Lottomatica Expands Payment Services to Improve Customer Satisfaction with Datalogic’s QuickScan™ L Reader and Alfacod’s Consulting
Overview
Part of the Gruppo Lottomatica, Lottomatica Italia Servizi was established in 1997 with the goal of developing a new range of services based on the online system created for lottery games.
The Group can count on one of the greatest distribution networks in Europe: 37,000 tobacco stores and policy shops (25,000 are directly managed) and 15,000 distributors including bars, supermarkets, stationery stores and small retailers.
Lottomatica Italia Servizi offers automated services to private companies, public administration offices and citizens. Its wide sales offering includes fixed and mobile phone rechargers, rechargers for digital TVs, tickets and subscriptions to sporting and other entertainment events, payment of bills, cars, fines, legal taxes and revenue stamps.
Additionally, Lottomatica Italia Servizi enables the payment of all bulletins of the partner agencies at each authorized point-of-sale (POS) in the National territory.
The Challenge
Since the number of operators using Lottomatica’s payment services is consistently increasing, Lottomatica decided to introduce a process to make data capture for the operator fast and easy. For this reason, a solution was needed that allowed the operator to automate the entry of the bill payment data.
The use of a bar code immediately appeared to be the best choice, especially considering bar codes are already printed in the bill to encode the bill’s information. The bar code printed on the bills was the GS1-128, which encoded the following information: the G.L.N. code (Global Location Number) referring to the company that issues the invoice (AI 415), the number of the bulletin (AI 8020) and the amount to be paid in Euros, including the two decimals (AI 3902).
In order to avoid reading problems and service interruption, Lottomatica needed a reader with a wide scan angle to provide the ability to read the longer bar codes quickly, even if they were poorly printed or with a low resolution.
The readers are directly connected to the payment terminals (PIN PAD), so it was also necessary to have a product that consumed low amounts of electricity.
Lottomatica Servizi asked Alfacod’s consulting to develop a particular kind of code and to work on integrating the code into the printing system of the bulletins of the most important Italian companies and agencies on a local and national level.
To complete the project, Lottomatica had to select a bar code reader that was able to quickly transfer data without errors.
The Solution
Datalogic was able to provide Lottomatica Servizi with a new technological solution capable of automating the payment of the utility bills in the Italian agencies. Lottomatica selected Datalogic’s QuickScan™ L QD2300 reader as it proved to be the right device for their needs.
Depth of field and 5 VDC input voltage are the two features that made Datalogic’s QuickScan L handheld laser reader the product suitable for this purpose.
The data editing functionality of the QuickScan reader allows the optimization of the strings of Code 128 according to the specifications GS1. This avoided any modification of the software connected to the POS, resulting in an easy integration of the product into a pre-existing application at no additional cost.
Furthermore, the QuickScan L QD2300 reader is easy and intuitive to use, small and lightweight, particularly suitable for the reduced space on the counter.
The Results
During the first phase of the project, 5,000 QuickScan handheld readers with custom cables were installed, according to the customer’s specific needs.
As a result of the installation of the readers, enhanced automatic data capture allowed the partners to speed up their activity and avoid errors caused by the manual entering of data. The operators of the Lottomatica Servizi network can now offer a quicker and easier service to customers.
The project offered confirmation that Lottomatica Servizi offers the best solution both for companies and citizens. According to Giorgio Solferini, President of Alfacod Srl, “Utilizing Datalogic’s QuickScan reader combined with Alfacod’s critical support in the definition and design of the project, Lottomatica Servizi was able to implement new technology and processes that helped improve the services of their agencies.”
Customer
Lottomatica Italia Servizi
Industry
Services
Sub-Industry
Commercial Services: Banking
Application
Document Handling
Country
Italy
Datalogic Products
QuickScan™ L QD2300
Datalogic Partner
Alfacod Srl
