“ICE is a great networking opportunity”
(Exclusive interview).- Marcus Tiedt, Sales Director – Gaming, Amusement & Vending at Innovative Technology, talked with Focus Gaming News about ICE London.
With only four days until the most important event for the gambling industry, companies are ready to unveil new products and showcase existing ones to the public, which will experience the biggest edition of the show this year. Marcus Tiedt, Sales Director – Gaming, Amusement & Vending at Innovative Technology, talked with Focus Gaming News about the benefits that the company perceives thanks to ICE and gave us a preview of what we can expect from its booth.
You’ve recently announced that you will launch Live Collect at EAG 2019, which takes place this month. Are you going to introduce new products at ICE 2019 as well? What can we expect from your booth?
Following the successful launch of Live Collect at EAG in London a few weeks ago, ICE visitors will also be able to demo this new solution which is set to revolutionise collection routine for Operators. We are also excited to use ICE as an opportunity to preview some of our new, next-generation recycling products which will take centerstage on the ITL stand. These state-of-the-art recyclers will offer mixed denomination note recycling and boast large capacity storage capabilities. Plus, they also feature our cutting-edge Spectral technology; therefore, the highest level of security is ensured.
In the last few months you made a number of changes to your team and appointed specialists that are set to help you expand your reach in America and the Asia Pacific Region. Have you achieved in those markets any of the goals you set last year?
We have dedicated offices in both the USA and APAC regions and have recently extended the teams to help us grow our reach in these important areas. We are on track in terms to achieve our goals and strategies for these locations and are also busy researching other regions which are potential growth areas for the gaming, amusement and vending industries.
We are excited to use ICE as an opportunity to preview some of our new, next-generation recycling products which will take centerstage on the ITL stand.
How are you planning to develop your strategy in 2019? Are big expos like ICE 2019 as beneficial as regional events when targeting specific markets? How so?
We will continue to ensure we have a presence at all large, key exhibitions and have already exhibited at NRF & EAG within the space of a few weeks in January. We have a packed exhibition calendar for the rest of the year which includes all the key, established events in the industry as well as some smaller, regional expos where representatives from our appropriate local offices will attend. ICE is the biggest event in the gaming exhibition calendar and our presence there is crucial to ensuring we stay at the forefront of this highly dynamic and fast changing industry.
Are you interested in building new partnerships at ICE that could help you reach new regions? How do you prepare for a show that could open the doors for multiple new partnerships?
We are always looking to build new partnerships and find ICE a great networking opportunity to make new relationships. We have sales representatives from most of our key locations in attendance and with all of the industry’s key players under one roof it is a great opportunity to meet with partners and customers both old and new.
ICE is the biggest event in the gaming exhibition calendar and our presence there is crucial to ensuring we stay at the forefront of this highly dynamic and fast changing industry.
ICE has established itself as the biggest event of the gaming industry. Do you prepare a strategy for the first quarter of the year depending on the results of each edition of the show?
We generally use ICE as a platform to launch or preview our innovations. For us it provides us with the perfect platform to present our new products to the market. ICE is a great opportunity to get important customer input to add to our field trials, ensuring we continue to produce products that exceed customer requirements.
Europe is currently experiencing a change in regulations that will affect both online and land-based operators. Do you have any strategy in place in order to develop that side of your business in the continent?
As a supplier of solutions for automated transactions we are currently not active in the online gaming market, but we have recently diversified our portfolio and can now show Operators how to handle coins, notes and tickets more efficiently. Overall, Operators need to be able to provide their customers with combined payment options to help them stay ahead of the game and produce operational efficiencies to help fuel business growth. We have recently previewed ReelPay to the gaming market – a new, secure app which allows customers to transfer funds to enabled gaming machines using their mobile. With Live Ticket Operators can now easily convert digital or analogue machines to become TITO-capable.
