For more than a decade, theatre management software has been the backbone of every cinema that made the transition to digital projection technology, which is to say, virtually every movie theatre in the world. Many different manufacturers provide their own approach to the challenges that TMS was designed to address. I recently spoke with five TMS manufacturers and asked if they thought exhibitors were getting the most from their TMS, where their TMS fits in a movie theatre enterprise and, most of all, what new ideas in TMS can we expect to see when the industry gathers in Las Vegas next week for CinemaCon 2017. We’re presenting the companies alphabetically and will be offering their answers over the next five days. Today’s company: GDC.
GDC executives Annie Wang and Tony Adamson contributed to this article.
Digital Cinema Report: Do exhibitors fully understand all the benefits that TMS can provide?
GDC: Yes. Since the conversion to digital cinema, exhibitors have been taking advantage of the numerous benefits of centralizing theatre operations with the GDC TMS-2000. However, GDC is constantly adding new features and benefits developed from exhibition’s feedback to improve operational efficiencies and boost productivity. GDC offers ongoing training to ensure exhibitors fully understand the benefits of new features and benefits. Two new benefits are SmartRestore and TmsRemote. With SmartRestore, theatres can restore all their scheduled shows and relevant details in a click (this function only applies on GDC’s SX-3000 Standalone Integrated Media Block). With GDC TmsRemote, an app specifically designed to control TMS-2000, theatres can now manage TMS functions from anywhere in the theatre and remotely control daily theatre operations from a PC, laptop or mobile devices.
DCR: Can TMS be used to manage and improve the lobby experience or POS purchasing?
GDC: Although the GDC TMS integrates with nearly 30 POS systems, the POS is designed to handle different functions, such as scheduling, pricing, seating, theatre configuration, and promotions and discounts to name a few. In addition to integrating with pre-qualified POS systems, the GDC TMS is a flexible software solution that works with all major brands of digital cinema equipment. Unlike other TMS on the market, TMS-2000 is not bundled with any particular hardware, it runs on majority of Microsoft Windows platform. At CinemaCon, GDC will introduce SmartCinema, a software platform to monitor and control the entire theatre, including the lobby. SmartCinema is basically a control room for entire cinema that protects equipment, monitors the environment and helps operating efficiency. Think of it as smart home automation but designed specifically for the cinema industry.
A few of the Key Features and Benefits of SmartCinema include:
Security: Real-time remote monitoring and control of the entire site’s physical security via CCTV cameras, smart locks, and open/closed censors.
Environment: Real-time remote monitoring of humidity, temperature, and water-leak detection. Temperature can be remotely adjusted to ensure a comfortable movie-viewing experience
Energy: Real-time remote monitoring of the quality of the power supply, energy consumption, and equipment on/off status to decrease waste in utility expenses.
Admissions Audit: Count the number of patrons entering and exiting the auditorium and audit against ticket sales for each show time.
DCR: Can TMS help exhibitors grow and maintain customer loyalty groups?
GDC: The GDC TMS is not designed to grow and maintain customer loyalty programs. However, here, too, GDC's SmartCinema enables exhibitors to increase loyalty by monitoring the environment and presentation quality. SmartCinema software allows the theatre’s management to provide the best possible experience from the time a guests enters to when they exit, which is an important element of creating loyalty. Think of it as smart home automation but designed specifically for the cinema industry.
DCR: What improvements and advances in TMS can we expect to see at CinemaCon 2017?
GDC: As one of the world’s leading providers of TMS software with over 21,000 installed systems, GDC is constantly adding new features developed from exhibition’s feedback. Over the last year, we have added over 50 new features and will introduce three new features at CinemaCon, such as automated show playlist creation and pre-show automation.