Cradlepoint IBR650 Deployed in Card Maker Kiosk

Greeting Card Maker Deploys CradlePoint Solutions

Keeping A 100+ Year-Old Business Relevant In The Digital Age

Since its founding in the early 1900s, this mid-West-based, privately owned greeting card company has been an instantly recognized brand, providing consumers worldwide with a wide range of greeting cards and related products. Nearly 100 years after its founding, the company launched a broadcast television channel to expand its brand further.

The Challenge

Connecting Kiosks In Retail Stores For Personal Greeting Card Creation

The company's line includes thousands of products, including greeting cards, invitations, announcements, and more. Each product enables the gift giver to express personal sentiments to the recipient. However, in today's digital landscape, this purveyor of printed materials needed to find a way to stay relevant to their core audience.

Manufacturer Uses Cradlepoint Devices for Kiosk Connectivity

However, a rapid increase in the number and functionality of Internet-connected devices has placed the ability to express these sentiments at people's fingertips. Smartphones enable people to set reminders of important dates, send digital greeting cards, and exchange highly personalized updates of where they are, what they're doing, and who they're doing it with.

As part of a new initiative to provide consumers with the ability to access and personalize its products in new locations, the company has installed greeting card kiosks inside a limited number of U.S. retail stores.

The Solution

CradlePoint IBR650C Routers and NetCloud for Service Provide Connectivity and Remote Management for Kiosks

Each self-service kiosk contains a touch-screen computer that enables consumers to choose from an assortment of greeting cards to which they can add personalized messages and photographs. The kiosks use Cradlepoint IBR650C routers to send consumer orders wirelessly over the Internet to the company's production facilities. The finished cards are then mailed to the intended recipients.

Cradlepoint IBR650C routers enable the company to place greeting card kiosks in retail store locations and to do so without causing undue infringement on the store. Needing nothing more than a power source, the routers instantly provide a secure and reliable wireless network connection to company headquarters and production centers.

Kiosk Connectivity with Cradlepoint Routers

The company uses the Cradlepoint NetCloud for Service IoT application to manage the devices in its geographically distributed system. This cloud-enabled platform allows the company to centrally deploy, configure, and dynamically manage each router, improving network reliability and PCI compliance.

The Results

Reliable, Fast, and Flexible Kiosk Connectivity

The company's new kiosks are designed to combine Internet speed with the pleasure of receiving physical – as opposed to digital – greetings. The kiosks also give consumers access to a much wider variety of greeting and occasion cards than in an average store. Consumers can add personal greetings, perhaps insert a photograph, and include the intended recipient's mailing address. The order is then sent digitally to one of the company's production facilities, which prints and mails the card.

"With CradlePoint's equipment, we can bring our kiosks into stores in a way that doesn't disrupt the retailer," says a senior member of the company's IT staff. "We can have network connectivity wherever we need it – and get it securely, flexibly, and reliably."

Reliability

For any company working in the retail space, customer satisfaction is a primary goal. Cradlepoint's "Four-Nines" reliability means the company's kiosks stay connected. This is particularly important when Cradlepoint routers provide the only Internet connection, as is the case with these kiosks.

Speed

The ability of Cradlepoint IBR650C routers to connect at 4G speeds is essential to the company. The images and text involved in the personalization process can require the movement of large amounts of data – much more than in normal retail transactions. The increased speed and capacity of 4G LTE means that customers can quickly complete greeting card orders.

"If a kiosk gets disconnected, a customer may have gone all the way through the personalization process – and then be unable to complete the order. Not only does this lose us a sale and a chance to serve our customers, but it may also frustrate them to the point where they may never want to try the kiosk again. So reliability is vital to us."

Flexibility

CradlePoint network solutions are designed to support more than 70 different carriers. This flexibility allows the company to place its Internet-connected kiosks in almost any location, whether the store is in the middle of a city or at a remote tourist attraction. Wireless connectivity means the kiosks can be located where customers will notice them – such as in the middle of busy aisles.

"When we think about what Cradlepoint and high-speed wireless networks can do together, we see that we have an opportunity to build consumer value differently than we ever have before. Knowing that we can deliver that speed and network access to virtually any location – and do it so easily – gives us more tools to meet the consumer's needs."

Experience

Founded in 2004, Cradlepoint has built strong relationships with software companies, solution providers, and wireless carriers that help it deliver a reliable, secure network to virtually any location.

"The software company we worked with to create the kiosk program has a lot of experience supporting network connectivity at retail. They were familiar with Cradlepoint's solution and services and recommended it as essentially best of class. Then we had that echoed from the wireless carriers we talked to. So we felt very comfortable choosing CradlePoint for the kiosk program."

Our Team

Device Provisioning, Activation and Installation Services

USAT, part of the MCA family of companies, specializes in designing and deploying fixed and mobile wireless data connectivity solutions for organizations of all sizes — complete with implementation, training, proof of concept (POC), system auditing, and on-site RF surveying services with optional engineering maintenance contracts. Our team not only helps you select, provision, and activate devices, we make sure they work in practical applications and real-life situations.

For over 25 years, USAT has provided cellular communications solutions for various retail and manufacturing operations across the USA. With our extensive catalog of world-class routers, gateways, and software designed for remote monitoring and management in even the harshest environments — you can count on us to get and keep you connected.

Our connectivity solutions translate to less manual equipment maintenance, reduced downtime, and an overall increase in your business's ROI. Contact the experts at USAT to learn how our wireless networking solutions can help meet your organization's exacting needs.