Innovative Technology Americas, Inc. welcomes Brian Bellerose, Business Development Manager for North America. Brian will focus on the retail sector, and will be responsible for generating new sales opportunities in this vibrant and ever-changing marketplace. Innovative Technology specializes in cash management and biometrics technology.

Welcoming Brian to the team, Lauren Fabbri, Business Development Manager for the Gaming and Amusement side of the business, said, “As most of our customers are already aware, our long-standing and highly regarded VP, Rebecca White, has transitioned into a well-deserved retirement, and is now officially working on a part-time basis. We are so excited to have Brian Bellerose on board, taking over responsibility for all of our Retail, Kiosk, and Banking customers. All accounts have now been transferred fully to Brian, and he is already doing an exceptional job of managing all existing customers as well as creating promising new connections.”

Commenting on his new role, Bellerose said, “I am thrilled to be working for ITL and love the ethos of providing solutions to fit not only our client’s needs, but to evolve with the ever-changing technology aspects of our industry. This helps us to remain at the forefront of our industry and provides additional value to our products which helps sets us apart from our competitors.  From my very first contact with ITL, I felt a strong sense of camaraderie, respect, and passion between the various business functions, and I could tell early on that I would feel valued as an employee.”

Continuing Bellerose said, “I have been in the industry for just about a decade and have knowledge in many aspects of the cash management business, including CIT, ATM’s, Money Processing, Smart Safes and Cash Recyclers. I have worked with several of the major equipment manufacturers over the years and have a large network of contacts within the industry. In my previous role I sold solutions that use ITL products, so that has helped familiarize me tremendously as I step into this new role.”

Tony Morrison, Group Sales Director concluded, “I would like to officially welcome Brian to the US team, his experience in retail and cash handling is an ideal match for his role at ITL and I look forward to working with him.  He brings extensive account management experience from a previous role at a large US security company within retail and banking, and I am sure his vast knowledge will push the Innovative brand and solutions throughout North America even further. With our new, modern Atlanta office, and Brian heading up our retail sales, we look forward to an exciting and prosperous future ahead.”

Central Convenience Store in Southampton have installed AI-driven biometric technology from Innovative Technology (ITL) to help with age checks for age-restricted goods. Central Convenience Store is the latest store in the Bestway Retail chain to implement ITL’s age estimation technology following a UK Government trial to test out the technology and previous successful deployments in Costcutter and Bargain Booze.  

Commenting on the latest deployment, Chris Wright, UK Business Development Manager said, “We are delighted to extend our technology into Central Convenience Store in Southampton which is assisting staff with the age check process. MyCheckr is a standalone device, complete with screen  that clearly shows if a customer attempting to purchase age restricted goods such as alcohol or cigarettes is deemed underage.  The LED above the screen turns green if the customer passes the age check, and red if they appear underage - providing a useful aid to help reduce any potential confrontation when challenging customers for ID. The store, located in a predominantly student area, has a young customer base so having MyCheckr acting as a backup for staff has been really helpful when indicating to the server if a manual ID check is recommended. We do not charge per age check, so it makes our age estimation technology affordable at a one-off cost.”

Store Manager, Steve Lunn said, “MyCheckr has attracted much interest and our customers are keenly embracing this new biometric technology.  Customers purchasing age restricted goods such as alcohol, tobacco and vapes were initially curious about its purpose, but now think it’s a great idea and have quickly realised its potential. The age check device is also having a positive impact on our staff, helping them to perform age checks with confidence. It’s now a key part of the store; performing age estimation with accuracy, speed and best of all completely anonymously so customer privacy is protected.”

Concluding Chris added, “We are working closely with Bestway Retail and recently exhibited at their showcase event in Liverpool. We were keen to support the showcase and were delighted with the interest we received from other stores within the group looking to benefit from MyCheckr for accurate age checks. We look forward to strengthening this partnership and rolling out our technology to more locations within the chain over the coming months.”

Innovative Technology (ITL) reported a successful few days at the Belgrade Future Gaming exhibition which took place in Serbia last week. The event provides a platform for all manufacturers of gambling machines to present their latest technology under one roof and for visitors to learn about the latest trends in the sector.  

Commenting on ITL’s presence at the show, Sasha Kragulj, Business Development Manager for the region said, “Having previously exhibited with one of our local Trading Partners, we decided to have our own dedicated booth at the 2023 event so we could accommodate a wider selection of products ideal for gaming visitors across South East Europe.  It was great to see Dejan Bogićević, who is now part of the ITL team, with us on the stand. We have known and worked with Dejan for a long time and are delighted he has officially joined us as ITL Technical Sales Manager. Dejan and the rest of the team demoed both our range of cash validation solutions for efficient cash processing and biometrics products ideal for accurate age checks to the Belgrade visitors which were definitely up in numbers compared to last year.”

Sasha continued, “On the cash side, our new NV4000 was the main product of interest, not only with gaming customers but also from some potential customers from the retail and kiosk sectors who visited the booth. For change machines, redemption kiosks and point of sale systems the NV4000 multi-bill recycler is perfect thanks to its large recycling capacity which means fewer refills and efficient automated float management. Both the NV200 Spectral and NV9 Spectral also proved popular, with visitors impressed with these advanced versions of our standard products. These highly secure and technologically advanced banknote validators ensure efficient, automated cash processing and have the added bonus of spectral sensors to provide high resolution imaging to authenticate the validity of notes, and detect stained and fraudulent notes effectively.”

Concluding Sasha said, “Our biometric technology also attracted much attention. ICU Lite can be easily integrated into gaming machines to prevent minors from playing, and MyCheckr complete with its own screen, can be used as a standalone device at entrances or age-restricted areas to help staff with age checks. This technology is providing some exciting opportunities for gaming operators and we look forward to following up with all enquires of interest from the show over the coming weeks.”