Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2008 48 Feature “A systemmust have an aim.Without the aim, there is no system.” So said William Edwards Deming, the American management consultant and academic who helped create Japan’s economic miracle after WorldWar Two. What, then, is the aim of gaming management systems? They must add value for consumers by improving their entertainment experience and add value for operators by boosting revenue-generating opportunities and return on investment, says Bruce Rowe, Senior Vice President Strategy & Business Development for Bally Technologies. “There are tangible benefits from system gaming as we start to build the network of the future,” says Mr Rowe. “We have been very disciplined about the way we’re rolling these things out. A good friend of mine who has been involved in testing server based applications for over two years has described it as like ‘flying a space shuttle with a compass’. The implications of that statement are that you need the right navigation tools to bring this kind of technology to the customer,” explains Mr Rowe. Bally’s offer Bally’s management offer covers four broad areas: Bally Slot Management Systems® (SMS); Bally Casino Management Systems® (CMS); Bally Power Bonusing™ products; and the Bally Business Intelligence Solutions. What they all share is delivery via digital technology that can be customised to an individual operator’s requirements, backed by research and support from Bally. “If we’re considering,for example,adding to the functionality of our gaming machines through technology, we very carefully measure the value proposition. We do a lot of focus groups with customers to make All Systems Go Gaming machine intelligence is taking off sure it’s actually adding value and not taking away from the win per unit of those games,” explains Mr Rowe. “We’ve got many solutions but the ones we are bringing out this year include testing command and control right now for dynamic revenue management. “We’re doing IP downloading today, which saves you extraordinary amounts of labour by not having to visit each machine to load up content,” adds Mr Rowe. “In addition, we’re working on management of multimedia content to the Bruce Rowe, Senior Vice President Strategy & Business Development for Bally Technologies