Exclusive interview for Casino Life & Business Magazine with Mihai Mavromalide, General Manager Syswin Solutions
You decided for this year not to have your own exhibition stand at the Entertainment Arena Expo. Can you tell us why?
It was a rational decision taken from our experiences over the last three years, with other major regional exhibitions of this kind.
In the first instance, being an exhibitor helped us a lot by building up a presence, getting to be known by our audience, as well as interacting with potential customers. Once we reached this awareness objective, we decided to focus on a more complex customer experience with our solutions. So, for this ocassion, we have come up with another concept: a Business Cocktail&Dinner Event that will be hosted by us, on September 3rd, 17:00 o’clock, at Pullman Hotel, located in the vicinity of Romexpo Exhibition Centre. In this way we facilitate increased interaction and dialogue with our customers.
During the event, we will have the opportunity to consult with them closely – the new regulations are coming out, there are so many changes arising from this, that need to be discussed by both parties. Some operators will most certainly come with specific demands and requirements that may be of interest to others as well, so it’s good that we will all together share a more formal, interactive and well organized environment, for the efficient exchange of ideas and information. We’ll also take the occasion to listen carefully to what they have to say, with the confidence that we can manage much of the requirements.
What will you prepare for the operators during the Business Cocktail & Dinner Event, organized for the Entertainment Arena Expo?
Interactive presentations of our solutions, a session of questions and answers given on topics of interest and of course, the confirmation that we are by their side as committed partners. We want to have it in our own way. They’ve already known us for a while and are confident that we provide all the support for the integration of the new technology in their business. We don’t just leave them uncovered. At the end of the evening, during dinner time, we will also draw conclusions and set up new themes of discussion for future meetings.
But you will be present at the Entertainment Arena Expo, as well, is it true?
Yes, operators can find us at the Merkur Gaming exhibition stand. With Merkur we have initiated a local partnership, which has the potential of growing at a regional level. Our SmartJack™ system is the one they prefer and will be exposed at the stand, together with their own products. So, our technical team will be at the Merkur stand to answer questions and address further requests during exhibiting hours.
Analyzing the company’s activity lately, what does Syswin Solutions mean to you?
At first, I considered it a great challenge. Previously, I activated in the dynamic retail sector, developing and implementing chains of stores and business tools for Intermarché and Angst. I wanted to be part of a business structure that can rapidly evolve and my personal bet was to see if I can apply all the growth models I perfected in retail, in a completely new field of expertise. I’ve won it already.
In a relatively short amount of time, we have evolved from a niche business to one that serves multiple industries, by offering a range of diversified M2M solutions, with a focus of course, on the gambling & casino industry.
We have now access to the ELINCLUS – Electronic Innovation Cluster infrastructure, owned by CETTI Polytechnic University Bucharest, which means for us access to precious academic resources and research for the electronics industry, many of which we use in the development process of our solutions. We want to continue bringing to market highly specialized, high quality solutions and therefore we heavily invest in research and development. Basically, our goal is to align Romania to the M2M innovation already available in Western countries and the US, having all our customers familiarised and at ease with these innovations, for local implementations. We are also eligible for European funding on the design and technical engineering of some national projects that we are developing with our partners.
What can you tell us about the people behind Syswin Solutions? How do they stand out in your industry?
We won the status of a major player in the industry IoT / M2M in a very short period of time. It is a fully accomplished objective thanks to all the experts we are happy to have in our team. The team is composed of permanent employees – experts from Romania, Germany and Switzerland, including university professors, who are dedicated to Software Development & Testing. They are added to a network of area collaborators, especially electronic engineers that provide us with support and implementation services. We are currently recruiting for a larger team, due to the increasing portfolio of solutions and industries we serve.
What role does the organisation provide to young people? Do you recruit students as well?
For us, it is very important to give young people access to a professional software electronics environment for a very good training and therefore, we involve them more and more in our projects, particularly through the partnership with CETTI UPB Bucharest. We want to develop in the near future a dedicated compartment within Syswin Solutions Development Centre, which attracts resourceful and persevering young professionals, for active participation in the development of our solutions. We shall support them with the resources they need to grow professionally and at the end of their formation, the most dedicated will occupy permanent positions.
What difference does it make for operators working with Syswin Solutions, given the competitive market of integrated slot systems?
We can begin boasting about our portfolio of solutions, as other counterparts are doing. And it is natural for them to do so, because they have worked so hard. We prefer, however, a different approach. Everything we do is about our partners, the operators. With our work, we try to make their activity better and easier to manage. They are the ones always in the spotlight, and the difficulties they face daily are ours as well. The solutions we develop are very popular, because we have the flexibility and willingness to come close to them, to get to know their working environment. We actively listen to all their requirements and then get the job done, not just declare doing so. This, together with our honesty and resilience to keep up with their diversified requirements, is for us the key to success.
What news have you prepared for the second part of 2015?
In parallel with the work we do to continuously develop the integrated solution Smart Count System™ and the stand-alone solutions SmartCard™ (players’ loyalty and bonusing), SmartJack™ (Jackpot management) and SmartCount™ (advanced reporting), we pushed ourselves further to create a new solution, generically called “low-cost”, accessible in terms of operator costs to achieve the objective of interconnection, in line with the new regulations. By doing so, we want to offer operators a software-hardware solution which is both easy to deploy and manage, with minimal options, that can help them operate their slot business in line with the new legislation, without being a burden in terms of equipment investments. Minimum costs for quality and longevity, this is the promise we would like to launch in the marketplace, starting with this September, during Entertainment Arena Expo.
But do you have the capabilities required to meet the demands? We are talking about a number of probably 40,000-50,000 slot machines affected by the new regulations …
We know the reality on the field and the one year deadline required by law for implementation. I can guarantee that we have gone through extensive preparation during the past year, to ensure we are fully prepared for the numerous physical implementations required, not only considering the benefits of the solution itself. It’s an important mission, which makes us 100% responsible in front of our partners, the operators, therefore we will carry it out diligently. All I can say, with certainty, is that we have been by their side since the beginning and will continue to do so, at the height of their expectations.
