Europe's Best Government Project

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Kiosk Innova was presented with the 2011 EAFS award for ‘Best Government Project’ during an award ceremony at Kiosk London. The winning project provides a 24/7 payment facility for water consumers in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The Askimatik kiosk was developed by Kiosk Innova for the Ankara Sewage Administration (ASKI). Before the self-service solution was deployed, every homeowner in Ankara had to travel to water utility company service centres to top-up their account. This was a major problem for residents as the service centers were only open during normal working hours, meaning that they had to get permission from their employers to leave work and buy water credits. Since the system launched, the majority of transactions recorded by the kiosks have taken place after 6 o’clock in the evening, showing that the solution to make payments after working hours has been warmly welcomed by customers.
 
KIOSK EUROPE: What does this award mean to you?
 

Alpaslan Tomus: This really means something for us and I believe it is the reward of our hard work for the past 10 years. It is an important indication of the international recognition of the Innova brand. Besides Turkey, the products we developed in order to offer citizens hassle-free, value-added and simple solutions are now being used successfully in several countries. Together with ASKI officials, we developed the Askimatik project to offer the best possible service to consumers as part of efforts to provide e-government solutions. The award once more highlights the success of Askimatik, a project that has been entirely designed and produced by Turkish engineers. It demonstrates our experience with e-payment and collection systems and the fact that Innova is always eager to help public bodies to develop solutions that help make citizen’s lives easier.
 
KE: How did the project benefit end-users?
 
AT: We did this project for a government organization in Turkey called ASKI. They are the sole authority providing water and sewage services to 6 million people in the capital city Ankara. Every subscriber’s house has a meter that works with a contactless card. To be able to keep the taps running, you should have a positive balance in your account, which is stored on the card and the meter system. Our kiosks are used to make the top-up and recharge of these accounts. Our kiosks are simply cash and credit card transaction handling terminals. They are especially built to work in harsh environments. Before our kiosk systems, the problem was that each citizen had to go to ASKI service centers and top-up their accounts. These were only available during work hours, so people were forced to get permission from their place of work to be able to make the recharge process.
 

 
KE: How did the project benefit ASKI?
 
AT: Our kiosks gave ASKI the flexibility to enable 24/7 service. We have made 2 designs for them, one indoor and one outdoor model. After the installation we have seen 1,200 daily transactions over the network with an average value of €20 per transaction and more than 50 percent of the transactions were made between 8pm and 7am. This resulted in an average ROI of 3 months.