Oracle Shopping Centre go MOTOTRBO™

Berkshire’s premier shopping and leisure centre, The Oracle, has improved the coordination of daily operations and enhanced staff safety, following the installation of a Motorola Solutions MOTOTRBO™ digital two-way radio system with Capacity Plus by DTS.Solutions (UK) Ltd.

The high-tech solution provides uninterrupted voice and data communications across the centre, which is spread over 22 acres. It has enabled The Oracle’s diverse work groups to communicate on an individual or group basis without disturbing one another or tying up the airwaves. This has increased productivity, enhanced customer service and helped them to respond more quickly to incidents.

Using TRBOnet, a dispatch software application, the control room can identify the status of each radio user in real time and send personnel text messages to remind them when checks need to be done.

Explaining their decision to migrate to digital two-way radio, The Oracle’s Senior Duty Manager Neil Hughes noted: “Our previous analogue system was over ten years old. The radios were constantly in need of repair, and we were experiencing interference and signal issues.

“After investigating various options, I was convinced that digital was the way forward for our business. We chose DTS.Solutions (UK) Ltd due to their knowledge about digital radio systems and ability to understand our particular requirements.”

Customer Profile

CLIENT: Oracle Shopping Centre

SECTOR: Retail

MOTOTRBO™ operates in both analogue and digital mode, which allowed for a smooth change-over to the new IP-based platform, with minimal training required. DTS.Solutions (UK) Ltd installed 2 x SLR5500 repeaters and supplied 75 x MOTOTRBO™ DP4401e, 50 x MOTOTRBO™ DP4401e, 10x MOTOTRBO™ SL4010e UHF digital portable radios, which were configured to support the needs of various work teams from security and customer services to housekeeping, technical services and administration.

In a noisy shopping mall, communication needs to be clearly audible. Digital radio’s built-in error correction technology reconstitutes the voice, delivering clearer communications across a wider range and eliminating “dead” zones. Another attractive feature is MOTOTRBO™’s TDMA technology which doubles the capacity of an existing channel, enabling two voice transmissions or a voice and data transmission to occur at the same time. In addition to maximising return on investment, this reduces the amount of battery power required and supports longer work shifts between recharges.

The integration of voice and data communications on a single system has expanded the features and functions available to radio users, making it easier for them to perform daily tasks. For example:

• Improving team collaboration through individual and group calling.
• Using text messages to issue reminders and schedule tasks.
• Sending automatic prompts at regular intervals to protect staff working alone.
• Overriding calls in an emergency situation.
• Monitoring of individual user activity so the centre can identify when a staff member is on duty. This allows personnel to be allocated more efficiently.
• Recording conversations for training and as mitigation for insurance claims.

The MOTOTRBO™ Capacity Plus trunked solution dynamically allocates channels as they’re required, providing a cost-effective way to support more users and reduce missed or dropped calls due to channels being busy.

The Oracle shopping centre have made the most of the TRBOnet Mobile Client app. It is a feature-rich push-to-talk application for Android and iOS that extends MOTOTRBO™ to smartphones and tablets. It works like a traditional console with the PTT capability and delivers essential information to the user’s Android or iOS device. The solution provides full integration of smartphones with MOTOTRBO™ radios over 3G. 4G or Wi-Fi.

With over 80 stores, in excess of 30 eateries and 2300 parking spaces, The Oracle attracts millions of visitors each year. The radios play a vital role in supporting personnel in the day to day running of the centre, from helping customers to locate lost cars, dealing with general queries, tackling petty crime and responding to incidents. Future plans include an indoor location system which will enable The Oracle to pinpoint and track personnel in the centre in real time. This is expected to enhance customer service and safety even further to our particular requirements.”

DTS. Solutions UK Ltd provides a 24-hour, 7-day a week backup service so that in the unlikely event of a fault, The Oracle can minimise communications downtime. Commenting on their choice of supplier, Neil Hughes said: “After-sales service is very important to me: it tells me a lot about a business and whether or not I would continue with them as a supplier. The service I have received from DTS.Solutions UK Ltd has been great – I have always been able to talk to someone no matter what the question, even when they are working out of the office.”

• Easy Migration from analogue to digital
• Superior audio and extended coverage
• Reliable, integrated voice and data communications improves collaboration, efficiency and customer service
• Advanced features and great capacity
• Ability to record conversations
• Excellent after-sales service