Park as a smart stadium incorporated with IT technology designed to communicate with fans based on cutting-edge IT technology, it is inevitable for data traffic to surge, and therefore, NC knew it would be essential to migrate its data to the cloud. Azure was chosen by the NC Dinos because of its reputation as the best cloud computing system currently available in terms of user convenience, reduced cost, strong security and compliance, and technical support. Azure Cognitive Services are provided as a set of AI tools that support developers’ reliance on AI, even when they lack expertise in the field of machine learning. The product also boasts Face API, a highly reliable facial recognition technology. Kiosk is the first product created as a result of their collaboration with Microsoft and its AI technology. Fans who visit the baseball stadium enter through two kiosks built in the concourse on the first floor of Changwon NC Park where they interact with AI technologies to “find my player lookalike”, a game service that takes a picture of the fan with a camera installed in the kiosk and analyzes the photo with face API technology to find an NC Dinos player with similar features. It is well received by many fans and the service also sends photos morphed to appear as if you and your NC Dinos player were standing together. Another exciting feature of the kiosk is “Chatbot,” a realtime service that uses AI technology to answer questions widely asked by fans, such as how to reserve a ticket, how to use the NC Dinos membership app, and other stadium policies and information. By scanning the QR code on the kiosk with their smartphone, users can communicate with the AI chatbot and obtain the information they want. New technology services include LUIS, which offers an AI service that comprehends natural language, so the service smoothly interacts with applications, bots, and IoT devices; QnA Maker offers a cloud-based API service that creates conversational questions and answer layers above data; and Azure Bot Service.

Azure Cognitive Services and Power BI attract advertising clients

The NC Dinos rely on Azure Video Indexer, Power BI, and Custom Vision for advertisement analysis of relay broadcasts. A team representative said that such solutions help the club receive extensive and more effective data, so advertisers are highly satisfied, thus pointing to a promising future for the club’s relationship with advertisers. 

Microsoft remains fully committed to realizing the NC Dinos’ vision.

The two companies, having confirmed the direction of their relationship through the successful construction of the kiosks, are now going over additional plans to transform Changwon NC Park into an innovative space for a smarter, and even more fan-friendly experience. The club is considering the introduction of Computer Vision to offer a more extensive range of fan services at its kiosks and use Dynamics 365 to offer features such as analysis of fans who jump ship. The NC Dinos are particularly interested in Microsoft HoloLens, Microsoft's technology solution for MR (mixed reality). The club expects to use the technology to provide an enhanced baseball viewing experience in premium class seats and lounges.