“ICE has put us on a great course”

(Exclusive interview).- VP Sales and Product Management Europe at TransAct Rob Denham talked with Focus Gaming News about the company’s experience at ICE 2018.

TransAct showcased its products at ICE 2018 and was well-received by the attendees in London. VP Sales and Product Management Europe at TransAct, Rob Denham, talked with Focus Gaming News and discussed how the company performed and what it expects to accomplish following the show.

What’s TransAct’s status after ICE 2018?

To better serve our European customers, Transact has decided after many years of selling through distribution to go to the market directly, establishing our new Facility in the UK as our European Headquarters in 2018. Additionally, we have begun the process of building out our European organization by filling key sales and support roles to address the needs of the market. We were thrilled to be able to introduce our new employees to the market at the ICE show which was the perfect venue to launch our efforts.

Within minutes of the show opening we knew our direct approach was the right decision. We were busy from the moment the show opened until it closed with all three days providing fantastic opportunities for Transact to connect with our customers and prospects.

ICE was our first opportunity to gauge the industry’s reaction to the news of us selling direct and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The ICE show has put us on a great course for a fantastic 2018 and beyond.

I know it is somewhat of a cliché these days to say that this show was better than last year’s show but in terms of business opportunity this was easily the best ICE in the previous 17 or 18 years I have attended so far. The whole team left on a real high because of all the opportunities we came away with; I can’t think of single negative. Now the real work begins as we follow up with everyone that visited us and talked to us at the show. We are working to ensure that these opportunities are turned into business deals which is the true purpose of ICE.

The ICE show has put us on a great course for a fantastic 2018 and beyond.

How were TransAct’s products received at the show?

Our products are well known across the industry and are always well received. The Epic 950 is installed in over 750,000 slots throughout hundreds of casinos worldwide and with its proven reliability and low maintenance requirements it is always particularly sought out. Transact’s policy of developing and supporting firmware requirements free of charge is also greatly appreciated by our partners.

But Transact is not just a one TITO printer company, we have printer solutions for all gaming applications; the EPIC 880 in sport betting, the Epic 430 in kiosk applications and the Epic 3000, the chosen printer in countless lottery jurisdictions around the world. By having a stable of products, we can glean experience from a huge field base to give our customers the best product experience. We also showed the latest iteration of Epicentral, our promotional couponing system. We had a lot of interest from operators who are increasingly looking for something else to delight and excite their players and keep them coming back through the doors.

What are the key selling points of the Epic Edge showed at ICE and how was it received?

The New Epic Edge is an addition to our printer range rather than a replacement due to component obsolescence. It was launched to give casinos a choice between ‘industry standard’ and ‘industry leading’. Casinos that choose the Epic Edge will benefit from the best print quality in a TITO printer with the addition of a 300 dpi print head, which will improve the readability on barcodes and for printing higher quality coupons for casinos to send to their players enhanced messages and coupons at the slots. It has an ultra-fast USB data transfer to improve firmware download times and an SD card slot for hassle free downloads. Plus, it supports all interfaces on one board (Netplex, RS232 and USB). The shape and the form factor of the Epic Edge are identical to the Epic 950 and 100 per cent backward compatible. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the product and with many casinos now looking at promotional couponing as a way of differentiating themselves from the completion and enticing their players back to the casino, they see the Epic Edge as an additional way to enhance the promotional coupon experience.

Did any companies or market opportunities catch TransAct’s attention?

Yes plenty, but I don’t want to give the competition any help, so I will keep the good opportunities under my hat if you don’t mind. I will say that TITO applications seem to be growing more prevalent outside of its tradition home in casinos and it is becoming more prevalent across the different aspects of gaming.

The most important element of ICE this year was to connect directly with our customers and establish a close working relationship with our partners.

What do you expect to achieve after what you’ve experienced at ICE?

A really good growth year in 2018! ICE is perfectly timed in the year to act as a springboard for business for the rest of the year to meet and exceed our targets. The most important element of ICE this year was to connect directly with our customers and establish a close working relationship with our partners. We have achieved that goal and look to grow and expand our relationships even further with European customers in 2018.