LTE Networking and Decision Analytics for an Improved Customer Experience

The Challenge

A theme park was looking for ways to enhance the customer experience, with a key concern being minimizing wait times for attractions and food. Tracking and analyzing visitor behavior could potentially let management address it. The first step would be analytics software to look at data points, such as advanced ticket sales, weather forecasts and previous attendance records, to help management make staffing decisions several days in advance.

Collecting and analyzing data could also improve day-to-day operations. If equipped with the right kinds of information, the control center could make informed decisions about where to place staffing resources. To track where visitors were and what they were doing, park management would need to gather data from devices, such as surveillance cameras, food service cash registers and ticketing machines. But the plan would also require placing some of these devices in locations where trenching and installing new cable connections would be both disruptive and expensive.

The Solution

A B+B SmartWorx value-added re-seller provided the park operators with our SmartFlex LTE routers, which can provide wireless LTE Internet connections for both local area networks and individual devices. With multiple built-in hardware interfaces, the cellular routers are able to aggregate disparate protocols and technologies that include Wi-Fi, Ethernet, RS232/422/485 and even Modbus, making it possible to give virtually any data networking device a wireless connection.

The routers provide plenty of bandwidth for video applications, which was particularly valuable to the theme park. With no need for cabled data connections, a new piece of equipment could be placed virtually anywhere, and it could put to work on the same day that it was delivered.