InterGame discovers how UK-based E-Service has grown considerably while creating a unique identity for itself

E-Service is the highly specialised technical service company created over seven years ago to provide UK gaming, amusement and vending operators with efficient and cost-effective spare parts and support. The company is led by sales director Mike Clokie, who has been instrumental in creating a team whose genuine goal is to fulfil their customers’ needs.

"We have worked really hard to build our unique identity, putting the customer first has been our primary goal from day one and now the E-Service brand is instantly recognisable and very well respected around the UK," stated Clokie.

E-Service has enjoyed a steady and continuous expansion, increasing from three members of staff at its conception to 30 team members today. In addition to its original service and repair of key electronic peripherals, E-Service has significantly expanded its stockholding to ensure the rapid supply of essential operator spares and consumables as well as offering advance replacements on a wide range of products.

Advance replacements is a unique and recent offering from E-Service and is proving extremely popular with customers who can now receive immediate replacements on a wide range of products, from coin mechanisms and note readers to PSUs and control boards.

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"The use of advance replacements reduces machine downtime and therefore increases the machine’s overall profitability," said Clokie. "We listened to our customers and realised this was a real hot-spot. Our advance replacement service holds stocks of parts that are commonly used by our client base and we dispatch them immediately as our customers contact us."

E-Service has an established free of charge weekly ‘van-run’ which operates in more than 40 counties through England and Wales. The drivers visit their customers each week to deliver spares, collect service work and deliver any repaired goods.

"This efficient service avoids invoice queries, saves money spent on packaging, prevents products being lost or delayed by a courier and more importantly, eliminates time wasted by the customer organising return and collection of parts", said Paul Smith, sales manager of E-Service. "We hold a vast range of products and spares ensuring rapid turnaround times for the customer and minimal down time on their equipment."

E-Service is able to support key manufacturers such as JCM, Tovis, Kortek, TransAct, Azkoyen, Smart M and Wells Gardner to name just a few. Its support applies not just to service, upgrade and repair of these manufacturers’ products but also support for its client’s engineers. If customers’ engineers are having any on-site problems they are able to contact E-Service for technical support and speak to an E-Service product specialist, specifically trained and designated to answer product queries.

Reinforcing E-Services’ technical ability is an efficient service team of bench engineers. E-Service invests heavily in training, running its own ‘E-Service Academy’ engineer education programme in conjunction with formalised electronics training at a local college. Further investment has equipped the company workshops to an exceptional standard, and has developed an SAP-based service IT module, which provides customers with complete service history on all of their returned gaming parts.

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E-Service can assist with on-site service, maintenance, installation and upgrade of equipment found across the coin-op industry via its field service division.

"Our field service team provides highly skilled engineers for short-term project-based work on the customer’s site for tasks such as machine conversions, promotional token installations, security upgrades and general engineering work," explained Clokie. "We offer a really cost-effective way of outsourcing this type of work, allowing our customers to remain focussed on their core business."

The E-Service brand has expanded across Europe with regional service centres in Poland, Romania and Spain.

"It is a simple offering really," said Clokie. "We listen to our customers’ needs and develop ways to meet those needs. We know that our customers have to have a reliable service and repair partner and trust is paramount. We believe that our ongoing commitment to helping our customers remain as profitable as possible has gained our trust with them, and that is why we continue to grow a very loyal customer base."

First published May 2010