Business Edge develops new system for roll-out to 35 entertainment centres

The Magic Company is rolling out a Site Operations Management System (SOMS) that will raise their business to a higher level of efficiency at 35 entertainment centres around the country. Mark Howell, The Magic Company`s Financial Director, says "having secured our target market in the high-end family entertainment business, our focus has shifted to significantly improving operational efficiency. The implementation of SOMS is central to this."

"The interactive entertainment industry," stresses Howell, "demands a system that improves operational efficiencies by enforcing strict controls at site-level, while facilitating informed marketing decisions by monitoring the performance of each outlet right down to game level. Business Edge Systems delivered exactly what we wanted, on-time and on-budget."

Hennie Pretorius of Business Edge Systems says that a component-based approach was used to build SOMS. "This has proved invaluable in implementing new requirements quickly" explains Pretorius. "One example was the introduction of smart cards as an alternative payment medium to tokens."

A powerful feature of the system is the robust data distribution and collection mechanism. This serves to populate the head office data warehouse, provides an off-site backup capability and supports remote system administration.

The Magic Company also stands to benefit from sales of the system. "We believe," says Howell, "that SOMS offers business benefits not available in packaged software. This presents us with an opportunity to market the system to international operators."

SOMS has been implemented and proven at 4 sites and is now being rapidly rolled-out to the remainder. "We look forward to a long relationship with Business Edge," says Howell. "In addition to their enthusiasm and outstanding technical skills, they were able to grasp the key business issues and translate them into a system that will impact positively on our bottom line."