Sioux Falls Arena Boosts Food & Beverage Sales with All-in-One POS Device

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Retail Industry and Hospitality Industry

Customer ProfileSMG is a global leader in venue management that provides services to more than 220 entertainment facilities across the globe with 10% of its annual profits coming from concessions and merchandise sales

Business SituationSMG sought to increase revenue via improved point-of-sale (POS) systems at Sioux Falls Arena an 8,000-seat indoor sports and entertainment venue

SolutionBoost profits at Sioux Falls Arena with an all-in-one POS solution including touch-based POS terminals, high-speed credit-card processing, digital menu screens, handheld devices, and integrated back-office servers built on Windows Embedded POS Ready, Windows Embedded CE, and Windows Server

Benefits Initial sales increase of 12%–14% with

similar projected ROI over one year Integration with back- office servers,

providing advanced inventory control and reporting

Automated system management and secure credit transactions

“In just the first two months of operation with the new system, the Sioux Falls Arena has seen a 12 to 14 percent increase in sales, so the impact of the new POS system has already exceeded our expectations.”

Terry Torkildson, General Manager, Sioux Falls Arena

Sales of beverages, food, and merchandise are a vitally important source of revenue for sports and entertainment venues. With more than 200 event centers around the world under management, SMG was focused on boosting profits at the 8,000-seat Sioux Falls Arena by replacing aging cash registers and menu boards. Value-added reseller Dakota Retail Technologies put together a solution based on Touch Dynamic Breeze All-in-One POS devices running Windows Embedded POSReady. Sales are up thanks to integrated high-speed credit card processing, new digital menu screens, and connectivity with handheld POS terminals based on the Windows Embedded Compact family. Integration with back-office Windows Servers for advanced inventory control and reporting means higher profits. As a result, full ROI is expected in less than 12 months.

SituationThe Sioux Falls Arena is an 8,000-seat indoor sports and entertainment venue located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The arena—home of the Sioux Falls SkyForce, an NBA Development League team, the Sioux Falls Stampede, a USHL hockey team, and the Sioux Falls Storm, a UIF indoor football team—is part of SMG, a world leader in venue management, marketing, and development with 220 facilities worldwide.

Food and beverage sales are a significant part of the event business. At the Sioux Falls Arena, food and beverage accounts for nearly 10 percent of revenue at music concerts and other live events. In the past, the arena used a simple “cash to draw” point-of-sale (POS) system that had no real automation capabilities. Integrated credit card processing wasn’t supported, making sales cash-only. Also, there weren’t any ties to back-office POS systems for inventory control and

reporting. Finally, the traditional static menu-boards required physical labor each time a price or menu item changed.

“Everything was processed manually, which resulted in lots of inefficiencies and unnecessary cost expenditures,” recalls Terry Torkildson, General Manager, Sioux Falls Arena. “In the summer of 2010, our corporate office gave us approval to upgrade the POS devices to gain efficiencies in the front and back of the house. The business goals were to handle more customers, increase the size of the average sale by accepting credit cards, and generally improve customer service.”

The technical requirements of the new POS system were clear. For advanced inventory control and reporting, the system needed to connect with a back-office POS server hosted on Windows Server. The POS device also needed to support secure high-speed credit card processing, as well as handheld POS devices being carried around the arena by roaming beer hawkers in the stands and waiters in the VIP section.

Additionally, the POS devices had to be reliable and able to withstand abuse in the rough and tumble environment of beverage and food sales during rock concerts and hockey games. Looking for an expert POS reseller in their geographic area, the arena’s management team chose Sioux Falls-based Dakota Retail Technologies (Dakota Retail), a value-added reseller (VAR) specializing in POS solutions for the retail and hospitality industries.

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Sioux Falls Arena concession stand with Breeze All-in-One POS and Digital Menu-boards

“We were on a very tight deadline and wanted to get the new devices installed before hockey season started in mid-September,” says Torkildson. “We gave our reseller about a month, from the time the deal was inked, to the go-live date.”

SolutionFor the Sioux Falls Arena project, Dakota Retail chose the Breeze All-in-One POS (Breeze) from Touch Dynamic, a leading designer and manufacturer of touch systems and PCs. The Breeze runs on Windows Embedded POSReady, a flexible operating system (OS) designed to seamlessly connect point-of-service solutions with peripherals, servers, and services.

“We chose the Touch Dynamic Breeze All-in-One pre-installed with Windows Embedded POS Ready because it is an unbelievable value for our customers from both a price and reliability standpoint,” states Kory Lindersmith, Owner, Dakota Retail Technologies. According to Touch Dynamic, the Breeze is the first and only field upgradeable fanless all-in-one POS device, capable of going from an Intel Atom 1.6 to an Intel Atom Dual Core 1.66 or Core 2 Duo 1.66 GHz. The Breeze also boasts innovative service options like rackable motherboard and quick detachable base.

“Windows Embedded POSReady makes it possible for us to support a single OS image on multiple processors,” says Joe Egan, Central Regional Sales Manager, Touch Dynamic. “This way, when a customer upgrades the processor, they can

still use the same software shipped with the device.” Touch Dynamic finds that Windows Embedded POSReady’s support of the Microsoft .NET Framework also meets the needs of VARs, ISVs, and end customers. “OS support for .NET Framework is absolutely mission-critical today for fast, efficient credit card processing and building custom forms for inventory reporting,” Egan clarifies.

To create the custom inventory control application for the Sioux Falls Arena, Dakota Retail found a third-party developer with a development team experienced in Windows Embedded Technology, Microsoft Visual Studio and .NET Framework. Windows Embedded POSReady is a highly secure and robust OS for retail. “There is zero tolerance for downtime in hospitality and simply no time to fix a POS system when you have people standing in line,” says Egan. “We have found the Windows Embedded POSReady OS to be extremely stable in all environments.”

Customers may connect up to half-a-dozen peripherals to a single Breeze unit, making rich peripheral support an important feature. “Windows Embedded POSReady gives us the drivers we need to support all of the peripherals our customers want,” declares Egan.

For Dakota Retail, small footprint is also important. “We like Windows Embedded as an upgrade product because it really is more ‘POS ready’ than ever,” claims Lindersmith. “Windows Embedded POSReady is stripped of unnecessary

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applications and components like accessories and games, which makes our integration job a lot easier.”

Windows Embedded POSReady made it possible to integrate the handheld POS terminals based on the Windows Embedded Compact family. Dakota Retail used Remote Desktop Services (RDS), one of the core virtualization technologies available in Windows Server, to “terminal” into the inventory server and other services. Dakota Retail met the installation deadline, taking about two months to deliver the complete system, which included 19 Breeze All-In-One POS devices running Windows Embedded POSReady and seven handheld POS terminals running on the Windows Embedded Compact family.

BenefitsThe POS solution from Dakota Retail Technologies, Touch Dynamic, and Microsoft provides the Sioux Falls Arena with several valuable technical and business benefits.

Innovation in Product Presentation Windows Embedded technology enabled Dakota Retail to give the Sioux Falls Arena a complete turnkey point-of-service solution that encompassed not just POS hardware and software, but also digital menu-boards that are directly integrated to the POS system, and wireless handheld terminals for mobile order entry and credit card processing.

According to Torkildson, “The new POS system has given the entire venue a more professional appearance. In each food and beverage service area, the white menu-boards with black plastic letters have been replaced by two side-by-side 42-inch color LCD screens.”

Torkildson continues: “We can change the screen graphics and branding based on whatever team is playing that night.” This is made possible by Windows Embedded POSReady, which connects the displays to back-office software, so prices and other changes instantly appear on boards. Dakota Retail created a series of Flash animations that rotate through enticing product photos. “The menu-boards are running as monitors for the Breeze devices, so Windows Embedded POSReady support for Flash technology is the key to making this work,” Lindersmith explains. He continues: “It’s the small innovations in Windows Embedded POSReady that make you feel warm and fuzzy. For example, if a user gets stuck at the login screen, the OS automatically pulls up the onscreen keyboard so they can enter a password. We used to have to tell people to run and grab a keyboard from storage.”

Connectivity The ease of integrating Windows Embedded technology with the back-office POS system, mobile solutions, and credit card processors has been a major benefit for the Sioux Falls Arena.

Torkildson says, “We feel we made a great decision with the Breeze All-In-One solution. Even our credit card processing partner tells us they like this solution better than other POS systems – and it’s faster.”

Mobility The operating system compatibility of Windows Embedded POSReady with the Windows Embedded Compact family has delivered solid business benefits for the Sioux Falls arena.

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"There is zero tolerance for downtime in hospitality and simply no time to fix a POS system when you have people standing in line. We have found Windows Embedded POSReady to be extremely stable in all environments."

Joe Egan, Central Regional Sales Manager, Touch Dynamic

“Now beer hawkers and VIP waiters can swipe credit card in front of customer instead of running back and forth to a service station,” states Torkildson. “Not only have we gained increased efficiency and revenue, but now the handhelds are tied into inventory for one integrated solution.”

Community / Support For Dakota Retail Technologies, having the support of the global Windows Embedded community was a vital resource for speedy development.

“One of the benefits of working with Windows Embedded is that most of our development staff already has an intimate knowledge of it, plus we had easy access to outside resources, like the ISV that developed the inventory control application,” says Lindersmith. Return on Investment Return on investment for the new POS system has been achieved through both increased sales and higher profitability. Revenue is higher because of the integrated credit card processing, better signage, and mobile payment terminals. Higher profitability is achieved through real-time monitoring of purchasing activity to better understand the buying habits of customers. “I love being able to log into the POS server from anywhere—one of the Breeze POS devices or my Windows 7 PC at home—to see live real-time sales,” says Torkildson. “My team and I use this data for SKU management and to see forward looking trends.”

Higher productivity in the back office has been another benefit of the new POS system as automated reports have dramatically cut down on the amount of paperwork. “It takes just a few minutes to print reports that used to take hours to compile,” calculates Torkildson.

In just the first two months of operation with the new system, the Sioux Falls Arena has seen a slow increase in credit card use and average size of sale. “A ten percent increase in gross sales would give us complete payback in just nine months,” concludes Torkildson. “So far, we have seen a 12 to 14 percent increase in sales, so the impact of the new POS system has already exceeded our expectations.”

Windows EmbeddedWindows Embedded extends the power of Windows and the cloud to intelligent systems. Encompassing operating systems, tools, and systems and services, Windows Embedded enables enterprises to generate tangible, real-time benefits with anytime, anywhere access to executable data. Microsoft entered the embedded marketplace over 15 years ago and continues to lead the evolution toward intelligent systems with an extensive suite of technologies for enterprises across a variety of industries.

For more information visit:www.windowsembedded.com

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Dakota Retail products and services, visit:http://dakretail.com

For more information about Touch Dynamics products and services, visit:http://touchdynamic.com

For more information about Sioux Falls Arena products and services, visit:http://sfarena.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2011

Software and Services Other Products− Windows Embedded POSReady 2009− Microsoft Visual Studio− Microsoft Silverlight− Microsoft Windows CE 5.0

Partners Dakota Retail Technologies Touch Dynamic