In today’s fast-paced business environment, customer service is often touted as a cornerstone of success. Companies, large and small, across industries, are quick to claim that they put the customer first. But what does this commitment truly mean in practice, and how can suppliers ensure they deliver exceptional service to their operator and aggregator partners, particularly in a global context? We talk to Alina Mihaela Popa, CCO, ICONIC21 to find out.
How do you approach the customer support/service you offer?
First off, we take our time. We speak with each partner individually, we listen to them and adopt a tailored approach to fit their exact needs. That’s how we keep the relationship going – always circling back to what they need, what they prefer and what would be best for them and ensuring that we implement everything in our power to bring their vision to life. We then cement that close connection by delivering a very strong product and tech team. All of this is our recipe for customer success.
What are the fundamentals of this?
We keep a very open line of communication with all clients. We’re proactive on our end, asking the right questions and encouraging the right conversations. It’s also a collective mentality – we are always ready to help, to be involved, to give the best service possible. Our customers can easily feel that availability. Feeling welcomed, listened to and prioritised are musts in our customer agenda. How we solve our clients’ requests also contributes to the level of service. We are quick to take action and are very flexible, which means we find the right solutions at the right time – and it doesn’t go unnoticed.
How does “putting the customer first” impact game development and delivery? Can you share some examples?
We have a close connection to our partners and always listen to their feedback. We consider what their players need, what their experience was, what expectations they have, and we feed that back into our roadmap, features updates, promotional tools and so on. That’s a huge positive for us since we keep the product offering in line with what’s expected on the operator’s side. You will be able to see it reflected in the 2025 roadmap.
Putting the customer first doesn’t jeopardise our own roadmap and product progress. We’ve found a balance so that we consider their needs while naturally growing as a supplier ourselves. There’s innovation, there’s growth, there’s constant brainstorming, deadlines are met, and so on.
It seems like suppliers need to be agile. How do you ensure ICONIC21 is flexible in this way?
We’re in a growth stage, and we’re moving fast and efficiently. Ever since we took our independent path, we’ve grown at an unimaginable speed – we launched a new vertical (slots), we expanded our RNG games collection with many more coming in 2025, we launched new live casino products, and the overall roadmap for 2025 looks busy. ICONIC21 is looking to be perceived as a major iGaming content provider, which is why we’re moving so swiftly and launching such indispensable products. Plus, since we’re working very closely with our clients on dedicated live casino studios or other personalised products, we must stay agile and adapt – which is right up our street.
Localisation is now a must for operators. How do you offer this to your partners?
Our partners’ core audience is currently English-speaking, but the need for localisation is becoming increasingly important. We have been working on a very agile solution to cater for this – we are developing an advanced AI solution for real-time voice audio translation in multiple languages. This heavily reduces the operational and logistical resources required for localising your content, especially on the live casino side.
There are other aspects we also consider – player preferences, their tastes for a specific theme or format, their expectations, and the in-demand games in a particular area that we are always looking to develop. We will likely dig deeper into localisation in future, as certain markets continue growing and become increasingly popular. But what we have now fits our partners’ current needs very well.
You say you are transitioning to a 360-degree partner, but what does this entail?
It means we are building connections more than anything else. We’re building complex and close relationships with our partners and potential clients. ICONIC21 is a complete provider. We adjust our offering to include all the products and services that operators need – and we’re talking about both real-money gaming and social gaming operators across very different markets. The fact that we take and integrate feedback closes the 360 loop. We listen and we deliver, whatever it takes. You can see how appreciated and successful that approach is among our partners. They tell us what we need, and we bring it to the world in a fast, efficient and reasonably priced manner.
Is customer support/service an area where suppliers can really stand out? What makes ICONIC21 different?
Customer service makes all the difference. There are so many providers in the iGaming industry right now, with more names appearing by the month. To stand out and make a difference, you must find unique ways to relate to your customers. We focus on bringing their visions to life through personalisation and customisation. It’s quite refreshing for an operator to say they want A, B, C, and there you have it – A, B, C launched and ready to go. Flexibility and openness are what make ICONIC different.
Anything else to add?
It’s sometimes difficult to go beyond the buzzwords and capture the true meaning of “putting the customer first”. Pretty much everyone out there claims to be doing that. The thing is – it’s not about making this claim; it’s more about what your customers feel when they collaborate with you. We’re not just doing troubleshooting and we’re not just a helpline. ICONIC fosters strategic connections, giving our partners everything they need to succeed, aligning with their business goals and supporting those goals with the appropriate product and tech stack.
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