Czech Power Kiosks
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KIOSK EUROPE: Tell us something about the background of Power products – when did you start, what made you decide to focus on kiosks, how did you get the company going, etc?
TOMAS PÁV: Power Products s.r.o. (Ltd.) was founded in 1996 with the amalgamation of Graphic Products s.r.o. and Business Power Systems s.r.o. The company now has over 15 years experience in selling, servicing and the production of specialised IT equipment.
We started distributing industrial monitors, military monitors and touch screens. In 1996, we joined the tender for Czech telecom’s public information terminals. Although we were not successful in this tender, it gave us the first impulse to develop and produce our own kiosk solutions.
Nowadays, building kiosk applications is our core business. Our kiosk production exceeded 3,500 units in 2006, and we expect to produce 5,000 units a year in the very near future. The company´s sales turnover now exceeds €7 million and we have a highly qualified and motivated work force of over 45 employees.
The Power Products Eagle terminal. The owners' surname Pav means peacock in English, thus all their kiosks are named after birds
We design and manufacture a full range of modern, stylish kiosks, complemented by a comprehensive selection of accessories, and offer attractive and cost-effective solutions for a wide variety of business and information applications. Our flexibility has led to great success in delivering customised kiosk solutions.
KE: What do you think puts Power Products ahead of other kiosk manufacturers in Europe and the rest of the world?
JIRI PÁV: We can still profit from the low employee costs of the Czech Republic, and this, combined with our low margins, means we can offer our clients high quality products at a very affordable price level. Our clients can also choose from a full range of modern and stylish kiosks, and we are very happy with our flexible workforce. Plus, we always have standard kiosks in stock, which we can deliver right away at the lowest possible prices. Even our transport costs are very low.
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KE: Do you think that some of your success can be attributed to the synergy of two brothers working together?
TP: Yes, indeed. Fast and intuitive understanding in the top management is always one of the most important factors of a company’s successful development. In fact, we are not just two, but three brothers here at Power. Our youngest sibling, Mirek, works in the monitor service department.
By the way, our family name, Páv, means peacock in English, which is why all our kiosks have bird names, to reflect our family origins.
KE: Can you tell us about some of the projects that you have worked on in the past?
JP: Our biggest kiosk project (over 3,000 units in total) started three years ago, in co-operation with the Russian system integrator OJSC ‘Iskra.’ We design and produce the special payment terminal Iskra 201P (Eagle Magnum) and Iskra 204P (Heron) for Post of Russia payment applications.
We also sell very well in the Middle East. The ‘Mobily Project’ was one of the most challenging, and uses a custom version of our Eagle Laser Magnum kiosk. The application allows the public to book and print tickets using a Q-matic ticketing built-in printer, fill in and submit new subscriptions, print and pay bills, check account details and browse the internet.
During the last couple of years, we have also completed a lot of other kiosk projects, such as an outdoor public internet kiosk network, outdoor public information kiosks, several photo kiosk solutions, golf reservation and statistics kiosks, a government self-terminal application, a kiosk for air-ticket self checking systems, retail loyalty program kiosks, advertising and promotions kiosks and drive-through fast food kiosks, amongst many others.
KE: And what projects are you working on now?
JP: Power is working on several new interesting business projects right now. In close cooperation with Iskra, we are delivering over 1,000 kiosks for an e-government project in ex-Soviet countries. Our large network of betting kiosks and special army documents terminals are some other examples of our current business.But one of our most important,and interesting, projects is to finish development of a kiosk solution forhandicapped people. We are designingand producing two new versions of the Eagle Shift kiosk with a motorised moving mechanism which allows it to it was usually just about information kiosks, but today it´s really much more about complete application solutions. The self-service terminal is truly entering our everyday life.
KE: What about Eastern Europe in particular – how is this market developing in your view?
JP: We don´t see Eastern Europe as a single market. There are countries with developed kiosk markets, like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and the Baltic republics, countries with extremely fast market growth like Russia, and new markets where kiosk business is only now rapidly starting to expand, like Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania.
KE: What are the most successful/popular applications in Eastern Europe right now?
JP: e-Government projects, information and internet terminals, and especially payment transaction terminals.
TP: We don´t expect a big boom in the Eastern European self-service market. On the other hand, we strongly believe in the continuation and strong growth of self-service applications in daily life.
KE: Which Eastern European countries seem to be most open to the concept of self-service, in your experience?
TP: Eastern European countries with rapid economy growth are usually more open to new technologies like self-service. So we expect very good business opportunities to arise in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and all of the Baltic republics.
KE: What is Power’s strategy for the future? How do you plan to develop?
JP: Our most important objectives are to increase our production capacity, optimise our production and processes, decrease delivery terms, maintain portfolio flexibility and keep, or hopefully increase, our production quality. Our goal is to produce and sell very competitive high tech-products with a perfect balance of quality to price.
Our business strategy is to increase support to our current partners and find new distributors to cooperate with in countries where we are not operating at the moment.
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