Vélib’, Click and Collect’ and more: IPM France’s kiosks are digitising experiences

Vélib’, Click and Collect’ and more: IPM France’s kiosks are digitising experiences 

IPM France designs and produces interactive kiosk solutions, for self-service access to digital services. La French Fab met its new, wholeheartedly dedicated CEO, Virginie Boissimon-Smolders.

15,000 touch-screen kiosks deployed, a 40-strong team: based in Romans-sur-Isère (Drôme, South-East France), IPM France has been providing interactive kiosk solutions in France for over 30 years. The industrial SME designs, produces, installs and manages the maintenance of its kiosks, while offering complete customer support services. As IPM France’s CEO since 8 January 2024, Virginie Boissimon-Smolders has brought all sorts of ideas to her new role, including eco-design, collective intelligence, inclusion and innovation! All to continue driving forward the company’s growth.

VÉLIB, PHARMACY TELECONSULTING, SIM CARD DISTRIBUTION: MULTI-PURPOSE KIOSKS

Today, IPM France operates across five markets: transport, mountains, healthcare, local authorities and telecommunications. In cities, to encourage environmentally friendly travel, the company has installed the 1,200 or so famous Parisian kiosks Vélib. In the mountains, thanks to the IPM France ‘Click and Collect’ kiosk next to ski lifts, resort side, ski passes that have been paid for online can be retrieved without having to queue at the counter. In the medical sector, its traditional scope of operations, the industrial SME’s kiosks can be found in hospitals and consultants’ surgeries, facilitating administrative pre-admissions (document scans and printing, reading and updating insurance cards, etc.).

IPM France has also developed teleconsulting kiosks for pharmacies which dispense traditional medical devices: “To take vital signs using an oximeter (test measuring the oxygen saturation level in a person’s blood, editor’s note), for example”, explains Virginie Boissimon-Smolders. These solutions are particularly invaluable in medical deserts. For local authorities, IPM France develops not only sign-in kiosks in school settings, but also guidance kiosks in cemeteries. “The market is enormous, the need for digitally provided services is everywhere!” the CEO points out with enthusiasm.

The company also operates in the telecommunications sector: “We have deployed nearly 2,000 kiosks for Free, and we have various projects in progress, not least with the Spanish operator Telefónica, to whom we provided a SIM card distribution kiosk in March 2024." To ensure that SIM cards are dispensed to the right people, IPM France builds in two-factor identity authentication solutions, “using both webcam-based facial recognition and identity paper scans. "

VISIBLE AND EASY-TO-ACCESS: INCLUSIVE KIOSKS WITH ‘TOTEM’ FUNCTIONALITY

For its diverse customer base, IPM France promises maximum visibility for its kiosks, whether in urban or rural settings, and endows its products with ‘totem’ functionality. To be identifiable by all ... for use by all, in keeping with the SME’s inclusion values: “Even for people who may not be confident using applications in general, our kiosks allow everyone to easily access a digital service, especially users with disabilities”, maintains Virginie Boissimon-Smolders.

SUSTAINABLE KIOSKS THAT WILL SOON BE ECO-DESIGNED

Innovation, boldness and responsibility: these are the values championed by IPM France according to its CEO. “We have been innovating for 30 years, keeping pace with our customers – we have always demonstrated a responsible attitude in designing sustainable kiosks. For Vélib or the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) for example, the kiosks have been on the ground and in use for over a decade!" With this quest for sustainability still uppermost in mind, IPM France has also thought up a modular type design, “to be able to add components to our kiosks over time, and to refurbish them more easily. Thanks to such modularity, we are able to refurbish a whole fleet. "

Alongside its work on the sustainability of its kiosks, IPM France has recently embarked on two major projects: adopting a sustainable IT strategy and eco-design. “We are currently finalising an audit process with the French Institute for Sustainable IT, and, alongside that, we have initiated a major 8-month analysis on eco-design, during which a consultant from Bpifrance is helping us to identify areas where there is potential for making progress in this respect, throughout the life cycle of our products." These projects are backed by a committed and responsible strategy, strongly led by Virginie Boissimon-Smolders.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION, VALUES UPHELD BY A CEO

With a higher percentage of women on its workforce than the national average in industry, and a female CEO, IPM France takes great pride in its diversity and inclusion policy: “Women make up 34% of our workforce, versus just 24% on average in other industrial companies." Efforts in this regard had already begun before the new CEO arrived, but given her dedicated commitment to the cause, they are set to be taken further still.

After a 25-year career in the digital sector, Virginie Boissimon-Smolders observed the same barriers and myths hampering both the digital and industrial spheres. So she established LDigital, a Lyon-based association advocating these strategic positions among women, observing that including more women in these sectors addresses a twofold ambition - not only for inclusion but also for performance. Indeed, as the CEO explains: “A project embarked on in a diverse working environment, with a wide range of individuals and viewpoints, will foster more extensive and constructive discussions thanks to a stronger collective intelligence”. IPM France attracts female talent and people with disabilities alike, to shape an inclusive and welcoming working environment.

A PRODUCTION UNIT IN ROMANS-SUR-ISÈRE

While IPM France’s engineering department develops the hardware (electronics and mechanical components) and middleware (for connecting to the application program), the kiosks are assembled at its production unit, in Romans-sur-Isère. “To achieve such large-scale projects as Vélib’, and roll out thousands of kiosks in just a few weeks or months, we work with industrial partners who provide us with premises and teams we are going to train throughout the project,” concludes Virginie Boissimon-Smolders.

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