ROLLER is an amazing holistic amusement and leisure platform but we've never really crossed over into the hardware space.
We are constantly looking for ways to improve the ROLLER platform for our partners and their customers. It is all about a smoother, faster and more enjoyable experience. Recently, we got our hands on some amazing devices that we couldn't pass by.
Our POS is world-class, however you can’t carry one around. We needed to port the check-in experience to something truly mobile, so attendees can flow through gates like running water.
The app
We put our heads together to come up with a proof-of-concept for just that: fast, efficient, mobile entry. The drawing board was first, we came up with an extremely simple user loop that would allow our staff to recognize when a ticket is checked in, when there was a problem and who the attendee was.
We love Ionic, because it allows us to hack together prototypes extremely quickly. Following a few days of figuring out the correct customer experience, we spent a week putting together an app that tapped into our API.
Once nutted out, we put it on the device to give it a whirl. Our prototype was a breeze but some tweaks were required for checking in hundreds of tickets at a time. We gave the user some kinetic feedback around the check-in status to understand it quicker. We added sounds and vibration to take the experience to the next level.
The hardware
We proceeded to test various alternatives of hardware, quickly realizing that fast handheld bar-code scanners were the way to go. On top of excellent ergonomics and fast processing, they also make us feel like we are featuring in Star Wars!
The marriage
All of this was good in theory, however we wouldn't know how it truly performed until it was battle tested at an event. We figured an event with over 30,000 tickets was the perfect testing ground!
Connectivity issues caused a delay in syncing bookings, but with some quick work and a live deploy, we were able to overcome these troubles. PHEW!
Additionally, we gained invaluable insights about how the app worked with the hardware under stress, and how they were being used by staff.
The honeymoon
Since then, we’ve been constantly tweaking both the user experience, performance and speed of the app, and have been looking at constructing custom ROLLER devices.
As always the ROLLER team iterates fast tests, gains data, and repeats to move towards a product that will blow the industry out of the water!
