Regal Cinemas Makes Movies Mobile First with MobileIron Cloud

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Regal Entertainment Group RGC operates the largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuit in the United States, consisting of 7,347 screens in 573 theatres in 42 states along with Guam, Saipan, American Samoa and the District of Columbia. As part of making its theatres Mobile First, Regal Entertainment Group deployed MobileIron MOBL, a leader in enterprise mobility management, to manage its new iOS deployment to theatres across the country.

From legacy technology to a mobile infrastructure
As the company was reevaluating its Point of Sale (POS) technology, it realized it had an opportunity to make mobile technology a strategic business asset. Historically, Regal Entertainment Group had used legacy technology where ushers used radio frequency scanners to scan customers' tickets. The scanners communicated with a base connected to the nearest POS terminal to the usher stand. However, the technology was unreliable. If the distance between scanner and base was too great or the lobby was crowded with guests the signal would drop.

The answer was iPods running mobile apps secured by an enterprise mobility management platform. The company decided to equip its ushers with iPods running an iOS app called UsherPoint, developed by Vista Entertainment Solutions, that scans ticket barcodes on paper or on a smartphone screen, provides information about movie schedules, start and end times, and even whether an auditorium has been cleaned. To support the new app, the company also installed a new wireless infrastructure and chose MobileIron to secure and manage everything.

Choosing an EMM platform
"We looked at analyst research, evaluated three vendors, and chose MobileIron," said Brandon Stroud, Director, IT Theatre Infrastructure Services, Regal Entertainment Group. "We liked MobileIron because it was easy to navigate and setting policies was very straightforward. We also heard very good things about MobileIron's customer support and we knew we needed a partner who was committed to helping us make this initiative successful."

Regal Entertainment Group uses MobileIron to lock the iPods into single app mode. The devices are supervised using Apple Configurator. MobileIron products AppConnect and Tunnel secure app data-in-motion and app data-at-rest. To date, Regal Entertainment Group has rolled out about 2,000 iPods and the rollout has been very well received.

Easy Employee Adoption
"Our employees enjoy having the device and are familiar with it because they use the same types of devices in their personal lives," said Shayne DeMarcus, IT Theatre Systems Engineer, Regal Entertainment Group. "It is very natural for them to pick up and utilize so very little training is needed to get people using the iPods. The transition to these devices has been very positive."

"This has been a very successful initiative. Employees like the new devices and ultimately these new technologies deliver a better experience to our guests," Stroud continued. "When we did our due diligence we needed to be confident that whatever we selected would provide the foundation for us to build upon. With MobileIron, we know that we can expand our mobile initiative to other devices and business uses."

About MobileIron
MobileIron provides the foundation for companies around the world to transform into Mobile First organizations. For more information, please visit www.mobileiron.com.

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SOURCE MobileIron