Since 1960, Camelback had been a much-loved ski destination for the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but a short winter season was limiting its operation to just four months.

Casting about for an idea that would energise and broaden the business, vice-president and general manager Richard Wiseman and his team took steps to convert the base of Camelback Ski Area into the Camelbeach waterpark.

But instead of relying on the antiquated point-ofsale systems that Camelback had been using, Camelbeach harnessed the power of information technology and a company called Siriusware, from New Mexico, was brought on board. It provided a suite of integrated applications to streamline ticket sales, unify credit card processing, and provide realtime reporting of all aspects of the business.

“Prior to Sirius software we were using a DOSbased system that used ‘hot’ key strokes to sell tickets,” says Ray Palumbo, director of information technology at Camelback and Camelbeach. “It was complicated, took a lot of training, and at the end of the day we had no easy way to analyse how the business had done.”

Camelbeach was such a runaway success (now one of the largest waterparks in the Northeastern United States) that the following season Camelback Ski Area switched its business operations over to the integrated system as well.

“It just makes so much sense to put everything on the network,” admits Palumbo. “With the old system we had 28 sales points and 28 separate phone lines for credit card processing. Since they were all standalone credit card terminals, each one needed to be reconciled at the end of the day. Now, cards are approved in four seconds and processed all together in one batch, with centralised, real-time reporting.”

This past year, Camelbeach added Siriusware’s ECommerce software module so that guests can buy their admission tickets before they arrive. “Print at home is a hot industry trend right now,” notes Palumbo.”

He adds that Camelback is now considering putting the integrated system to work in its rental shop. “If someone has rented from us in the past, their information is already in the system. Offering this service would certainly be another way to improve the guest experience.”

The business is also bringing its foodservice online so that credit cards can be used at all points of sale.

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