Almost every commercial space you encounter has elements of the physical and digital worlds. The merging of these can create exciting and engaging experiences, and the casino and gaming industry has been an innovator in this blending for years. These spaces can push the boundaries even further with technology platforms that deliver memorable guest experiences.
Coming out of the pandemic, your visitors have new expectations about technology and how they can interact with it. It’s something they crave, and you can meet their needs and much more when you consider how the physical and digital can inventively combine.
If you’re considering a revamp in your casino, you’ll want to explore how to converge the digital and physical with the right technology platform.
Technology Supports a Guest-First Philosophy
Interacting with technology is part of most people’s everyday life. Sometimes, we don’t even notice it, but we certainly would if it wasn’t there to offer information, convenience or experiences. Technology doesn’t erode your commitment to delivering personalized service to guests. That’s what makes your venue so unique to visitors.
The human touch is still crucial, but technology can augment this. The consistency of your technology does matter, and that’s why building the right foundation is so critical.
You can apply technology that delivers a guest-first experience throughout your casino and resort, from the gaming floor to the lobby to restaurant row. The right technology platforms will be critical to integrate all these many systems, including audiovisual (AV), control systems and other components. Visions start big and turn into reality with expert planning and design. A foundation of integration enables you to launch, maintain and update as necessary without major disruptions.
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Implementing Technology Platforms: What Do You Need, and What Can These Systems Provide?
Delivering technology-enriched experiences can only occur with a platform that supports interoperability and integration. This platform should act as an anchor for technical professionals to support the orchestration and operation of the many unique systems. In addition, they must be able to manage high volumes of data, which will be key in personalizing guest moments.
Consistent, seamless experiences for your guests comes from the foundation of this system. When you want to change these up, your platform should be agile enough to do so. Here are some examples of what you need and what a centralized solution can deliver.
Integrating Light, Visuals and Sound
Three significant components of delivering an immersive experience are light, visuals (content) and sound. If you’re developing an installation that tells a story about your venue and its amenities, these three elements must be in sync. If they operate disparately, you’ll face challenges in installation and maintenance. Combining them into one platform from the first design alleviates these challenges, so the experience is consistently available.
Light, visuals and sound should merge effortlessly with the architecture and structures of a space.
Advanced Technology Systems Are More Manageable Through Virtualization
With any experiential technology, you’ll need infrastructure to support the technical needs. Casinos already have lots of this for operations. Reducing the need for physical servers will be vital in creating these experiences. Turning to virtualization is an excellent option.
Virtualization reduces your reliance on anything physical and provides the framework to manage everything from one system. It will also be useful in support and ongoing availability. Layering a platform in this way ensures it’s more resilient. If one element fails, there are backups in place to prevent or minimize downtime.
In this physical-digital convergence, the technology is behind the scenes. The less space it requires to run properly, the better.
Continuing Contactless Trends with Technology
Contactless interactions became popular during the pandemic for health and safety reasons. They continue to be a trend because of convenience and new habits. Your guests may want to use their mobile devices to check in at a kiosk, make restaurant reservations, or place their bets on sporting events through an app.
Continuing to offer these contactless moments may simply be about preference now, and you’ll want to ensure a few things:
- The system is stable and reliable, so guests don’t become frustrated with technology.
- The interactions are more than transactional, offering personalization when the system “knows” who the user is.
- Technology should be inclusive and support those who have special accessibility needs.
- Experiences are engaging and meet guest expectations.
Delivering this across your facility requires a streamlined, consolidated platform. The system should be integrated and interoperable, with consideration for always being on. For the personalization piece, it requires leveraging data. When a guest interacts with a touchscreen at check-in, for example, the system should be able to locate the data regarding their account and stay. The messaging can then be personalized and provide them with specific promotions or ideas for their stay.
One way to manage the data and personalization aspects is using a customer-data platform (CDP), which connects the most relevant data in a unified and flexible model. With such an addition to your technology ecosystem, you have the freedom to customize the guest’s experiences in ways that don’t fit into specific rules-based campaigns.
The future of contactless may also involve virtual chips. Casinos are considering it, but it will require a lot of work and technology to become cashless. This has pros and cons for both the bettor and the house. One big reason why casinos may adopt is the additional data they’d have access to regarding spending and betting habits. If this is a goal for your venue, you can lay the foundation now as you integrate and build an infrastructure for contactless interactions.
Keep in mind that anything contactless is still occurring in a physical space. Blending the physical and digital is crucial to the overall experience and delight of visitors. It’s not happening in a virtual world, so how you craft these elements and make technology look like it belongs matters. You don’t want a single kiosk standing by itself. It should blend into the bigger atmosphere and stay true to the casino’s brand and themes.
Technology Platforms Support the Physical-Digital Convergence
Casinos will always be evolving and attempting to wow their guests. The experiences they deliver will only grow bigger and bolder. It all starts with careful planning, design and integration of the technology behind it. With a consolidated platform, you have visibility throughout the technology landscape and ensure it continues to deliver delight and amazement.
