HOYTS and Optus: Redefining the future of the cinematic experience
The HOYTS Group, in strategic partnership with Optus, has created a unique mobile-first cinematic experience that puts connectivity at the core of the digital experience for their millions of customers and staff. This ensures the customer’s journey – from their first touch point all the way through to their last – is a seamless, secure and enjoyable experience.
Every aspect of the HOYTS Group's business relies on network connectivity, from movie screenings and advertisements to ticket and popcorn sales. As HOYTS has evolved its digital customer experience and seen exponential growth in online ticket sales through their Webby Award-Honoree website, they needed to transform its network services to enhance the customer experience, boost employee productivity, and network security.
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The Situation A network fit for growth
In an increasingly complex threat landscape, HOYTS needed a robust network offering superior security and redundancy to ensure uninterrupted cinema services.
A highly available network is crucial for HOYTS’ business, and with the decreasing viability of transacting offline, improving the performance and resiliency of the network was critical for maximising uptime and ensuring they could meet growing customer expectations.
HOYTS required a modern network with sufficient bandwidth to cope with fluctuating demand, as well as delivering content between sites and out to their digital advertising screens nationwide.
The HOYTS Group includes:
- HOYTS Cinema: Founded in 1909 and today operates 59 cinemas with 497 screens and 59,000 seats across Australia and New Zealand.
- Val Morgan: Founded in 1984 and is the largest cinema advertising company in Australia and New Zealand.
- Val Morgan Outdoor (VMO): an industry leader in its space,with over 10,000 screens located in shopping centres, petrol stations, gyms, and more.
"Optus is at the core of every dollar we make at HOYTS. In today's digital world, there's not a single interaction that HOYTS has - with staff or customers - that doesn't rely on Optus infrastructure."
Adam Wrightson Group IT Director, HOYTS Group
The Solution A strategic and trusted partnership
To answer the needs for bandwidth and availability, Optus collaborated with Cisco to implement a SD-WAN solution, utilising Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN with dual Optus and nbn fibre links combined with Optus 4G backup for added resiliency.
This has given HOYTS greater visibility into their network and the utilisation of links and applications, all of which enables them to respond quickly to any network additions or changes, improve uptime and provide a better user experience. Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Cloud on-ramp technology and its underlying network capabilities has also improved speed performance 20-fold.
Since deploying the Catalyst SD-WAN network, there have been no outages or loss of connectivity, thanks to the multiple layers of redundancy and resiliency now built into the network.
"We want to highten the customer's excitement and move them through the customer journey as seamlessly as possible from purchasing online to when they arrive in cinema and as the last credits roll. We've worked hard to ensure we're exceeding customer expectations, and that's shown in our NPS scores and our market share."
Simone Fisher Digital Operations & Product Manager, HOYTS Group
Security was another key component of the upgrade and the integration of Cisco Umbrella with the Catalyst SD-WAN fabric created an effective cloud security layer that protects users and the network against ever-evolving security threats in a way not previously available to the business.
Their focus now is on making sure the customer experience matches or surpasses evolving customer expectations—crucial given that 3 out of every 4 customer transactions now take place on digital self-service channels. HOYTS also considers that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a huge part in improving CX across their websites and apps.
Val Morgan and VMO operate 10,000+ digital screens across the Optus mobile network via shopping centres, petrol stations, office buildings and gymnasiums around Australia. Optus worked with HOYTS to modernise the digital signage and out-of-home advertising capability, bringing them onto the Optus IoTFlex platform with Cradlepoint devices.
This enables HOYTS to automate content from their entire out-of-home network and strengthen their security posture. Secure connectivity is essential not only for content delivery to VMO’s digital screens but also to enable programmatic (dynamic, real-time) advertising.
Digital signage is now quarantined from the rest of their corporate network and the IT team can augment bandwidth requirements for this operational activity to occur.
"We've grown the performance, reliability and the security of our network which means that we're protecting our business, protecting our customers, and protecting all of the data that we use across the business."
Adam Wrightson Group IT Director, HOYTS Group
The Results A transformative journey
Since partnering in 2016, HOYTS and Optus have integrated a reliable, secure and mobile-first approach and capabilities, enhancing both customer experiences and employee productivity.
HOYTS’ drivers for the choice of Optus as its telecommunications provider included a relationship that is built on trust, performance, reliability and positive connections for their customers.
Over the long-standing partnership, the relationship has only deepened and improved uptime and performance of the HOYTS business. Together Optus and HOYTS have not only transformed the network but also achieved cost reductions, highlighting the benefits of a strategic and forward-thinking approach.
"If our network goes down it could cost us thousands of dollars a day and negatively impact our customers experience, so a resilient network is crucial for the success of the HOYTS Group."
Tony Siclari Chief Information Security Officer, Group IT Operations Manager, HOYTS Group
The Future A platform for growth
Together with Optus, HOYTS is now looking at how they can grow their technology over the next five to ten years. With a planned move from on-premise servers to the cloud, a scalable, high-performance, and secure network will become even more critical. An SD-WAN solution is ideal for meeting these needs.
Inbuilding coverage will also become increasingly important given HOYTS cinemas are generally located in areas of high density. 5G and the low latency it provides will also present scope to create apps to interact with cinema visitors.
The HOYTS Group's success is a testament to strategic partnerships and visionary decision-making, providing inspiration for enterprises and C-Suite leaders navigating the digital landscape with resilience and innovation.
"From an innovation perspective, as things move more towards the cloud, our reliance on the Optus network will become even greater as we try to streamline customer journeys and make it even easier for our customers to engage and interact with HOYTS as a cinema brand."
Adam Wrightson Group IT Director, HOYTS Group
Further information
To find out more about partnering with Optus, contact your account manager or request a call back below.
CUSTOMER PROFILE
Enterprise: HOYTS Group
About: As a leading entertainment and media company, the HOYTS Group is passionate about delivering the future of cinema and seamless customer experiences to millions of patrons annually.
Industry: Entertainment and Media
Website: www.hoyts.com.au
Location: National
Company Size: 3,000
History: Customer since 2016
Goals
- Ensure customer experience matches or surpasses evolving customer expectations
- Lower costs
- Respond quickly to network changes, improve uptime and connectivity.
Solutions
- SD-WAN (Cisco Catalyst SDWAN)
- Dual Optus and nbn fibre
- Optus 4G backup for added resiliency
- Cisco Umbrella
- Optus IoTFlex with Cradlepoint devices
- Mobiles
- Moving from Evolve Voice to MS Teams.
Benefits
- Improved uptime and performance of the HOYTS business
- Cost reductions
- Enhanced customer experience.