Insight GLI EUROPE INTERVIEW
the same. We have offices in almost every continent each fitted with the same tools, tools that allow you to do almost any type of testing. Tis means that we can conduct testing in different parts of the world; in Vegas, or New Jersey, Hillegom, or our office in South Africa.”
Harmonising procedures means that both Western and José have a library of working instructions for each department, instructions that let their engineering teams know exactly how to perform specific tests, so that when they’re working in a market or country that has slightly different requirements, these instructions aid them in finalising their projects. It’s all part of a continuous training scheme that’s maintained at every level of the business. No one ever stops learning. “When a client wants to launch a product for the first in Europe that was already approved in the US, we fly engineers from the US to our offices for two- three weeks to train our personnel here, so they familiarise themselves with this new product for European market,” describes Western. “It might seem like overkill, but it actually saves the client time and money.”
GLI not only creates its own training programmes for its staff, but its technical engineering teams are required to gain personal qualifications from external bodies to conduct testing on specific products for specific markets. Before our meeting with GLI Europe, four tech managers had spent 10 weeks on courses that were part of prerequisite certification for the Danish online gaming market (they all passed). It’s not only the product that needs approval, but competence must be shown in the person who tests that product, which means that there’s a constant regime of studying to gain the necessary level of qualifications in order to carry out their jobs.
organisation be properly structured and organised, but that’s not to say that GLI’s compliance department can’t work in parallel with engineering, or quality assurance, direct enquires to mathematics - or client services. Tere’s is a complete lack of job boundaries in this sense - of the idea that this is where my job ends, where I clock out for the day and leave things to others. As José says, “we’re involved from zero to the end.”
It is a lack of boundaries that extends to the ownership of client projects too, with queued jobs picked up by different teams around the world in order to speed through the process. “We don’t train specialists, instead ensuring that everyone has the ability to work upon any job in our queue,” says Western. “If an office has capacity to work on a project today, rather than wait until my engineers are free in two days time, those extra days are very vitally important to the client. We also ensure that our reports, whether written here or in the US, are exactly
Saving client’s time and money is a constant focus for both José and Western, but there are times when projects don’t follow the estimate; don’t follow the plan. Balancing timescales, cost and quality is an activity that absorbs a huge amount of Western and José’s time. “Estimating timescales is part of our weekly routine,” confirms José. “We estimate and review our budgets throughout individual projects and maintain a daily overview to ensure our forecasts are on track. If we see obstacles or red-warning lights, it’s our job to relay those issues back to the client, but only when we’ve found out all we can about the underlying issues. Tis kind of problem-solving is a two- way street - we help them understand the issue, and maybe they help us conduct our activities in a different way. It’s a two side conversation, it’s their product after all, though we do try very hard to keep all three aspects in balance.”
Te two-way dialogue and close-relationship built with its clients is part of what Western describes as the added-value of working with GLI. Te discussions with clients about new markets, changes to laws and special requirements. Te hypothetical discussions
José Zuluaga & Western Tsogorani It’s the job of our compliance
department to travel to meet with regulators, working with them on different aspects of the law, all of which is well in advance, possibly years in advance, of the market opening. All of that work between
our compliance department and the regulators is passed onto our
technical group. We are kept up-to- speed on new market
developments, we are appraised of the latest drafts and we forecast way out in advance what potential problems could arise for our clients.
about Product A being compliant in Market B. “We flag concerns about issues with customers,” says Western. “We run gap analysis between the jurisdictions we’ve already tested as compared to new markets, highlighting potential problems for our existing clients. We keep abreast of all the changes taking place so that we can anticipate the issues, again saving our clients time and money.”
GLI expends a huge amount of its own time, effort and resources as new markets open. Being the first to licence gaming products in new jurisdictions isn’t just about bragging rights. New markets offer substantial opportunities for clients and being first-to-market is a distinct competitive advantage. “Understanding new markets when it comes to compliance law is part of our DNA,” says José. “It’s the job of our compliance department to travel to meet with regulators, working with them on different aspects of the law, all of which is well in advance, possibly years in advance, of the market opening. All of that work between our compliance department and the regulators is passed onto our technical group. We are kept up-to-speed on new market developments, we are appraised of the latest drafts and we forecast way out in advance what potential problems could arise for our clients.”
Te preparatory work that GLI conducts in- house, pays dividends for its clients when those new markets come online. Not just because GLI has a crystal clear understanding of the regulations, having worked upon them in partnership with the regulator, but because the pre-development stage has allowed GLI’s client’s be market-ready as the legislation goes live. GLI’s clients are never playing catch-up, they’re already running full tilt thanks to Western, José and their technical teams.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM P47
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