Public Gaming Magazine May/June 2016

// PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // May/June 2016

PUBLIC GAMING

INTERVIEWS

Declan

HARKIN

International Senior Vice President

and Chief Operating Officer, IGT

Paul Jason, PGRI:

Everyone in the lot-

tery industry is talking about omnichannel.

What’s your view of what omnichannel is?

Declan Harkin:

The term ‘omnichan-

nel’ is already becoming somewhat dat-

ed, partially because it’s often overused

and misunderstood. Confusion around

the term primarily stems from a focus on

the delivery devices rather than the end-

to-end consumer experience.

All lottery players are consumers, but

clearly not all consumers are players. That’s

both the challenge and the opportunity.

The consumer today doesn’t talk about

‘channels’ at all—they just engage with

brands. As consumers, we expect the

brands we interact with will know every

aspect of our interactions with them. We

expect the brands to know exactly where

we left off in the conversation or trans-

action. We expect a personalised experi-

ence at all times.

As consumers, lottery players expect

and demand the same type of consis-

tent interaction, regardless of where they

are … for example in a store, at a social

event, or relaxing at home.

In the past few years we’ve seen the evo-

lution of tablets, smartphones and now

wearables. These types of connected de-

vices are rapidly transforming our day-to-

day interactions through the ubiquitous

‘Internet of Things’. For years within the

lottery industry, we have talked about ap-

pealing to the Gen X and Millennial play-

ers, who grew up with the Internet. The

situation today in this regard, however,

spans all generations. All age groups know

how to use their devices and want excit-

ing and entertaining content and services

available anytime. The lottery industry is

very well placed to deliver and compete

with the myriad of other content provid-

ers fighting for consumers’ attention. In

addition to compelling content, however,

the industry needs transformational tools

and platforms to capture their attention.

We’re no different than all the major

eCommerce retailers and entertainment

companies throughout the world; we

must be in the moment with our players

wherever they are. At IGT, our latest Au-

rora platform and solutions offerings are

built from the player journey up, on the

very latest technologies with this vision

in mind. We rapidly enable each lottery

company to execute its own tailored vi-

sion and creative applications for its par-

ticular market and player journeys.

It’s an old saying but a good one—

‘The only constant is the pace of change.’

So what do you think are the next waves

of change?

D. Harkin:

Today, whether we realise

it or not, predictive analytics is already

prevalent in the services we use. For

example, my mobile device proactively

‘nudges’ me to tell me how long it will

take me to drive home. It adjusts the

temperature of my house once it knows

my journey is underway, reminds me

that a restaurant I was researching ear-

lier is located along my route home, and

offers to book a table. It also suggests I

reserve a table for six, because that’s the

number of family members it remem-

bered from the last time I booked. This

technology will only improve and very

soon it will be commonplace.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, recent-

ly said, “Looking to the future, the next

big step will be for the very concept of

the ‘device’ to fade away. Over time, the

Beyond Omnichannel: Intelligence is the Key to Growth

Tomorrow’s lottery players will expect much more than an omnichannel

experience. How are lotteries adapting?