How To Choose The Right Cash Redemption Terminal Vendor For Your Business

Cash Redemption Terminals (CRTs) have become an essential touchpoint for many customers of pubs and clubs. Yet, managing a fleet of CRTs is no easy task. Vendors need to deal with regulation and compliance requirements, ever-increasing security needs of pub and club venues, rising customer expectations about the interactions and experience they have with their devices.

If you are considering choosing a supplier for the first time, or even making a switch, it is vital to partner with an organisation that prioritises security, monitoring, repair and maintenance of devices with software developed in-house. It is also advisable to look for a partner that consistently invests resources in product development and compliance. In this post, we share 4 critical elements you should look out for in a vendor, so you can choose the right partner for your business.

1. SERVICE DELIVERY IS KEY

How your potential partner manages servicing of units is a great starting point when evaluating suppliers. With the right monitoring tools, faults can be fixed remotely and immediately through your supplier’s helpdesk team, so this is your first and most important line of defence.

For times when this Level 1 Helpdesk Support is not sufficient, look for a vendor that has a 7-day in-house field service team, as well as a national parts and repair centre. Alongside, compare Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to check the guaranteed length of time between problem and resolution. It is that SLA metric that will tell you whether the vendor will back itself in its ability to get you back up and running quickly should anything go wrong.

2. SECURITY IS A HUGE FACTOR

All suppliers are not created equal when it comes to a focus on security, so be clear about what their responsibilities and your responsibilities are when purchasing or leasing devices.

24/7 monitoring is, therefore, as important for security as it is for service and uptime. Check that your vendor has dedicated data centres, a robust infrastructure and real-time connectivity to your gaming system and devices to ensure that everything lines up as it should, and you’re not vulnerable to a digital attack. Additional to this, the hardware of your Cash Redemption Terminals should also stand up to any kind of security threat.

To make sure you’re choosing the right partner for your Cash Redemption Terminal purchase, check the following:

  • Does it have a Level 1 night-rated safe that ensures your insurance policy is not compromised?
  • How often do you monitor security of devices?
  • How do you handle security updates? (reactive or proactive)
  • What is the promised service time frame in their SLA?

3. A SINGLE-VENDOR SOLUTION IS THE BEST IDEA

The purchase of a Cash Redemption Terminal device rarely happens in a vacuum. It is likely that the terminal sits within a suite of digital payment and cash management tools in a venue with ATMs, Cash Recyclers and Gaming Systems.

As the vendor market becomes more crowded with new entrants, it is important to note which vendor might offer the most experience and specialisation in your industry. If your shortlisted vendor has a long track-record of working only or mostly with venues such as yours, you can be certain you’ll get more specialised servicing.

Similarly, in a single-vendor solution, you can be sure about how devices and applications across the family of products will be maintained and managed, not to mention having less suppliers to manage.

4. EVIDENCE OF LONG-TERM CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS PROVES THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

No matter which vendor you choose, it is likely you’ll go through the ‘honeymoon period’ – that lovely initial period where the vendor is installing your device and doing everything to make sure you’re happy.

But what of next month, next year and 3 years down the track? Can the prospective partner give you a few examples of long-term partnerships, ways in which they’ve collaborated with their customers to improve their product offering, and demonstrate ways of sustaining the reliability of devices and systems through the term? Look for the vendor having intimate knowledge of their key customers’ business and being able to show how they’ve added value throughout the partnership.

IN SUMMARY

Choosing the right CRT vendor for your business is an important process – and it is about so much more than the choice of the CRT itself.  The main things to consider include the security capabilities of the vendor right alongside its service quality and reliability. You might also want to evaluate the vendor’s ability to service long-term partnerships and whether they could provide a single-vendor solution that is valuable and streamlined for your business.