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TECH AND INNOVATION
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO SLIM , DATA-BASED CRM
Golden Whale co-founder and chief operating officer Claudia Heiling talks all things technology as she pinpoints new areas for innovation
T he igaming industry has always been one driven by innovation . From the rapid shift towards the online space to the incorporation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence ( AI ), we have continued to embrace new ways of elevating the overall experience for players .
Advances in technology are trends that need to be kept up with ; fall behind and you risk your players flocking to a competitor who has a newer , shinier product offering . Not only can technology help you provide your customers with the best-inclass products , but it can also play a significant role in retaining your players . Let me explain .
To give you a bit of background , I am the co-founder and COO of Golden Whale , a company delivering machine learning infrastructure and services to gaming companies . We are focused on solving some of the most expensive problems our industry has when it comes to customer retention .
How did I come to work in the igaming industry , you ask ? This was a combination of early interest in PC games – nobody beats me at Tetris ! – and luck .
Right after university , I started working at Greentube . I took every opportunity to grow my responsibilities in parallel to the company ’ s growth , being instrumental in multiple successful market entries of games and portals in both B2C and B2B .
I went on to work in other industries too , but missed the vibe of igaming , which led to me founding Golden Whale together with my favourite colleagues from the past .
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Starting a business had always been in the back of my mind , but it all comes down to timing . Building a new company from scratch needs to fit the market situation . Always being very data-driven in the past , we knew the timing was right to enable machine learning for gaming when the development of algorithms into very useful , applied scenarios picked up a few years ago .
There ’ s so much to focus on besides the product-market fit . Firstly , be of value to your customers : whether you ’ re providing a B2B service or a B2C offering , always put the customer in the centre of what you ’ re doing . We ’ re openly discussing our ROI with our B2B partners , which has been a win-win situation for all parties involved .
Additionally , build your business around something you ’ re enthusiastic about . Scaling new technology in a data-driven environment like gaming has
12 • ISSUE 136 • iGB L ! VE 2024