We have all likely read the articles and marketing brochures about customer engagement, including:
- solutions describing pushing notifications to onsite guests and casino customers,
- having active displays updated dynamically with restaurant offers,
- capturing guest information when they book at your property using an Online Travel Agent (OTA) like Expedia, and
- converting those guests to loyalty programs.
There are many other use cases and a growing number of point solutions available from network equipment providers and start-up software companies.
We also all live in an industry and an ecosystem of “stove-piped” business systems that don’t “talk” to each other, or Tribal government systems which are focused on nonprofit/fund accounting systems that don’t work well with a for-profit casino and resort property. We have purchased marketing systems, data analytics platforms and email campaign software with the hope of panacea. We all have underestimated the support required or the technical knowledge needed to use these software solutions.
In our personal lives, none of us question whether we need plumbing or electrical wires in our houses or buildings. Cable TV, whether its riding on old phone lines, a satellite dish, copper or fiber is ubiquitous. Internet is now bundled with cable TV and is also becoming pervasive.
Wi-Fi, not too long ago, was for just the IT folks. Then it became the way any company extended their operations with new buildings or remote offices. Very quickly, Wi-Fi looked to be a new revenue source or a loyalty program perk. Now, the number of mobile devices per person is continuing to grow exponentially and the competition is heating up for “owning” and capturing the Wi-Fi user, at least, while they are riding on your Wi-Fi network.
What does all this mean for the gaming community?
Everything you want to do now from a mobile connection standpoint; everything your constituents and guests want to do requires high speed Wi-Fi.
If your Wi-Fi is old (more than three years) or if your Wi-Fi is constrained by the poorly placed access point locations (the communication connection for your mobile devices) on your property or lack thereof, you literally cannot approach any of the use cases mentioned above. To complicate matters further, many Wi-Fi networks in Tribal casinos and older commercial resorts that were built-in during construction have likely made the network antiquated, even before installation.
Network access is critical to the success of your organization. Cloud computing, whether Facebook, Instagram, email, online booking systems, Yelp or Trip Advisor all require Wi-Fi. It’s time to strategically look at Wi-Fi and the systems supporting it, so you can accomplish all of your marketing initiatives and give your guests what they want when they come to your property.
