Jordi Andrés, Senior Business Development Manager de Innovative Technology (ITL) España, celebra este mes una década en la empresa. ITL es un fabricante líder internacional de tecnología de manejo de efectivo con una fuerte presencia en el mercado español.

Comentando su hito, “Cuando me incorporé a la oficina de ITL Barcelona hace 10 años, fui el primer comercial dedicado por completo al mercado retail, un sector completamente nuevo para nosotros en ese momento. Fui el responsable de nuestros primeros clientes para el sector retail que utilizaban productos ITL en cajones inteligentes, que es una configuración completamente diferente en comparación con las aplicaciones gaming y vending en las que tradicionalmente enfocamos nuestros productos en los primeros años de ITL”.

Al comentar sobre su largo compromiso con la empresa, Thorsten Labusch, vicepresidente de Ventas y Desarrollo Comercial de ITL, dijo: “Jordi es un gran activo para la empresa y, a lo largo de los años, ha asumido responsabilidades adicionales y se merece plenamente el puesto senior que ocupa actualmente. Cuando Jordi comenzó con nosotros, se le asignó la responsabilidad total de expandir nuestra presencia en el sector retail y kiosk en España, Portugal, Oriente Medio y Norte de África. Una vez que nos establecimos en estas regiones, y a medida que el equipo de ventas español se expandía, a Jordi se le asignó un puesto de alto nivel para concentrarse en el desarrollo de aplicaciones adicionales para el comercio minorista en España y Portugal. Jordi se enfoca en presentar nuevos productos a los clientes, como el alimentador de billetes Spectral Bunch Note Feeder (BNF) para aplicaciones de back-office, donde se requiere gran capacidad de depósito con una rápida velocidad de aceptación. Está haciendo un trabajo fantástico al llevar con éxito estos nuevos productos al mercado, ayudando a los minoristas con la rentabilidad y mejora de la experiencia del cliente”.

Para concluir, Jordi comentó: “Lo mejor de mi cometido es poder ver los beneficios reales que nuestros productos brindan al cliente final. Nuestra gama de productos, única e innovadora, se está utilizando en una gran variedad de proyectos en retail generando un impacto positivo en el negocio de los clientes”.

Jordi Andres, Senior Business Development Manager for Innovative Technology (ITL) Spain, is celebrating a decade with the company this month.  ITL are an international, leading provider of cash handling technology with a strong presence in the Spanish market.

Commenting on his achievement, “When I joined the ITL Barcelona office 10 years ago I was the first salesperson fully dedicated to the retail market, a completely new sector for us at the time. I was responsible for our first retail customers utilising ITL products in automatic tills, which is an entirely different setup compared to gaming and vending applications where we traditionally focused our products in the early days of ITL.”

Commenting on his longstanding commitment to the company, Thorsten Labusch, VP of Sales & Business Development for ITL said, “Jordi is a huge asset to the company and over the years he has taken on extra responsibilities and is fully deserving of the senior position which he currently holds.  When Jordi first started with us, he was given full responsibility of expanding our presence in the retail and kiosk business in Spain, Portugal, Middle East and North Africa.  Once we became established in these regions, and as the Spanish sales team expanded, Jordi was given a senior role to concentrate on developing additional retail applications for Spain and Portugal. Jordi focuses on introducing new products to customers such as the Spectral Bunch Note Feeder (BNF) for back-office applications requiring large deposit capabilities with quick acceptance speeds.  He is doing a fantastic job successfully getting these new products to the market to assist retailers with cost efficiencies and improving the customer experience.”

Concluding Jordi said, “The best thing about my role is being able to see the real benefits that our products bring to the end-customer. Our unique and innovative range are being used in a variety of retail projects with customers experiencing positive impacts on their business.”

Innovative Technology (ITL) will be showcasing its retail cash handling offerings for the first time at the Retail Technology Show in London on 26-27 April at Olympia. The 2022 UK event is aimed at retail and hospitality organisations looking for the right tools, solutions and advice on how to enhance customer experience, increase operational effectiveness and drive sales.

Chris Wright, Business Development Manager, who was recently started a new UK sales role for ITL said, “We are busy preparing for the Retail Technology Show next month and I look forward to meeting more of our retail customers at the exhibition. A key focal point on the stand will be our ICU age verification technology which is currently being tested in a UK Government Sandbox trial for the retail sale of alcohol. The team looks forward to showing RTS visitors our stand-alone solution that can accurately perform anonymous age verification to assist staff with age checks, giving them an extra level of confidence when challenging underage customers for ID. It requires no integration, and has no recurring charges per age check, making it a cost-effective solution to help retailers avoid fines and support the Challenge 25 policy.”

The ICU biometric solution which gained independent GDPR certification for Age Estimation from ACCS this monthuses facial analysis to anonymously estimate age and is designed to be a tool for the retailer.

Chris continued, “We have a wide range of cash handling products for retail applications now. Visitors will be able to demo CashGenic, our all-in-one solution that eliminates the need for staff to handle cash during transactions, ideal for various retail outlets. CashGenic automates payment processes to remove the need for cash register handovers and reduce cash counting, therefore saving time and generating greater efficiencies for the business, in a secure and hygienic way.”

ITL will also have their NV200 spectral range of products on display including the Spectral Payout for superior mixed note recycling and Smart Coin System for bulk, mixed coin recycling.  Utilising both units combined can significantly reduce both operational collection costs and cash starvation.

Concluding Chris commented, “The UK team will be on stand 6J74 and can't wait to show retailers how our product range can generate real cost efficiencies and enhance customer experience.”

La feria internacional del Juego de Madrid (FIJMA 2022) tuvo lugar la semana pasada en la capital española, juntando a fabricantes internacionales de máquinas de azar y equipamiento complementario, así como una significativa presencia este año de fabricantes y distribuidores de máquinas de entretenimiento sin premio.

Comentando el éxito de la feria, el director de Ventas de ITL Mustapha Hadj-Ahmed dijo “Ha sido increíble poder volver a presentar nuestros productos y sobre todo retomar nuestra red de contactos en persona después de tanto tiempo. Nuestro stand ha estado lleno de clientes y amigos, especialmente los dos primeros días y hemos tenido muchas muestras de interés en nuestra propuesta para equipos de gestión de efectivo, tanto de monedas (Smart Coin System) como de billetes (NV22 Spectral), cuya combinación ofrece a los operadores el mejor retorno y eficiencia posibles para su explotación de máquinas B en calle”.

Antonio Rodriguez, responsable de desarrollo de negocio de ITL continuó “El NV22 Spectral ha sido la gran estrella de la feria. Con su diseño compacto y en combinación con el reciclador Multi Note Float encaja perfectamente en los cabinets existentes. Durante las demostraciones los clientes estaban impresionados con su capacidad de reciclado de hasta 40 billetes de todas las denominaciones y con el ahorro de inmovilizado que supone poder pagar cualquier billete del reciclador sin tirar ninguno a cashbox”.

Antonio continuaba comentando que “Nuestros clientes operadores se han mostrado muy satisfechos al ver cada vez mas fabricantes incorporar nuestro Smart Coin System en sus nuevos modelos. La aceptación a granel de monedas en el Coin feeder y el Hopper mixto de alta capacidad, proveen un sistema compacto, robusto y rentable para los operadores. La combinación de ambos sistemas  reduce el nivel de inmovilizado necesario en la máquina de hasta un 40%, se mejoran los tiempos de servicio y disponibilidad de la máquina y los márgenes de la operadora.  Los clientes también han destacado poder disponer del Smart Payout Spectral para las máquinas de salón, la solución mas segura, rápida y de calidad para las máquinas de salón”.

Para finalizar Mustapha añadió “Gracias a todos nuestros clientes y usuarios, nuevos y de toda la vida por haber venido a FIJMA a vernos. Somos optimistas acerca del futuro del sector y esperamos aportar nuestro granito de arena para ayudar a fabricantes y operadores en España a hacer sus operaciones cada vez mas rentables con nuestros productos.”.

The International Gambling and Gaming Trade Show, FIJMA 2022 (Feria Internacional del Juego) took place over three days in the Spanish capital last week. The show brought together the international companies and manufacturers of slots and gaming equipment plus this year the exhibition attracted some amusement trade representatives too.  

Commenting on a successful show for ITL Spain, Mustapha Hadj-Ahmed, ITL Sales Director said, “It was great to be back exhibiting and networking with our Spanish gaming customers after such a long time since the last in-person event. The stand was full of customers, especially the first two days and we had lots of interest in our latest cash recycling offerings. Visitors were impressed with our compact note recycler NV22 Spectral (NV22S) and advanced coin recycler Smart Coin System (SCS) combination to give Operators the best fit for cash handling efficiency for gaming machines in Spain.”

Antonio Rodriguez, Business Development Manager for ITL Spain continued, “Our NV22 Spectral was the clear star of the show. With itsspace-saving design the compact unit which combines a ‘Multi-Note Float’ (MNF) payout with our banknote validator fits into most existing gaming machines. When demoing the unit customers were impressed with the mixed storage and recycling capacity plus improved serviceability which reduces the need for expensive engineer calls.”

Continuing Antonio said, “Customers were also happy to see more OEMs using our Smart Coin System as their first choice for coin recycling in their machines withOperators reporting a 40% reduction in float levels. This bulk coin validator, mixed coin hopper and recycler in one which validates, discriminates, and stores mixed coins, successfully handling different denominations from small to large. By using the SCS with NV22S machine downtime and coin starvation are eradicated, keeping machines running. Customers also praised the Spectral Payout for improvements in quality and speed when compared to older note payout versions.”

Concluding Mustapha said, “Thanks to all our customers, both existing and new who took the time to come and see us at FIJMA. The sector is optimistic about the future, despite being fewer machines on the street because of the pandemic, with many organisations reporting similar income levels pre-pandemic. I hope the industry continues to develop and be profitable and we look forward to providing the best cash handling solutions to our customers in Spain helping them generate real cost efficiencies.”   
 

Innovative Technology have recently obtained independent GDPR certification from the Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS) for their ICU age estimation solution. The standard is the first of its kind anywhere in the world for demonstrating UK GDPR compliance for age and ID estimation systems.

The ICU age estimation solution will be issued with the certification of ACCS 2:2021 Technical Requirements for Data Protection and Privacy, which is approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office in accordance with the Commissioner’s tasks and powers under Articles 57(1)(n) and 58(3)(f) pursuant to Article 42(5) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

Dr Andrew O’Brien, ICU Product Manager announced, “GDPR is a necessity in ensuring compliance when deploying new technology for public use.   It is crucial for any company to be able to demonstrate independent assessment of their technology to ensure complete clarity with respect to how public data is utilised and processed.  Using technology and devices that meet GDPR regulations is so important to our customers, so this stamp of approval from the ACCS scheme for our ICU anonymous age estimation solution is significant for us. This will be the proof that customers require and give added confidence in the product when considering the introduction of biometric solutions into their business.”

Tony Allen, Founder and Chief Executive for ACCS explained,“We have been working hard with Innovative Technology for some time now and are delighted that they have achieved this certification for its ICU technology, after a rigorous audit and checking process. They should be very proud to be the first age estimation provider to achieve official GDPR certification under Article 42 of UK GDPR.”

The technical requirements were produced in response to thepublic and industry concerns about the handling, privacy and security of personal data when going through an age assurance process or designing age-appropriate services. Data protection and privacy is critical to the successful operation of age check data processing. This standard is aimed to help organisations ensure compliance and protect children who merit specific protection with regard to their personal data.

Innovative Technology (ITL) have announced an internal promotion for one of their long-standing employees James Beswick, who takes on a managerial role in Customer Support. James, who previously held the position of Lead Engineer, started his new role at the beginning of the year. He has been with the cash handling business for nearly 8 years, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to this new position.

Commenting on his progression at ITL James said, “I joined August 2014 on the graduate programme and have since worked my way up to Engineer, Lead Engineer and now Support Manager. I have primarily worked with our retail products having started with the NV200 banknote validator with TEBS – a Tamper Evident Bag System for cash-in-transit operations, whereI was part of first line support giving technical advice and working with the development teams to integrate these new products into devices. I then took on support responsibility for the North America market and spent a lot of time out in the States. As ITL grew, we took on dedicated support engineers in the US, so I was able to focus more on new products and improving technical infrastructure and integration tools for customers.”

Commenting on his promotion, Andy Bassam VP of Customer Support said, “I am delighted that James has been promoted to Support Manager taking accountability for our retail and kiosk customers. He primary responsibilities with be to ensure new products have the required software and hardware to speed up customer integration times and he will be influential in helping the sales team grow our retail business. James has already established good relationships with some of our key customers and he will look to further develop these to extend the use of our retail product range.”

James continued, “I am delighted with my promotion, and I am looking forward to taking the retail side of the business to the next level, ensuring that customer integration is quick and easy with a solution that retailers are happy with. We have made significant investment in our retail product range and have some exciting new products coming through that will allow us to break into new areas in this important sector. Personally, I’m excited about the opportunity to work with key customers in other regions that I haven’t before such as South America and Asia.  Further developing my team to progress their skills and ensure our customers get the highest level of support is also something I am keen to focus on.”

Concluding Andy said, “This management role suits James’ skill set and personality. He already has a great working relationship with the rest of the technical support team plus a strong understanding of the technical requirements of the retail market and I am sure he will flourish in this next step in his ITL career.”