The technology we deserve

No one can argue on the importance of technology in igaming. Well, let’s rephrase that. No one can argue on the importance of technology, period. It is one of the building blocks of modern economy and definitely the most important component of our business. And as market dynamics would have it, when there is demand there is also supply, and in our case, that translates into a variety of plug and play solutions that cater to the needs of most igaming companies.

But the question is: are these solutions enough? Do they meet all our needs? This is the question we asked ourselves, at Kaizen Gaming, a long time ago. Our answer was a clear-cut no. We were, and still are, growing at a very fast pace. What started out as a company of 20 people, with one brand, one sportsbook offering, in one market, is now a company of over 1,200 people offering sportsbook and casino to more than one million users through two brands, in eight countries. This happened in less than a decade which means a lot of things happened very fast. We realised early on that the only way to do that was by developing our own technology. Why?

Taking back control

The most important reason is that owning your technology means you are in control of your game, simple as that. However good third-party suppliers are, and we are thankful to them because they were there from the start and still are, they will always be a third party with everything that may be implied.

Being autonomous in technology terms means being able to grow and scale, quickly and efficiently. It means doubling concurrent users in record time without risking performance and without negotiating on customer experience for even a split of a second. It also means entering a new market only requires adaptations to your existing platform, not a search for a new solutions partner. And then, of course, a homegrown technology also allows you to deploy features at your own pace, not in batches or in one go, depending on the supplier’s availability.

And this is not all. In addition to the above, a proprietary platform offers one more significant advantage, and that is adaptability. Keeping the customer happy means, in large part, responding quickly and successfully to new needs as well as feedback. We discovered, soon enough, that developing our own software gives us great flexibility in designing new features, then quickly testing and releasing them to our customers. In such a fast-paced industry and game, time is of the essence and being able to respond faster than others is not only a differentiating element but also a strong competitive advantage.

At the end of the day, all igaming operators offer very similar product offerings. What will make you stand out is delivering the best player experience and that is where technology has a critical role to play. If we want to offer our customers the best player experience they very well deserve, we need to develop the very best tools: the technology we deserve.

Aris Dimarakis is chief operations officer at Kaizen Gaming where he is responsible for shaping the company’s technology vision and strategy and driving operational excellence strategic initiatives. He is a founding member of Kaizen Gaming and has over 10 years of C-level experience.