[
Customer Spotlight
]
Goodrich Quality Theaters
BOOSTING
SALES AT THE
BOX OFFICE
In the competitive movie theater business,
Goodrich Quality Theaters relies on the
star power of the Dell point-of-sale (POS)
system to keep business booming and
customers applauding
GOODRICH QUALIT Y THEATERS
W
»CHALLENGE Build a standardized, highly
hen an anticipated film opens on a
vendor for the part, Dell led in terms of
Friday night, even before customers
price, reliability, and support.
available IT infrastructure and point-of-sale
recline and crunch popcorn, the owner of
“With the new Dell POS system,
(POS) system to help speed up box office receipts
Goodrich Quality Theaters wants to know
theaters replicate their databases back to
and data transfers among 33 nationwide
one thing: Does he have a hit on his hands?
the corporate office every 15 minutes. So
theaters and corporate headquarters
A hot movie means big business. But if
Bob Goodrich can sit here on a Friday
customers have to leave long concession
night and literally watch the returns come
lines to make the opening credits or, even
in,” says Vance Bowers, IT manager at
worse, are turned away at the ticket
Goodrich. “If a show is doing significantly
operating system and Microsoft SQL Server
counter because a show is sold out or they
better than expected, Bob can proactively
database software; Dell PowerConnect™ switches
do not have enough cash—profits can end
make a call to add more showings, which
up on the cutting room floor.
can really have a big dollar impact on
»SOLUTION Deploy Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers
™
running the Microsoft¨ Windows Server 2003
™
with Gigabit Ethernet technology; and Dell
OptiPlex™ GX270 PCs running Microsoft Windows¨
To stay competitive and keep
the bottom line.”
customers loyal, movie theaters must be
XP Professional as POS systems in theaters
»BENEFIT Box office results calculated in almost
real time, allowing management to increase
showings and respond to demand; faster conces-
able to make quick directorial calls to
Goodrich Theaters: The way they were
bolster box office receipts, while speed-
Five years ago, IT operations at Goodrich
ing up transactions to get people in their
Quality Theaters were a very different
seats and revenue on the books. In this
story. The corporate office and theaters
environment, Michigan-based Goodrich
were disconnected. Throughout the
sion and ticket sales transactions; faster backup
Quality Theaters decided that IT would
company, employees used generic white
times; remote IT support capability, helping to
be key to increasing the success of its 33
boxes—non-branded PCs assembled by
minimize support costs and downtime
theaters throughout the Midwest. The
resellers using parts from multiple manu-
company needed a reliable point-of-sale
facturers—as desktops and even as servers.
(POS) system with more real-time reporting
The white-box PCs and servers were not
features. When it came to selecting a
reliable or standardized and crashed
Customer Spotlight
38
DELL INSIGHT JUNE 2004
Goodrich Quality Theaters
[
Customer Spotlight
]
“With the new Dell POS system, theaters replicate their
databases back to the corporate office every 15 minutes.
So Bob Goodrich can sit here on a Friday night and literally
watch the returns come in”
the theater,” Bowers says. “Now, if prob-
can get in the snack line faster—where
lems arise, Dell addresses them quickly.
they also can use credit cards. “Concessions
That makes us happy.”
are what keep our doors open, so this is a
big deal,” Bowers says. “Some of our theater
With a new POS system, a star is born
managers—especially in college towns—
On the heels of the server buy, Goodrich
expect to see as much as a 30 percent
set out to modernize its entire POS system
increase in concession sales because of
and IT network. It was critical that the POS
this capability.”
hardware be compatible with Microsoft
The POS system also can process
Windows XP Professional and Microsoft
magnetic-strip gift cards that are easier to
frequently—and they were not connected
SQL Server. Goodrich was standardizing
track than paper vouchers. Gift cards can
to a data backup system.
on that operating system for POS terminals
be programmed with movie-rating restric-
and on SQL Server database software
tions for minors, so parents can remotely
for concessions with credit cards.
Customers also could not quickly pay
throughout the company to help control
prohibit the box office from selling their
Although they could charge tickets, the
costs, allow remote support, and improve
kids tickets to certain movies.
manual transactions that required dial-up
efficiency and reliable backups. To create a
authorization took about two minutes to
stable, easy-to-support POS architecture,
Collaboration on the set
complete. And box office receipts often
Goodrich used Dell OptiPlex PCs.
Not only has Goodrich been able to
were compiled manually. Individual
The POS PCs, some of which have wire-
strengthen its business, but along the way
theaters sent spreadsheets to headquarters
less technology, are now connected to head-
the IT department has also become a big
via fax each night, and by about 4 P.M. the
quarters with Dell PowerConnect switches,
fan of Dell. With just a three-person staff,
next day, the company would know how
while Intel® Gigabit1 Ethernet networking
Goodrich IT relies on Dell support teams
well each theater and movie had done. At
technology is used on the corporate side.
throughout the country for servers and
that point, it was too late to respond to
The system enables automated backups and
PCs. “I like the fact that our Dell-Goodrich
market demand by, for instance, offering
provides the framework for Internet ticket-
team has stayed together. Continuity is
more showings of a blockbuster.
ing. When the rollout is complete, Goodrich
really important,” Bowers says. “This
will have nearly 300 Dell POS terminals
whole platform and partnership with Dell
and more than 30 servers.
has had a real impact on how we run our
A major turning point for Goodrich
came just before the release of Stars Wars
Episode I. A 16-screen theater in Chicago
Thanks to its new architecture,
business. With all of the services we can
had a failure of a white-box server, and the
Goodrich is raking in the returns. Not
offer today, such as credit card processing
hardware vendor could not fix it after three
only can Bob Goodrich add needed show
and magnetic-strip gift cards, I think the
days of troubleshooting. That is when
times on the fly, but the Dell POS systems
system is really going to pay for itself.”
Goodrich bought its first Dell PowerEdge
have a credit-card swipe capability, which
server. “These problems always seem to
helps to complete ticket sales in just two
occur when something big is happening in
to five seconds. That means customers
1
This term does not connote an actual operating speed
of 1 Gbps. For high-speed transmission, connection to
a Gigabit Ethernet server and network infrastructure
is required.
JUNE 2004 DELL INSIGHT
39