The Sun International Group has a diverse portfolio of assets including world class five star hotels, modern and well located casinos, and some of the world’s premier resorts. Its destinations offer experiential luxury, enduring quality and adventure, supported by an authentic dedication to personal service.
Dedication to personal service underpins Sun International’s competitive edge and the group has strengthened its leadership in gaming, following the migration to a MOTOTRBO digital radio system with a custom-designed TRBOnet automated job ticketing application that has been integrated into their casino management network.
Commissioned by Motorola Solutions’ reseller partner Olympic Communications, the MOTOTRBO system has expedited Jackpot payouts and enables guests to summon casino attendants and service staff more quickly, delivering a new level of excellence that redefines the gaming experience. And thanks to MOTOTRBO’s better voice quality, staff now benefit from clear and consistent communications even in the high-noise areas of the casino.
The challenge:
With such a strong reputation to uphold, Sun International is constantly seeking to enhance guest services. In October 2013, Mr. Riaan Stoltz - Sun International’s Group Gaming Technical and Innovation Manager contacted Olympic Communications about their vision. They wanted to take their Gaming Division into the digital era. A direct advantage was to enhance seamless service excellence to their customers and the customer’s gaming experience.
One of the areas highlighted for improvement was the casino operations, where a more proactive approach was required to expedite response times. In the past, casino attendants had to monitor slot machines manually, watching for them to light up when a customer won something. This could be taxing - especially in large casinos which hold over a thousand slot machines - and it meant that guests could be left waiting some time for an attendant to respond or have to leave their machine to go and get assistance. A similar situation could arise if a technical fault occurred or a chip got stuck in a machine. In addition, jobs were scheduled using an electronic board, which staff needed to keep checking manually. This slowed response times and made it difficult for supervisors to manage payouts, monitor levels of service and allocate tasks efficiently.
The solution:
Olympic Communications proposed a MOTOTRBO digital radio system with SL4010 portable radios which are lightweight, discreet and similar in design to a mobile phone, making them ideal for customer-facing personnel.
The SL4010 has an Intelligent Audio feature which automatically adjusts the radio volume to compensate for high-noise areas, ensuring messages can be heard throughout the casino.
One of the major benefits of MOTOTRBO is that it offers simultaneous data communications, expanding the capabilities of two-way radio well beyond voice. The SL4010’s enable staff to share information in real time and it supports job ticketing, with a high-resolution, full-colour screen and ambient light sensors to display messages clearly.
Motorola Solutions’ Application Partner Neocom Software had already developed the TRBOnet Enterprise application for the dispatching and tracking of job tickets via MOTOTRBO. However, Sun International wanted a solution which could be fully integrated with its gaming machines, so that job ticketing would be seamless and automated.
Neocom customised its software to allow guests to request a waiter or service attendant by pressing a button on the slot machine. This transmits the request across the IP network to Sun International’s casino management system, which generates an event message and sends it to the TRBOnet radio server. A group job ticket is automatically created and dispatched to the digital radios of the relevant work team – be they security, services or maintenance personnel.
Members of the work group receive a radio alert that a new job ticket has been issued and once a member of the team accepts the job, its status is marked as “allocated”. As soon as the task has been completed, it can be registered and updated on the system simply by pushing a button on the radio. Jackpot Celebration messages have also been automated in a similar manner, so that attendants are immediately notified when a payout is required.
The benifit:
Following a successful pilot at the Sibaya Casino and Entertainment Kingdom in South Africa’s KwazuluNatal Province, Sun International has extended the MOTOTRBO and TRBOnet job ticketing solution to Carnival City in Gauteng and the Trump Ocean Club Casino in Panama.
The casino staff benefit from clear voice communications wherever they are, thanks to MOTOTRBO voice capabilities and the Intelligent Audio feature.
“The job ticketing system is capable of automating hundreds of different events,” explained Nico Spangenberg, Gaming System Software Development Manager at Sun International. “At this stage, we are focusing on the events that are most important for enhancing our guest services, which are the payout of jackpots, ordering refreshments or calling for an attendant if help is required.
Each casino is divided into floor segments and attendants only receive the event messages related to their specific station, making it easier to manage each area and use resources more efficiently. If jobs are not accepted within a certain timeframe, they can be escalated by sending an email or SMS message to a supervisor. This enables managers to monitor and control work flow and to have a real-time view of the status of every single job for which tickets have been issued. “We can now measure the exact time it takes to respond to each event, instead of having to rely on estimates. This helps us to monitor service levels far more accurately,” added Riaan Stoltz. “And most important of all, our guests have the reassurance that as soon as they hit the Jackpot or need assistance, the response will be immediate. So, it has really taken customer service to a new level.” he noted.
