Smartify – Discover the World of Art

The Smartify Company

Smartify is the world’s leading museum and art application. It has the highest download numbers in its category and is trusted by prominent cultural institutions around the globe. Founded in 2017 and often described as the “Shazam of Art,” the app has grown remarkably over the years. Today, Smartify is a full platform that provides a range of solutions for venues and museums to engage with their audiences.

The Area and Team

At Smartify, I work as the sole dedicated Data Analyst for the App and Web platforms. My role covers everything from measurement and tracking to reporting on all platform activities.

I have built internal dashboards for performance monitoring. In addition, I deliver real-time reports to our partners, giving them insights into their collections. This includes data on which artworks users view and scan most, which audio guide tracks are most popular, exhibition performance, and real-time tour conversion rates. Compared to the monthly PDF reports partners used to receive, this is a significant improvement.

My Smartify Experience

Before joining Smartify, I was at Mercedes-Benz.io, where I was part of a large data team of nearly 40 people. I also led a team of 3 to 4 analysts, which meant a calendar full of meetings and constant management responsibilities.

In March 2021, I accepted an invitation to join Smartify as a part-time Data Analyst. My motivation was simple: I wanted to return to the hands-on, day-to-day data work I enjoyed most. For the following year, I balanced both roles — leading the Mercedes team while building a data-driven culture at Smartify. My wife, who is also a Data Analyst, helped out during the busiest periods.

After a year of juggling both positions, I decided to focus on just one. Without a doubt, my choice was Smartify. The opportunity to build the analytics function from scratch at a company I believe in was too good to pass up.

Writing at Smartify

Alongside my analytics work, I write for Smartify’s partner blog, sharing insights, frameworks, and lessons from working with cultural institutions on how they collect, interpret, and act on data. Below are summaries of the articles I’ve published, with links to the full pieces.

From intuition to insight: making data useful for cultural teams (Jan/26)

Cultural institutions collect a lot of data but rarely use it well. Most analytics tools were built for e-commerce, not galleries and museums. This article argues that the problem isn’t a lack of metrics, it’s having too many of them, disconnected from the decisions teams actually need to make. I outline the small set of questions cultural teams should focus on (what content works, where people drop off, how behaviour changes after an intervention), why combining digital and physical signals produces the most interesting insights, and how to translate findings into concrete changes, from content tweaks to operational decisions and accessibility investments. The closing argument: data should inform judgment, not replace it. Optimising for engagement at the expense of meaning is a real risk in cultural contexts, and the best analytics work serves the institution’s mission rather than redefining it. Read the full article →