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// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // September/October 2016
Paul Jason:
You spent the first part of
your career in Telecoms, Software and Tech-
nology. What can leaders in the Lottery in-
dustry learn from the best practices as applied
in those industries?
Nikos Nikolakopoulos:
These are all
industries where technology is a mission-
critical enabler. But the business is all
about the consumer. Even technology-fo-
cused businesses must start with the con-
sumer. When you think about, what is the
difference between Microsoft and Apple
that enabled Apple to zoom past Microsoft
when it comes to innovation? Steve Jobs
said “You have to start with the consum-
er experience and work back toward the
technology, not the other way around.”
Microsoft was far better capitalized with
far more resources going towards R & D
and should have been the ones to invent
the future. But they prided themselves on
being “fast-followers” and they focused
on technology more than the consumer
experience. The products Apple sells are
all about high technology, but their focus
was always on how technology can deliver
a better consumer experience. As a result,
Apple also zoomed past Microsoft in sales,
net profits, and market capitalization.
Likewise, INTRALOT sells technology
products and services focusing on enhanc-
ing the experience of the end user, the
player. The goal of Lottery is to deliver
the most fun and engaging player-experi-
ence. This industry, Lottery and even the
broader games-of-chance industry, does
not move nearly as fast as Telecoms and
consumer electronics. So we are in a great
position to learn from those industries, to
copy the best practices as applied in those
PUBLIC GAMING
INTERVIEWS
Nikos
NIKOLAKOPOULOS
Group Chief Operating Officer, INTRALOT Group
Applying Best-Practices from Other Industries to Government-Gaming
PGRI Introduction:
Prior to the appointment to his current position in January
of 2015, Nikos Nikolakopoulos was INTRALOT Group President Latin America,
Western Europe & Africa and Managing Director of INTRALOT Latin America.
In 2007, he joined INTRALOT as the Group Strategy Director and based on his
extensive international experience, he has been instrumental in shaping INTRA-
LOT’s strategy in the contemporary gaming environment, pursuing new oppor-
tunities for the company worldwide. Before joining INTRALOT, he held a series
of senior positions in multinational IT companies, including INTRACOM Group,
Microsoft, Singular Logic and BULL S.A.
industries. We even have the luxury of
time to observe what works best and to
avoid the mistakes they make because of
the pressure they are under to be first to
market with breakthrough innovation.
Still, we do need to act with more urgency
to assimilate the methods and ideas that
are proven successful in other sectors.
What are Telecoms doing that we should
be doing?
N. Nikolakopoulos:
Telecoms are us-
ing data mining, business intelligence, and
consumer segmentation to enhance the
contribution of CRM and big data analyt-
ics in order to identify trends in their cus-
tomer base. These activities not only guide
their R & D and product development,
they also guide pricing, promotions, and
all the consumer-facing marketing strate-
gies. Lottery and its commercial partners
are applying these tools in our industry
too. We just need to accelerate the rate at
which we invest and execute.
Even more than most industries, Tele-
coms are driven by competition. They
know they will fail if they do not inno-
vate and improve at a faster rate than
their competitors. That fear of failure is a
powerful driver! Thankfully, Lottery does
not operate under that level of pressure.