Opinion: How smart tech can solve operator woes

The challenge ““ Changing appetites, rising player volumes and shortage of capacity: On the surface, it’s a great problem to have but equally one that the larger operators are having trouble getting to grips with.

The recent rise in popularity of social games, as well as the boom in mobile and tablet betting has meant that operators have had to consider investing large sums in both tech and talent that is able to cope with and manage this growth and transformation in demand. The problem is that many have either invested in the wrong type of technology or simply funnelled resources elsewhere and are now being left behind.

The solution: A solid and scalable gaming infrastructure can help operators to be market-responsive, allowing them to easily change their offering, to grow as the number of markets and users increase, and to reach new areas of potential growth. An operator needs to be able to guarantee a fluid entertainment experience connecting a pervasive gaming offering with an increasing number of players. Also, the internet is made up of a variety of obstacles that an operators’ IT team has to navigate including include firewalls, the many different browsers players use, the countless devices on the market as well as issues such as unreliable connections. Whatever you opt for, a gaming infrastructure needs to be easy to integrate with your existing system(s) and allow you to stream real-time data and messaging across multiple channels, browsers and apps without any latency.

The outcome: Once a platform is running smoothly without networking problems, you will be able to invest more time and resources on gripping games and effective marketing. This means more users, retained for longer and encouraged to deposit more.

The challenge ““ Fast moving tech, constantly changing and evolving software and hardware: There’s no way round the matter of constantly evolving hardware, but that isn’t the main issue. You have to have the underlying technologies to support the hardware that is being released onto the market.

Fast moving tech could easily impact the way we communicate, consume and pay for everyday media including games, television and gambling-style products. This includes devices such as Google Glass, increasingly advanced Smart TVs, and wearable technologies such as Samsung’s recently released prototype Galaxy Gear smart watch.

The solution: An operator has to be able to move with the times, however uncertain, therefore a gaming platform also needs to adapt and be easily able to support new devices. Opting for scalable technologies which can be deployed anywhere (e.g. migrating the whole platform to both private or public cloud platforms) not only guarantees more flexibility, but can also lead to lower running costs and better performance.

The outcome: In such a competitive environment every operator should own as much critical technology as possible.

The challenge ““ Regulation, newly opened markets increasing the need for speed to market and newly designed, localised and launched product: As soon as a newly regulated market opens first mover advantage is everything. Both incumbent local players, that have arguably enjoyed a monopoly for many years and that need to rapidly adjust to the onset of increased competition, as well as foreign operators that need to adapt to new ways of working, new rules, local staff, and localised games and products see speed to market as one of the key success factors.

The solution: To do this successfully, however you need to carefully, but equally rapidly, form an operational plan of attack and execution. But even before you achieve that, you need the right technology in place in order to deploy the right tactics with a solid competitive advantage. If your platform is able to adapt to a grown demand and a hectic scenario (new games and new technologies), reaching new markets and increase the number of players will be simply a no-brainer.

The outcome: Employ and deploy the right technology to act as the bridge between the gaming platform and the players and the answer to your prayers for a need for speed are likely to come true.

Weswit is a real-time web streaming solutions provider with which a number of operators including bwin.party, IG, City Index, Wirex and Yazino use its flagship Lightstreamer product for the streaming of real-time data and messaging across multiple channels, browsers and apps.