Elevating Casino Communication and Safety with Relay

Ben Harlow, the IT Director of the Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk, Colorado was facing a dilemma. His facility was expanding, which means he needed more radios but the costs for their radio systems just kept increasing. Between the costs of replacing radios, the additional required infrastructure and the ever-increasing programming fees, he felt like he was not getting the value for what he was paying. Ben prides himself in being innovative and it frustrated him to no end that with these increased costs, he was getting no enhancements that would improve their operations or make the management of these complex systems easier. The radios were all operating the same way they did when he got into the business a few decades earlier. 

Realizing there are alternatives to radios

Ben was not happy with the radio status quo and began to look for alternatives that were as forward-thinking and innovative as his department. He said “I’ve used the gorillas in the space because I had to, there has not really been another option. When I discovered Relay and realized what it could do without the extra infrastructure and support from an IT perspective, I realized I could save money, take a big chunk of work off my plate and improve the way we do business.”

“With radios you are going to have dead spots”

Feeling the immediate impact of Relay innovations. 

Ben shared “With radios you are going to have dead spots. Since Relay leverages cellular networks and WiFi, we don’t have dead spots anymore – and we used to have a lot”. Being able to get a hold of the people they needed to, no matter where they were in the facility, instantly improved many operational efficiencies across the team. 

Ben also implemented Relay’s indoor location tracking, leveraging his existing WiFi infrastructure. The panic button functionality enabled his security team to respond to incidents much faster than before. Additionally, geolocation tracking provided opportunities to increase operational efficiency while also saving their team money by preventing devices from being lost or stolen. Ben shared, “The security team reached out to me and said they were missing 12 Relay devices and needed replacements. I checked the Relay dashboard, to see if they had left the property and using the device’s location tracking, we found 11 of the 12 devices immediately.” This experience not only prevented the security team from spending their team’s budget on new devices, but it showed them powerful location data they never had access to before with radios. They now leverage the Relay location data every day to improve security.

“Monarch Casino Resort Spa saved over $100k on their communication devices”

Real cost and time savings

Monarch Casino Resort Spa saved over $100k on their communication devices, spending about 30% less than the estimates received from other radio providers. Relay does not require additional infrastructure which saved them both money and weeks of time that it would have normally taken to roll out a new radio system and 10+ hours of ongoing monthly maintenance.

Why not Relay?

When Ben was asked what he’d tell someone considering Relay, he said, “My response would be why wouldn’t you? The big guys never listen, improve or innovate, this is absolutely the innovative radio solution platform that can change your business.”