foreign ERS and welcome back to the GI huddle um welcome back also to Bjorn Krantz CEO of English Phil Bjorn nice to have you back how are you I'm very well uh Tim and good to be back at the handle it's always always a pleasure always a pleasure to have you on as well we love having repeat guests um you know it shows that you can talk about what's happened since the last time you were on and and on that note I think a a good question first question for me to ask is how is life at idrisilan and what are the latest updates from the company since the last time you were on the Hubble yeah I mean thank you for that that question Tim that's a good uh that's a good starting question I I think yeah it's full Full Speed Ahead here at that and all hands on on Deck to expand and optimize our offerings of a new and existing customers and regulated market channels and uh are proud to say that that we are now delivering on on our promise to double up uh on our own in-house develop core game releases and uh we continue to expand our library of high performing game mechanical framework so I must say that it's very exciting times here at tatigra ceiling did that's great to hear um the main topic of our talk today is going to be Innovation which which ties in very much with what you've just said there in terms of kind of In-House development um Innovation can easily be a buzzword so it can easily be it's always nice to say people should innovate but not every company innovates as much and iglassil certainly puts it top of the agenda an opening question why is innovation so important uh for any company yeah important question in in the uh I mean from from my perspective Innovation is a statistic method that must have touch points uh throughout the entire company respective of where you sit and what the responsibilities uh you have Innovation must be part of a company DNA and culture and not only a buzzword as you said uh innovative ideas and success stories must be transparently shared and celebrated to Foster an Innovative environment I would say that that Innovation have a strategic impact on company attractiveness both from an external and internal perspective external as you build an Innovative brand image that attracts talents and a great place to Work Foundation Innovation improves social loyalty you know from from Key partners and stakeholders as they can make a difference with your unique offering to better optimize and drive profitable growth and from an internal perspective I think that Innovation also drives loyalty and a retention of talents that needs that thrill and excitement of working within an Innovative environment and and it improves passion engagement and at the end also sustainable profitable growth for for the company you've touched on a few reasons uh there which could also answer the next question but why has ignorasil made Innovation such a big part of its identity when you know there's lots of suppliers and lots of casino game uh designers um but you guys have actively gone out and emphasized this and and you're speaking about this in this interview is evidence of it here um why is that so so high up on your sort of priority list I mean innovation has always been part of uh of our DNA and culture and and we are known for our industry first Innovation such as uh the Boost gave me education tools or our destructive regulatory ready game development engine uh innovation has really supported uh to accelerate This Global publisher strategy and and we are proud that with also from an outside in perspective or viewed as a company that dares to take risks and put innovation in the very top of our static agenda I mean we understand how important innovation is for the bigger picture benefit for the company and we're proud ourselves also that over 50 50 of our received industry Awards have been around Innovation I mean that that that's amazing and I can also mention that that we were running a company-wide Innovation day just last month in October where teams cross out various functions presented their Innovation pictures we discussed importance the importance of innovation in in our day-to-day work and we also invited on inspirational Innovation speaker so Innovation is is for sure a top of Mind Focus can I ask were there any particular pictures that stood out during that day or was that kind of top secret for now uh we approximately a uh yeah nearly 20 20 pitches from from various teams uh you know everything from uh uh you know Improvement of how we can optimize to you know new game concept so yeah I mean we'll we'll see you may see some some new stuff coming out of the pipeline so just wait and see sure um so we've talked about the the benefits um you know why Innovation matters and especially to take refill but as you might expect I've got to ask you the flip side what are the challenges it uh it brings in and how difficult is it to innovate and specifically to this industry because I gaming not to say that every casino game is the same because we know it isn't but we do know that the offering is is quite similar across the board and it might be a little bit more difficult to innovate here than say for example I don't know uh you know medicine a random example but you know it's clear where you can innovate in an industry like that for example yeah no it's it's another good good question team right I mean our business environment this is a very competitive and uh it's not easy to come up with with the new disruptive uh idea or even push Innovative improvements of an existing idea that at the end generate decide or why I mean from my perspective it's important that that we always push ourselves and or genuinely interested to understand our customer really needs market trends Market movements and and together with our data-driven operations we you know create this uh creative Foundation where we can discuss and Foster new ideas and improvements let me just stress that that Innovation is not for free right I mean as a company we need to DARE and accept to take risks in order to Foster on you know Foster on on Innovative culture and for us in Innovation is not only a product question yeah we need to innovate throughout the entire company whether it's Innovation driving you know as I mentioned before a higher degree of automation or improved scalability that that makes us more agile in in ways of working I mean just to mention a few few examples here where does innovation start from the ground up or from the CEO's boardroom so kind of from you down um yeah I mean I said Innovation is a statistic metaphor for for the company team and it must be part of the company DNA and and culture yeah this means that that everyone in the company or responsible for driving Innovation and to dare to pitch for new ideas at any time Innovation is not a board or a CEO matter per se it's a company matter and very important that there are no misunderstandings on on this point I mean as a CEO I must lead with example and together with with the rest of the management team make sure that we live and breed Innovation part of our company culture and DNA and encourage everyone to challenge how we work and how we can be better and faster all the time so when it comes to the the planning of that how do you best achieve Innovation so obviously you had an example with your your pitch day um The Innovation day at the company you know is it a matter of different teams coming together uh brainstorming and also how do you how do you maybe deal with if there's two conflicting ideas on maybe how to best innovate you know what what's the process there yeah I mean I mean where I'm sitting Innovation uh in innovative ideas can come from from anyone right that at any time whether it's a group of people or from from one one individual it it doesn't really matter I believe that the best way to achieve Innovation is to make Innovation visible in the very top of your strategy that you're serious about it and that is clear to everyone that the company there and accepts to take risks in order to Foster an Innovative working environment uh if you feel the company is serious about Innovation you will see also see a greater appetite to bring innovative ideas forward I mean to talk about good in whatever examples and to celebrate those I also think will encourage more innovative ideas to be put on table for discussion and evaluation irrespective if it's from teams individuals or that program wherever in the company is there ever a case that maybe friction creates fire in as you say people people challenge um you know Common conceptions um maybe sometimes there's a bit of debate does that improve the process yeah I mean the more we challenge each other in the way we work I think the better it is and we need to uh to make sure that with that the challenge everything in order to to be better all the time I mean yeah I said I mean we live in Bridge in a very competitive environment I mean so we we love to be very competitive and in order to be competitive we need to challenge the way we work all the time and uh so so I think I said we uh we uh we like to do that thanks for your answer so far and I think our discussion we've we've talked about the benefits maybe the challenges you know how Innovation can move forward but let's maybe look at it uh moving forward in the future I'm not sure if you can give any practical examples because that's like having a crystal ball but let's say in in five years time if the right breakthroughs are made across the industry um you know various different companies with Innovation where can the industry be and how different can it be in let's let's say five years is just a generic time timeline oh yeah that's another good question they're not not an easy one for sure I mean we live in and breathe in a very fast paced industry here yeah but uh I mean I mean just just the short draw from my side here I mean Innovation will for sure push uh improved efficiency and scale of General company operations I think I think that that is a given but I I also believe that the Innovation will focus uh on areas such as uh you know hyper personalization uh artificial intelligence and Big Data uh all this will be essential for maximizing player experience I I think and you know hypothesis from my side only here but also considered desire you know to push for a true scale of um of a seamless Global gameplay we may see an improved convergence between land-based online social you know from content math mechanical distribution perspective much much more streamlined I mean we will never stop to do it so um I think we have exciting times ahead and for all of us that that is for sure no I definitely agree I think the conversions is a very interesting point to end on and maybe we can think about it that way in in five years how much more kind of streamlined I guess as you say land base and online could be absolutely and uh I think we uh we are coming together in the different type of segments and we want to you know provide a a value-based offering for for the players that is out there you know that this lenses and relevant and makes sense so I'm sure that the Innovations will push us in in that direction absolutely well Bjorn thanks as always for your answers and I look forward to speaking speaking to you again soon was a great pleasure to attend him and see you later on