“Our sales are up almost 50% in the first half of 2014, compared to the same period last year,” Dave Levin, CEO of Four Winds interactive [1], Denver, Colorado, said during an exclusive interview with us on Monday, July 21/14.
[2]“We’ve added a lot of new clients both in terms of digital signage software, players and content, as well as a lot of new licenses.
“We’ve also moved much more strongly into the international market. We have three people in Dubai handling sales and service, and we opened an office in Hong Kong. Here in the U.S. we have a new Customer Experience office in Las Vegas with a showroom and meeting rooms, and a 5,000 sq.ft. space in Miami. These are in addition to our headquarters in Denver which houses 200 of our total 292 full-time employees.”
Levin says that while many people seem to associate the company mainly with hospitality and casinos, in reality FWi’s clients run across the whole spectrum.
“We are strong in the campus vertical with more than 700 campuses using our software licenses,” he said. “We have more than 750 corporate clients. Of our 4,500 customers, they range from very small to very large. One has 2,700 locations.”
While he couldn’t reveal the names of all the new clients, among them are: two automobile manufacturers’ dealer networks; an investment bank for its retail branches; 1,000 new licenses for a major casino group; software, players and content for the NFL’s New York Giants’ [3]in-stadium communications; Alberta Gaming Commission [4] in Canada; Travelex [5] in Heathrow’s Terminal 2; Duty Free stores in Hong Kong Airport; and software and more for 1,400 banking centres in Latin America. In addition, Tanger Outlets [6], which currently have currently have six 70” directories, one 70” Social Media Kiosk including a camera, and two 46” directories in mall offices has additional expansion planned for this year. Japan Tobacco [7] will have 400 screens by year end. And MGM International [8] has expanded to a North American site license.
If that isn’t enough, the company is keeping busy with its existing customers and its installations at Boston Logan International Airport [9] where, for the past couple of years, three interactive boarding pass scanners can direct people to gates, concession options along the way, inform of flight delays, and more. In addition, there are 27 digital screens. FWi was responsible for all the software.
“We didn’t want to talk a lot about ourselves while we had a legal situation underway, but that’s now been settled,” said Levin. “The case (vs Activision) didn’t go to court as there was a declaratory judgment and neither FWi nor our clients will have to worry about it in the future. We’re happy about it.”
Levin said that the company pitches for clients against a lot of competitors, different ones depending on the vertical involved.
“We have a good record,” he said. “And this August we’ll be introducing version 5.0 of our software. It’s more than an upgrade. It’s very different from what is out there in the industry, so we’ll be doing a road show to introduce it.”
Levin said that for the first half of this year, FWi was concerned mainly with product development, professional development and international sales expansion. He expects that the preoccupation oin the second half will be with launching new products, helping existing customers to upgrade, and developing new customers.
FWi is privately owned and Levin says that it isn’t looking for investment.
“We pour our profits back into the company so we’re in good position,” he said.
The company currently has 10 openings for staff, all service related.