Nicola Wallbank: ‘It’s great to see that talented young people with fresh ideas are opting to follow a career in the industry’

The team from Blueprint Operations made its annual journey to Park Avenue and welcomed the opportunity to spend time with customers and colleagues as the industry plans for what the business could look like in a post White Paper world.

Q&A with Nicola Wallbank – Director of Sales and Account Management

There was an excellent response to Park Avenue this week. What were the highlights of the event from your perspective?

I think that Park Avenue encapsulates much of what’s so good about the industry bringing together people and product in a really enjoyable and hospitable atmosphere. The organisers put in so much hard work and effort to deliver what is a unique event. The sun always shines and it was great to see so many customers and colleagues supporting what has become an industry institution. There was a great cross-section of product from an array of something like 30-manufacturers. The people side of this business is fundamental and one of the most important overall trends which was also in evidence at Park Avenue is a rising number of young people in their 20’s who are choosing to join the business. Blueprint is very clear about the importance of broadening our recruitment base and it was great to introduce some of our new team to the industry at Park Avenue. It’s great to see that talented young people with fresh ideas are opting to follow a career in the industry.

As expected, there was much discussion and chatter around the Avenue on the day. What key issues resonated with you and what mood did you find the industry in?

Despite the frightening costs associated with running a business and the intense pressure on the leisure pound the industry is once again showing its’ resilience and its ‘glass half full’ outlook. The White Paper has lifted the mood and whilst we have to be aware that the consultation process is only just starting there doesn’t appear to be any obvious bad news for our customers. Park Avenue visitors were discussing the implications of and scenario planning for a 50/50 ratio and debating what Age Verification may bring for the pub sector – Blueprint is well placed to help operators navigate both the opportunity and the challenge.

You had a good range of product on display this year – what response did you get from visitors and how are these products doing in the marketplace at the moment?

We took our two core Cat C and B3 products to the Open Day, and as ever they were received very positively. We love events like Park Avenue where we can really take the time to talk operators through our product, not just the fantastic content but also the initiatives that we have introduced to reduce downtime and enhance operating for our customers. We have demonstrated that it’s the attention to detail and the marginal gains which are accrued as a result which are the difference between good and exceptional.

It’s one of the last major assemblies ahead of the summer season, what’s on your schedule for the coming three months?

Much of the same really. Raising the bar across hardware and content delivery, working with our customers and always listening to what they want from their gaming machines, being ahead of the curve in our thinking and always asking why not? rather than why? Immediately following Park Avenue we collated all of the comments and discussions we held and fed it back into the Blueprint product development teams. There’s some big challenges out there and some big opportunities – our job is to address the former and embrace the latter with the delivery of smart innovative product. The next step is to get ready for ACOS and after that EAG 2024!