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Meet Parafait at the IAAPI Amusement Expo ‘09
Mumbai, here we come!
We will be there at the IAAPI AMUSEMENT EXPO – India’s ONLY event for the Amusement, Leisure & Entertainment Industry, to be held in Mumbai ( Hall 5, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon East, Mumbai)
The event is scheduled from February 21 – 23, and we are excited about this opportunity to meet a lot of people there. So if you are there on those days, please do drop by at our booth (#34) and we will introduce you to Parafait.
The Parafait Series: Live from Mount Abu, Rajasthan
The Parafait wave is gaining momentum. Game Zone, a popular entertainment center near Nakki lake in Mount Abu, now runs on Parafait. The implementation was done last week, and as always, the Go-Live was smooth. The center should now see atleast a 15% increase in its revenues.
Sweet!
First of all, here’s wishing all our readers a great 2009!
If your past year was anything like ours, we bet you are on oxygen right now. What a happening year it was! Anyways, its time to look ahead now. Here’s one of our ads that will be featured on the next edition of IAAPI trade show and booklets. It features Parafait Touch – packed with even more features than its 2008 sibling. Sweet, right?
The Parafait Series: Funky Zone now runs on Parafait!
Here’s sharing some joy with all of you: Parafait is now live at Funky Zone, Delhi. The implementation was done last week, and all’s well. (Except that some of our team mates are still recovering from the Delhi dust and cold).
The Parafait Series: Industry Chronicles
As part of Parafait design and sales, we’ve traveled to various parts of India and met many knowledgeable people in the industry. We thought that it would be good to pen down our experiences in the form of a short blog post here.
The FEC industry in India has really grown leaps and bounds over the last few years. Our interactions with several players – FEC owners, FEC consultants, Game machine manufacturers and traders have given us a lot of insight and inputs about the industry and their needs. We felt that Delhi and Amdavad (Ahmedabad for the non-locals) have the highest number of FECs and traders (We need to confirm this finding. And we have not visited Bombay yet). While there are a few big houses that own and operate large FEC chains across India (forms 20% of the industry), there is a vast majority (remaining 80%) of small players operating one to a few FECs in select locations. The approach and needs of both these categories of players are distinctly different. But one need was common and clear – everyone wanted more visibility and control over their operations, and hence wanted to move away from coin operated game machines. We also saw various models that the FEC owners were adopting to run their operations including shared floor space, renting out a few machines to shopping mall owners and holiday resorts, franchisee models and of course the corporate style of functioning with clear divisions for marketing, operations and IT. On quizzed ‘Why do you want a card based management system?, the replies we got were also varied. While some responded saying that they just want to keep up with the times, others mentioned they wanted to reduce pilferage opportunities (Apparently, some store owners felt that they were losing up to 10% of their revenues due to pilferage), and some others mentioned they wanted to increase sales through customer loyalty programs. But most of the people we talked to were very bullish on the opportunities in this segment, primarily due to the popularity of malls, and just like every mall needs a food court it also needs entertainment centers.
Because of the convergence of various entertainment channels (food courts, shops, entertainment centers), some of the operators were also interested in extending Parafait to be the payment gateway for the food courts as well. We have parked this thought for our future product.
While we met many game machine manufacturers in India, the FEC owners still rely on imported machines when it comes to machine design and finish. We figured that FEC owners feel that the Indian products still have some way to go in the ‘look ‘n feel’ area. (But we should say that the Air Hockey tables produced by Indian manufacturers are very close or on par with those from their foreign counterparts).
The traders in India import machines from various parts of the world (Italy, China, USA) – machines in various stages of use. Those are then refurbished and sold to the FEC operators here. They also deal in Indian products, and some of them have gone into manufacturing themselves.
In summary, the industry can definitely do with a lot of help from technologists, and we are glad that Parafait has to some degree filled certain gaps that exist. Semnox – India’s leading FEC solutions provider, is committed to go all the way in providing this industry with all the help that it possibly can.
Other Developments
- We are now a member of the Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (www.iaapi.org). This membership opens us up to a large network of FEC owners, traders, manufacturers and competitors and we are very excited about this.
- Our team is currently in Delhi implementing Parafait at a leading FEC in that region. More on that later.
The Parafait Series: Live from Bangalore
Last week, Parafait went live in one of the leading FECs in Bangalore. The implementation was smooth, and went without any hitches. We watched with baited breath as the first customer came in, bought a card and swiped to record the first card based game play in that center. Couple of customers who were used to the token system insisted that they get tokens. And then there were customers who kept swiping multiple times reducing their credits. But the Branch Manager did a fantastic job in orienting them to the card based system. Change Management is a critical area in such implementations that is often overlooked, but as part of our processes, we have ensured that this aspect gets its due importance. The FEC customers need to be educated on the card based system once the switch over is done. (this may not be required for all the customers). And yeah, Having a smart Branch Manager definitely helps too.
The Parafait Series: Rich yet Lean, Complex yet Simple
If you asked anyone what’s so striking about Parafait the first time they saw it, we bet their answer would be: ‘Its so simple to use!’. Yes, the credit goes to our design team for making such a complex, feature rich product so simple to use. The product has been designed from a basic computer literate operator’s perspective. And that’s why the user training is a breeze after installing Parafait. When you experience Parafait, you will realize that ‘Rich in features’ need not always necessarily be ‘Heavy on pocket’. We have priced the product aggressively that even a single shop owner can now afford such a world class product. Believe it or not, the name ‘Parafait’ is inspired by one of the ice creams we get in our part of the world. The ice cream is rich in flavor, with all the works and yet, priced very reasonably. So, when we were thinking about a name for our product that was so feature rich and yet so affordable, the first name that came to our minds was Parafait.
Now, here’s a handy list of features that are included in Parafait. Please note that this list is as of July 2008, and we are continuously upgrading our product based on feedback from our customers and the direction in which the industry is heading.
Parafait uses RFID technology for its wireless card based operations, and hence is very robust and ahead of its times. So, what are the benefits of using Parafait? Here’s a quick list:
* It is a breeze to setup and operate Parafait
* Parafait enhances customer loyalty and increases revenues
* Parafait provides total control and visibility into operations
* Parafait does not require costly computers and hardware
* Parafait provides you with web presence
* Parafait improves your brand equity
* And last but not the least, Parafait is very affordable
If you would like to know more or see a live demo, we would be more than pleased to oblige. In our next post, we will drill down into the features of Parafait POS.
The Parafait Series: Understanding Parafait
So what is Parafait? How does it work? This post answers these 2 questions.
An FEC typically has various game machines and kiddy rides that come factory fitted with Token (coin) machines. An FEC customer buys Tokens (or coins) and plays the games by inserting tokens into the token machine. Token control for game machines have the following disadvantages:
a) The customer has to carry tokens around, which could be cumbersome
b) Customer may hesitate to buy additional tokens
c) FEC owner will not have any record of game plays and thus will not be able to run any customer loyalty programs. It is a lose-lose situation for both FEC owners and customers
d) The chances of pilferage and mis-use are high
It has been proven through research, and practical experience that card based game control can overcome all these disadvantages. The card based game management could increase collections by up to 30% and the FEC owner will have an accurate picture of his/her collections. Further, the FEC owner could design programs that can increase customer loyalty. Additionally, the revenue leakage due to pilferage and mis-use could be brought totally under control.
Parafait is a wireless card based game control system that has rich features and priced reasonably. Parafait uses RFID cards and card readers, which are robust and technically superior to the traditional magnetic cards. The diagram below depicts the various components of the Parafait wireless card system.
While installing Parafait, the coin machines in each of the game terminals are over-ridden with the card reader / wireless controller units. Data from and to the game terminals are controlled by the wireless hub. The wireless hub is in turn connected to the Parafait Server and the database. Parafait comes with rich touch screen based Point of Sale (POS) application and Redemption module. The FEC owner also has the option to integrate Biometric access controls into the POS and Redemption modules. Further, the FEC owner can view his collections and game details on a real time basis using the internet reporting feature.
In our next post, we will walk you through the Parafait feature list and benefits of using Parafait. So long…
Hello and welcome to the world of Semnox
Through this blog, we will be featuring our solutions, products and services to give you complete insight into our operations. We hope to make this an interactive experience so that we can get perspectives from users, customers and potential buyers who may be interested in our solutions.
Semnox was founded in January, 2008 by senior professionals from the IT industry who bring in close to 50 person years of consulting and project execution experience. Our immediate focus is to provide cost effective, quality solutions for the leisure and gaming industry, and we probably are the only Indian company to provide solutions for the Family Entertainment Center (FEC) business houses. Our Flagship product – Parafait Server is a complete FEC automation solution available at a very reasonable price, thereby making it affordable to the unorganized sectors (who form the mass) of the FEC industry. We will be running a special series of blog postings on Parafait which should help you in understanding the richness of the application.
We also have a division engaged in developing ‘creative’ solutions and services. This division focuses on developing visually stunning product demos for corporates, game based activity modules for corporate softskills and induction training, game based learning modules for juniors and adver-gaming. The game based activity modules are a mix of 2D and 3D visualizations.
We are excited about our journey, and we would love to hear from you.
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About this Site
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The Parafait SeriesRead all about our award winning FEC Debit card System, Parafait, here. Click on the category 'The Parafait Series' (on the left column) to see all posts related to Pafafait.