Since its formation from the merger of two companies, two years ago, Payetc has gone from strength to strength

Paytec was formed at the beginning of 2008 through the merger of two companies - OTR and Vesiel - who have more than 30 years experience in the electronic payment systems arena.

Despite the technological innovations that both OTR and Vesiel made during that time, Paytec believes that the merger itself was significant in generating the success that the company enjoys today.

"The merger brought together complementary skills, which coupled with the international scenario formulated a new and dynamic company ideally suited to the demands of today’s sophisticated customer," said Marzia Pellegrini from Paytec.

Originally, the company’s main focus was on the vending sector but its core business can now be found in electronic payment systems, which has increased its range of products to cover more markets such as the gaming, healthcare, carwash and tobacco industries.

These days, Paytec manufactures a comprehensive range of payment systems, such as coin mechanisms, hoppers and cashless systems along with kiosks, change machines, vending machines and car wash control systems from its factories in Bologna and Como.

Sales were initially concentrated in Italy - where the company is based - but it now exports its products to more than 30 countries, including the UK and the US. "Thanks to our wide range of products and our focus on quality, we can now satisfy the needs of very demanding customers and therefore boast important co-operation worldwide," Pellegrini told InterGame.

Paytec puts the key of its growth down to the close business relationship it holds with its customers, the attention the company pays to customers’ issues and the solution finding attitude of its internal research and development team.

Operating in several industries, Paytec works with many distributors including commercial partners such as Euro Payment Systems in the UK. However, it keeps direct relationships with large key accounts, especially when it comes to new developments.

"We develop specific products aimed at satisfying precise customers’ needs, which we can then vary country by country. One example of this would be the agitator that we implemented in our hoppers for the UK market," said Pellegrini.

Talking about differences between the countries that the company operates in, Pellegrini said: "The differences are mainly legal. Legislation can make or break a market overnight. There are countries in which gaming has been entirely banned, in others it is tolerated, and in others it is well accepted and much more developed."

Pellegrini believes that the significant changes that the company has seen have been focused on geographical rather than historical: "The amusement sector differs wildly from one country to another depending on legislation. That can change abruptly, as happened in Russia. Western Europe, as a whole, has adopted more cash payment systems so far, while in eastern countries cashless payment systems are more widespread."

"It seems that the trend in Europe is for manufacturing to be sourced where labour costs are at a minimum," she continued. "This requires us to continue our global representation to offer local support with the back up of an international company."

The global recession has meant that naturally all businesses are looking for more efficiency and cashless is offering a cost-effective means of accepting payment, which along with ticketing, will give Paytec opportunities in the near future.

"Despite the worldwide economic crisis, in general, gaming seems to be resisting the gloomy trends," said Pellegrini. Paytec is hoping that its latest product - Trio, a unique payment device combining the functions of coin validator, coin sorter and coin hopper in a compact unit with a capacity of around 1,000 coins and capable of paying out three different coins per second - will bring new opportunities in the traditional payment applications, increasing both the service to the user as well as the saving to the OEM.

"We have received a lot of interest from all over Europe and we are looking forward to the London show to demonstrate its capabilities."