It was a year ago that Andy Tipple took charge of the reins at Blueprint Operations. Much has happened over the last 12-months with a change in sales focus, a more integrated and holistic approach to relationship building and a commitment to create a bright and sustainable future helping operators maximise their Blueprint machine income.
You became Blueprint Operations MD 12-months ago – how has the year panned out, what have been the challenges and what have you found to be the most demanding part of the role?
Overall, I would say that it has been one of the most challenging 12 months of my career but also one of the most satisfying. The shift from having a customer-base made up of consumers to a customer-base of operators has brought with it an entire new agenda of requirements and metrics. There’s a constant stream of ‘what ifs and buts’ regarding game content, hardware, being ahead of the curve in terms of industry trends, developing the next generation in the business and succession planning over the next five years. A demanding but none the less highly enjoyable year
Dealing with specifics what initiatives have you introduced over the year and how have they helped BPO customers?
Investing in and elevating the role of the Product team has been key for the business. Their insight feeds into other key BPO departments and helps to create a more rounded world view. It’s very important that we are constantly feeding new ideas into the business and as a result resist the danger of becoming stale or predictable. It’s vital that we are constantly challenging convention and exploring new and fresh approaches as strategies to exceed the needs of our growing customer base of operators. By looking outside the industry we can stay ahead of the game and ensure that our hardware and content is always raising the bar and setting new industry standards in the process. From a technology perspective Connectivity has been a key driver of success. We want our customers to have the latest content at the correct time and ensuring that they stay connected is a BPO mantra.
You have made a point of ensuring the sales team spend much of their time in the field with customers rather than sitting behind a desk on the phone – what benefits has this strategy delivered?
Having reviewed the data base it was clear that we needed to work harder on communicating with all of our customers and extending this to new customers that we had failed to engage with. Alongside this we reviewed the pricing framework which is now the bible that the sales team works with. We have seen some fantastic results this year driven by the changes that we have implemented.
A number of your team are in the first intake of the MERKUR UK Slots Academy can you explain what the Academy is and outline the benefits it brings for the business?
The MERKUR Slots Academy was created by Sascha Blodau in order to identify all of the rising stars from across the MERKUR UK group of companies and accelerate their career progression. The individuals at BPO that are attending are so positive about the Slots Academy and have been empowered by the experience. Investing in talent, enhancing skills and succession planning all contribute to an enhanced experience for our customers over the short, medium and long term.
As we get into show season will BPO have a presence at ACOS and EAG?
BPO will be exhibiting at both ACOS and EAG and obviously with ICE moving to sunnier climes the two UK shows will get our 100 percent focus. This is a very special year for us with and we will have some exclusive hardware and content releases for both shows. Of course I am biased but I have to say it that we will be ushering in a new era for the UK industry.
BPO has in excess of 600 accounts, how do you keep growing the customer base?
BPO has succeeded in setting new standards across the board. However, it is machine performance and delivering the very best levels of service that open doors, build long-standing relationships and continue to grow the customer base.
What KPIs do you have in place for the business and if your first 12-months were an end of year school report what would it say?
Apart from the usual P&L related targets the focus has been on sales and hardware development. The restructure of the sales team and the introduction of a new pricing framework were the main metrics, and the results speak for themselves. The KPI’s are continually being realigned as I believe they should be in relation to every successful sales team. In terms of hardware development, which impacts the performance of every department and team within BPO, our vision is crystalised by both ACOS and EAG.
If I was making comparisons with a school report I think it would read something along the lines of ‘A strong and promising first year but with absolutely no room for complacency!’