“When it comes to Sportsbook, speed & content are critical”

Exclusive Interview.- Focus Gaming News had a lengthy talk with Edmond Ghulyan Sportsbook Product Manager for Digitain.

Edmond Ghulyan, Sportsbook Product manager for Digitain, talked with Focus Gaming News about Digitain’s evolution. In a thorough interview, he explains how the company has adapted to different markets & what it takes to build a successful sportsbook.

Can you tell us a little about your background and your current role at Digitain?

I am currently part of Digitain’s product management team and lead Sportsbook product with all of its domains. I used to work with British Midland International, British Airways, ProCredit Group, American University of Armenia and other international companies previously. I have 12 years of experience in customer relations, project and product management. I joined Digitain 2.5 years ago as ITIL Change Manager and within less than a year, I transitioned to the Product Management department as Sportsbook product owner, and then Sportsbook Product Manager. It’s 1.5 years now I have been managing one of the core products at Digitain with an experienced and talented product team.  

Being the Product Manager for the core product of the company is indeed challenging especially with all the turbulence we have been experiencing in the external environment since the start of this year. However, it all comes down to understanding customer needs and managing priorities with an agile approach and mindset.

How has Digitain’s sportsbook developed? What new features have helped enhance the product?

Digitain’s Sportsbook has come a long way. Sportsbook has always been the core product of the company and it used to serve as a platform alongside being a standalone product. That is actually the reason our partners get exposed to an abundance of features in sportsbook alone which many would expect to see in a gaming platform. Having said this, our Sportsbook has become a robust API solution for many operators and we see the benefits of a multi-facet solution.

When it comes to Sportsbook, I think speed and content are critical before anything else. We have continuously put tremendous effort in making our Sportsbook solution faster and more reliable. We operate in different regions and it is crucial to us to make use of the latest technologies allowing us to optimize our systems. Needless to say, our in-house team of traders with decades of expertise combined with our proprietary algorithms make our solution one of the best in the market.

In terms of the content, we are continuously expanding our portfolio with different integrations. We have introduced several channels for player outreach with flexible management tools for operators, including dedicated content management system for the entire sportsbook. All of this contributes to a super-fast setup for our partners and ultimate customization.

Sportsbook features are indeed important for the product. Our Sportsbook offers an abundance of in-play options, market combinations, bet editing and cashout, dedicated layouts to cater for different regions and many more. All of our features are built with an agile approach meaning operators take full control over those features and they can configure and re-configure whenever they want.

We take customer feedback seriously and it is crucial for us to understand the variety of needs our solution will address so we develop and offer the right product for our target markets. All of these contribute to the product strategy which shapes the identity of the product and makes it competitive in the market.

How do you approach localisation for different markets? What challenges does localisation pose and how does Digitain resolve them?

Localisation is absolutely critical. We live in era where technology turns the craziest ideas into reality. We understand this and that is why we carefully study the markets, the trends and ensure our products are well-fitted for our target audiences. When we talk about market fit, we actually talk about localization which can be expressed in various channels, the content itself, features, user interface and more. For Sportsbook specifically, we are continuously working to make the product more customizable without compromising the performance and servicing, because quality is of utmost importance for any sportsbook.

Localisation does pose certain challenges in terms of servicing multiple variations of a product, ensuring compatibility, upgrades and further enhancements. However, our experts are up for this kind of challenges and we continuously invest time and resources not only into localization options, but also into making this localization as manageable and automated as possible. At the end of the day, technology does allow to develop and offer localized products. However, these products become part of your product portfolio and you have to ensure you are in absolute control over the quality and performance of such localized products. At Digitain, we strive to make products our diverse group of customers would love to add to and keep in their portfolios. This is means long-term relationships, but for us it means more – excellence and innovation in our daily work.