The gaming industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with experiences becoming more complex, multi-platform, and immersive than ever before. From mobile to console gaming, the demand for seamless, real-time experiences is reshaping the way players engage with games. But this rapid evolution is not without its challenges.
Gaming companies today face significant obstacles, particularly around tracking player behavior, consolidating data across platforms, and providing high-quality customer support. These challenges are even more pronounced for companies working with legacy systems or those formed through mergers and acquisitions, making it difficult to gain a unified, 360-degree view of clients and maintain cohesive support flows.
In this landscape, AI and data have emerged as the ultimate game-changers, providing gaming companies with the tools they need to analyze user behaviors, streamline customer support, and deliver insights that refine the gaming experience while addressing the unique demands of the industry.
At Dreamforce 2024, Globant led a roundtable discussion with experts from Salesforce, Entain (an international sports betting and gambling company), and Globant’s Salesforce and Gaming Studios. The conversation explored how gaming and gambling companies leverage data-driven insights and AI-powered decisions, particularly within the Salesforce platform, to tackle challenges, improve the customer experience, and fuel growth.
1. Identifying VIP Customers & Providing a Premium Experience
In the gaming industry, high-value customers are more than just players—they are brand ambassadors and loyal advocates. Identifying these players and delivering a premium experience is key to fostering loyalty and driving business growth.
Al Ameen Cini, Head of Contact Centres at Entain in Australia and New Zealand, shared how his organization leverages live data models within Salesforce to pinpoint high-value customers. The use of Slack helps his team capture real-time insights, allowing them to adapt and personalize the customer experience, ensuring VIPs receive the premium service they deserve.
“Our platform helps gaming companies identify their VIPs and turn data into value,” says Daniel Dauletiar, Salesforce M&E Industry Lead. “With tools like Data Cloud and Slack, we can gather, categorize, and apply insights across the business.”
2. Leveraging AI to Solve Business Challenges
While the gaming industry is high-tech, many companies are still in the early stages of harnessing AI’s full potential. Complex regulatory issues and outdated tech stacks pose challenges for some companies, but for those who act now, AI offers a significant competitive edge.
One of the key use cases shared during the session was the application of AI to identify problem gamblers and the use of generative AI tools to handle customer support issues. One audience member revealed that their company could resolve 75% of inbound customer queries using intelligent automation, significantly reducing the load on their contact centers.
AI also plays a critical role in automating processes like user authentication and password resets, which tend to spike around major sporting events for many gambling organizations. At Entain, Cini’s team uses intelligent automation to enable customers to self-serve for account authentication and password resets, while Slack escalates more sensitive cases to tech support.
But while AI has vast potential, it must be implemented strategically. “If you go too wide, too quick, you get lost,” says Cini. “We ask ourselves why we’re targeting a particular use case and how we can scale it effectively.”
3. Taking the Voice of the Customer to the Next Level
For many companies, having a voice of customer program is a routine task. But in the gaming industry, where product development and customer experiences are so tightly linked, the insights generated from these programs can offer valuable opportunities for innovation and enhancement.
“We’re constantly thinking about how to equip our outbound teams to drive innovation,” says Cini. “We ask ourselves how to prioritize the right campaigns and how to celebrate new products that come out of customer feedback.”
The panelists emphasized the importance of consolidating various customer data sources into a single platform—whether that’s Salesforce or another program—to capture complete customer feedback and generate deeper insights for the business.
Matías Rodríguez, Globant’s SVP of Technology for Games & Immersive Studios, concluded, “At the end of the day, the gaming industry is built on data. Companies that solve their data challenges and leverage AI capabilities will be the ones to win the game.”
Hit Play with Globant’s Studios
Are you ready to explore how your organization can leverage data, AI, and the Salesforce platform to take your gaming or gambling company to the next level? Globant is here to help.
Our dedicated Games Studio, and Immersive Experiences Studio, alongside our Salesforce Studio, brings together decades of industry experience, market-leading data and AI expertise, and a passion for innovation. We can help you advance your business using the latest technologies and enterprise platform capabilities.
How We Use Data, AI, and Salesforce in Gaming:
- Know Your Customer: Advanced data analysis for deeper insights into player behavior, enhancing gaming experiences, and enabling personalized communication.
- Customer for Life: Create a 360-degree view of players and develop personalized loyalty plans with AI-enabled tools.
- Player Engagement: Boost engagement and loyalty through effective campaigns and personalized, data-driven marketing.
- Subscription Models: Leverage automation and shared data to optimize subscription delivery and management.
- Player Support: Develop AI-driven FAQs and virtual agents for automated customer support.
- Next-Gen Data + AI: Leverage Salesforce Data Cloud to eliminate data silos and create a single platform for accessing all enterprise data.
Ready to level up? Contact our team for a free consultation and learn how Globant can help your organization harness the power of data, AI, and Salesforce to stay relevant in the evolving gaming landscape.
