Challenge: Operational Solutions that could Scale with their Growth
Dale Jones, Stars and Strikes Senior Regional Manager, has operated on several other competitor systems. He worked with Dave & Buster’s back when they used Sacoa. With the advent of new technological advancements in the family entertainment industry, Stars and Strikes is not without pain points. They needed a connected and centralized solution that will allow guests to use their cards at any of the FEC’s locations.
“The advancements in technology and the information we can get about how our customer plays now is pretty amazing,” compliments Jones. “On older systems, what we had is a system that tells how many times a game card didn’t swipe because a person couldn’t play the game,” he humored.
Throughout Stars and Strikes’ nearly 20 years in the business of fun, they are looking to add their 16th location sometime between 2022 and 2023. Part of this expansion is their growing demand for business systems comprised of both hardware and software to manage their size. Along with this, the FEC is after strong support that can accommodate any issues that may arise across multiple locations: “As we grow, we can’t do all the support ourselves anymore,” admits Jones. “We need all the help we can get.”
Solution: Switching all Locations to Embed's Integrated Hardware & Software Solutions
Stars and Strikes implemented Embed’s cashless system back in 2007, comprising smartTOUCH card readers, GURU, PRIZES Redemption POS, and several applications under the TOOLKIT suite, namely SALES and REPORTS.
With only two facilities on competitor systems prior to Jones’ employment, he recalls being amazed at Embed’s operational efficiency: “When I came on board, Embed was already in place and based on my history with other systems, it wowed me by how more robust it is than any other system I’ve worked with and what it can do,” praised Jones.
Managing 15 locations can be a daunting task especially if there are different systems and data points in each location. Embed has eliminated the tediousness of compiling and crunching data and information across multiple venues with its all-in-one system, thus enabling Stars and Strikes to have a central, connected solution in place.
“I can go from one center with my card and go to another and my card will still work,” says Jones. “I don’t have to call somebody and ask to check my card number with the credits inside and request for them to recreate that card,” he continues.
REPORTS under the TOOLKIT suite is deemed the most valuable application for Jones’ role - finding available data that can help him with “business analytics to better manage the business, labor, and control costs.”
“When I want to know how I’m doing sales-wise, or if I want to know who my best salesperson is for a certain period, I can just go into SALES in TOOLKIT and pull up usage or sales by name or day,” Jones shares about another Embed software. “It is also a great tool to identify peak hours on specific days and derived from hourly reports.”
To address issues related to system support, Stars and Strikes are reassured with Embed’s ongoing care: “Having Embed’s support either by phone or online chat has really helped us become more efficient and get systems running when there’s an issue,” shares Jones. “They don’t just get it resolved; they also do follow-ups to check if the fix worked.”
