Process Improvement within the Online Gambling Industry

Abstract

Within the online gambling industry companies are facing increasing process complexity. The complexity stems from high employee turnover, increasing competition and rapid growth while spanning multiple markets with varying requirements in terms of regulations and customer expectations. The complexity is further increased by the digital nature of the industry. The traditional process improvement methodologies may hence no longer be fit to address the issues of this industry. This thesis aims to bridge this gap by identifying the issues that arise and how to potentially solve them using Business Process Management (BPM), communication theory and knowledge management theory. A case study of an online gambling company’s marketing process was conducted. Interviews and focus groups were combined to identify process issues specific to the industry. The issues were then analyzed using theory regarding BPM, communication and knowledge management to identify potential solutions. Several issues were identified, many linked to the process instability that occurs in a quickly growing and competitive industry and the large differences between markets resulting in high workload fluctuations and reliance on tacit knowledge. Further, due to the digital nature of the industry, the task-technology fit of the system has a high impact on process efficiency and the regulatory aspect of the industry put an increased importance on proper information sharing. It was concluded that a company within the studied industry should not implement a "one size fits all markets" process. Instead a base process should be created with a level of built in flexibility in communication and knowledge management that enables meeting the demands of the differing markets. Ensuring continuous improvement is imperative, where the digital system needs to constantly measure the process and improve according to the measurements. Having a process analyst is key to achieve this who ensures improvement initiative alignment and that solutions aid in simplicity rather than complexity. Finally, to overcome the workload fluctuations process triggers should be identified and given Service Level Agreements. Planning road maps should then be implemented for the triggers that can be planned for.