Description
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CHALLENGE
With more than sixty stores nationwide and counting, a large luxury retailer recognizes the need to standardize its instore audio systems. This business has a top-notch brand to protect—and stellar, consistent audio plays an important role in the customer experience.
SOLUTION
Enter Dickensheets Design Associates, who work with the retailer to create and implement a standardized, secure, and
user-friendly system with a single point of monitoring and control.
It’s fall 2007, and a nationwide
luxury retailer is planning construction
for a new store. When changes to the
store’s audio system are proposed,
the retailer sees the opportunity to
create a standardized audio system
design for all new stores and major
reconstruction projects.
They consult with Dickensheets
Design Associates, an Austin-based
firm specializing in room acoustics,
sound system, and audio-visual
design. Principal Consultant Ken
Dickensheets and his team work with
the retailer to come up with a design
that will serve as the company’s new
benchmark.
It meets several important
goals. The new design interfaces
with the retailer’s existing security
system, creates a standardized list
of equipment and specifications for
layout, and designates a single point
of control at the corporate level while
in-store controls are made simpler and limit system adjustments. Dickensheets
chose Biamp® Systems’ Audia® and
Nexia products. Less than two years
after this first installation in the new
store, Dickensheets has managed new
system installations in the company’s
flagship and outlet stores in six states
across the U.S.
There are many advantages of
the new system design. One of the
most important is the protection
and centralization of system control.
This retailer’s systems are complex,
Dickensheets says. “They need audio
for meetings, paging, background
music, and runway fashion shows.”
Wireless microphones, music, and
multi-zone paging all under one
roof means there’s an unseen audiosignal
superhighway. Previously,
store employees would access the
Communications Room located in
each store to make audio adjustments
guided only by where the dials and
controls were marked.
This was
problematic: it created inconsistencies
in sound, would frequently create
complications in other areas, and if the
employees were unable to reset the
system properly, a corporate employee
or subcontracted technician would
need to visit the store.
The new password-protected
system offers an impressive level of
ease and control: All signals are routed
through Audia or Nexia. Volume and
signal routing adjustments for the
stores are now made by Dickensheets
securely logging into the corporate
network from his desk. If the system
requires adjustment—it can be handled
quickly, securely, and remotely. “With
maintenance calls, we have one person
to go to now—Ken Dickensheets,”
says a senior telecommunications
technologist.
Whether he’s in
Virginia or the
Virgin Islands, or
even at home,
as long as Dickensheets
has Internet
access and a
computer running
the Biamp Audia
or Nexia software,
he can log in
through the
company’s secure
corporate servers
and diagnose
the problem.
The
software tells him exactly where the
problem is. If it’s a system adjustment,
he can make that instantaneously, and
if it’s a speaker or amplifier that needs
to be repaired, he can place a call
immediately to the appropriate vendor.
The list of system perks goes
on. “In the flagship stores, the new
system gives the restaurant better
management of their music with
easy-to-use controls,” says a lead
telecommunications analyst. “And it’s
easier for them to use the microphone
for meetings in that area.”
In the outlet
stores, a department can now mute
its speaker volume while not missing
pages to that area.
The retailer continues to refine
the design and programming with
each installation, and they appreciate
the flexibility. That, Dickensheets
says, is the result of a well-planned
system. “If companies think through
their design goals and how they want
the system to work, the consultant/
designer can design the system
for these capabilities and for versatility
to accommodate the client’s
evolving goals.”
As much as a company’s goals
may grow and change, one will remain
of central importance—maintaining a
consistent and pleasing experience
for the customer. Audio plays no small
role in that endeavor. A picture-perfect
fashion show with seamless music and
announcements, pleasing background
music playing softly overhead from
department to department, and a
crystal-clear page resulting in topnotch
customer service all work
together to create an experience that
will keep people coming back again
and again.
Nexia CS - DSP Conference System
by
Biamp
Model: Nexia CS
- Discontinued
Nexia PM - DSP Presentation Mixer
by
Biamp
Model: Nexia PM
- Discontinued
Nexia SP - DSP Speaker Processor
by
Biamp
Model: Nexia SP
- Discontinued
Nexia TC - Teleconference DSP
by
Biamp
Model: Nexia TC
- Discontinued
Nexia VC - Videoconference DSP
by
Biamp
Model: Nexia VC
- Discontinued
System Designer
Dickensheets Design Associates
Austin Texas , 78750
Other
BIAMP Systems
9300 SW Gemini Drive
Beaverton OR , 97008