Going for greatness: Breaking into the igaming industry with GR8 Tech

With exponential growth in the igaming industry comes great opportunity for new and emerging businesses to launch, and that’s where GR8 Tech saw an in. Offering operators all-encompassing platform and software solutions, GR8 Tech’s goal was to help igaming companies to “launch, grow or upgrade”.

GR8 Tech: Overcoming the first year challenges

“Establishing GR8 Tech in the highly competitive B2B igaming industry has indeed not been easy.”

Like in any market, understanding the industry is the first port of call. Evgen Belousov, GR8 Tech CEO, believes the initial challenge was to first analyse the market and then define a competitive business strategy.

“We did this to ensure GR8 Tech’s distinctiveness and product-market fit. Once we had identified these goals, we moved on to build our solutions. Doing this enabled us to ensure our value proposition and product relevance to the clients – and it also set us apart from the ocean of sameness that’s prevalent in the B2B area.”

As Belousov points out, there are an abundance of carbon copy igaming businesses in the industry – and standing out from an identic field has never been more important. GR8 Tech has tackled this head-on by offering something distinctly different for operators.

“We needed to create a brand identity and vision that would resonate with the crowded marketplace, where established providers enjoy significant brand loyalty and trust,” Belousov explains.

Luckily for GR8 Tech, the solid foundation it had from decades of B2C operational expertise has elevated its offering and given the business a head start that has proven to be essential to its first-year successes. 

“We had our team’s extensive experience in the B2C side of business and in-house development but lacked the benefit of a long track record as a new player in the B2B side of things,” says Belousov. “However, we had a clear vision, which helped us establish our own foothold as a business and set us off to a gr8 start.”

Key achievements for GR8 Tech 

Since ICE 2023, Belousov commented that this year has been a landmark period for GR8 Tech. Following on from its strategic roadmap set at the beginning of the year, the team has launched several high-impact products that have received praise from the industry.

A particular point of pride has been the market rollout of its high-performance sportsbook and casino platforms, making these long-existing and successful products available for new operators. 

One successful business plan: Two major solutions 

To address the challenges of becoming a global leader GR8 Tech launched with two major solutions: one tailored to new market entries, the other geared towards igaming professionals looking for a highly customisable solution to be integrated into their existing ecosystem. 

Branded as iGaming Launch and iGaming Upgrade, Belousov believes this double-edged product offering gives GR8 Tech a unique selling point. “Our dual-solution approach efficiently caters to a diverse audience, with Launch offering crafted for those seeking to enter new markets and Upgrade engineered for established igaming operators.”

Navigating new entries: iGaming Launch

iGaming Launch enables entrepreneurs and investors venturing into the industry, as well as established operators moving into new regions and markets, to thrive with the latest technologies and operational support specific to new entrances. Belousov says the solution has been well received.

“We’ve seen iGaming Launch draw significant interest this year, as the industry continues to seek expansion, new brand launches in untapped markets, or new effective solutions to start new brands in familiar markets.”

Making market professionals: iGaming Upgrade

GR8 Tech’s Upgrade solution has also gathered a lot of interest from the market, considering its high relevance for mature companies that need an out-of-the-box, fully customisable solution to integrate into their existing ecosystems. However, iGaming Upgrade operates on a longer time frame, as it requires operators to be ready to migrate, and therefore a long enough mental and product preparation for this.

“Regarding our lifetime partnership ethos, our journey since inception has only solidified our belief in its value. Far from a static concept, we’ve seen it as an evolving commitment.”

“Our Upgrade solution entails not just a perpetual partnership in terms of services but also an ongoing evolution of those services to meet the changing needs of our partners, as well as the endless potential of our technical capabilities,” Belousov says. “With the platform capable of exponential growth along the needs of the operators, we are poised perfectly to deliver on this lifetime partnership promise. This approach has proven visionary, as the dynamic demands of the igaming industry require not just initial solutions but adaptive, long-term strategies.” 

GR8 Tech’s winning formula: Refining the strategy

Having this strategy to begin with gave GR8 Tech a solid foundation at launch. However, Belousov’s advice to others would be to remain open about changing your initial strategy, and for platform providers, to ensure you create a platform that can be refined within the first year. After all, the key in such a turbulent market is flexibility.

“This year has been particularly illuminating as we have honed our listening skills to understand the needs and desires of operators better, leading to a refinement of our offerings,” he says.

And these refinements are clearly having an effect where it matters most – among GR8 Tech’s client base. “Our technical audits and customer feedback have highlighted that our products and solutions’ capabilities far exceed the average market offerings.”

With this knowledge, Belousov has led his company to being one of the top tech options for operators, doubling down on a robust performance to sculpt a value proposition that truly stands out.

“We’ve managed to formulate our offerings in a way that creates a solid competitive advantage for our clients, capable of driving their growth with unprecedented efficiency and scalability.” he explains. 

“Furthermore, this focus on performance has spurred new developments. We have implemented enhanced customisation options, giving operators the flexibility to differentiate themselves in the market. Our team has also been working tirelessly on integrating cutting-edge technologies, including advanced data analytics and AI capabilities, to provide deeper insights and predictive models that empower our clients with strategic decision-making tools.”

Progress in partnerships 

After refining the business strategy, Belousov believes that the next step is partnering up for success.

“Each new partnership serves as a source of insights for further development and enhancement of our platforms,” he says. “As a provider with focus on personalised approach, we take clients’ feedback very seriously and approach it as an invaluable tool for mapping out our production plans and fine-tuning of the platform.”

Proven successes in igaming

GR8 Tech may be in its infancy but already it can point to more than 15 successful business cases worldwide. From North America to Asia, the platform is proving an invaluable asset to operators. 

And the company has the data to prove it, as Belousov explains. “By leveraging GR8 Tech’s robust platform, one of our clients achieved a 35% increase in user engagement within the first six months post-integration. Furthermore, their operational efficiency improved significantly, with a 50% reduction in downtime due to the reliability and scalability of our solutions.

“Our analytics and personalisation tools empowered them to tailor their offerings, resulting in a 20% uplift in customer retention. Additionally, we facilitated their expansion into two new geographic markets, which yielded a substantial 25% growth in their overall revenue.”

The numbers speak volumes, but it’s the behind-the-scenes dedication to providing a seamless service and the continuous product improvement that truly underpins these successes. Belousov believes that this success is down to a personalised approach. “Our approach has always been to work closely with our clients to understand and anticipate their needs, enabling them not just to reach but exceed their ambitious goals.”

New markets: New safer gambling measures

Expansion and new partnerships feature highly on GR8 Tech’s list of goals, and according to Belousov, emerging markets are at the forefront of its 2024 strategy. “We are gearing up to offer our platform in new LatAm and African markets, exploring new opportunities for growth, learning, and innovation. And, of course, winning new clients is an important part of our plans.”

In addition to a fully-fledged product portfolio, the team at GR8 Tech aren’t skimping on new developments having further fortified their commitment to security and reliability with a batch of fresh certifications. “We’ve updated our compliance status with the new PCI DSS version 4.0, ensuring that our financial data handling is at the industry’s cutting edge,” Belousov explains. “Moreover, obtaining the ISO 27001:2022 certification reflects our proactive approach to information security management, cementing our position as a trusted partner in the igaming sphere.”

Onwards and upwards: What’s next for GR8 Tech?

Belousov says GR8 Tech is shifting its focus to building out on 2023’s successes with the company’s new GR8 Sportsbook iFrame being a good place to start. He is understandably enthusiastic about the prospects for this – and for next year in general.

“Looking ahead, GR8 Tech is on an ambitious trajectory for 2024. Right about now we are launching a new iFrame product for our high-performance sportsbook platform, which allows super quick sportsbook launches – in about a week’s time.

“GR8 Sportsbook iFrame will be closely followed by another sportsbook feature that will provide much more fun experience for the players and increased operators’ profits. That’s just the closest thing that we plan to launch by the end of this year.

“We have our portfolio, we are adding new products to it to cater to even more diverse groups of operators and their varied needs, and we have a clear focus on further growth. It’s going to be an exciting year!”

“Keep an eye out for us at ICE London 2024, where we will come equipped with more exciting updates about a truly gr8 year in the igaming industry.”