While we aim to bring you all the exciting news around the iGaming industry in Central and Eastern Europe, we have run across a company that is based in the Balkans and has made quite an impact in the region. We have met them at the Balkan Entertainment & Gaming Exhibition, Sofia, Bulgaria in the autumn of 2015 and was surprised to see them at ICE Totally Gaming, London this year with an even larger brand impact. So, we have chased them down and managed to get an interview in regards to latest developments and their plan to sponsor the Belgrade Future Gaming Fair. The interview is conducted with Amir Obralić – Marketing Manager at NSoft, who came to the Company in August 2015 and has areas of interest that include branding, digital and online marketing with focus on social media and video platforms. He is the main man working on incorporating professional passion into NSoft’s marketing strategy.

EEG: Since we have met you guys in Sofia, NSoft has come a long way and has certainly achieved some great set goal. Does being the sponsor of a Gaming event mean an achieved goal for you and your company?

Amir: November 2015 was not that long ago, but as you said, NSoft came a long way since then. We had amazing ICE 2016, where we unveiled our SEVEN Platform, Virtual Greyhound Races, Virtual Horse Races, new draw based game Lucky X, new visualization of our most famous game Lucky Six, as well as Live and Pre-Match betting solutions. New products, 30 people, and the biggest stand ever – all of that contributed to doubling the business opportunities compared to ICE 2015.

Success at ICE was the extra motive to work even harder. We made projections of what the future holds, and realized we need 100 additional people by the end of 2016, so a big employment campaign is underway. Considering all of this, new ways of promotion are also necessary to support this growth and spread the word about it.

Hence, NSoft decided to become the sponsor of Belgrade Future Gaming. This is the first Gaming event we are sponsoring, and from the very beginning we wanted to be an official sponsor, who we are now, meaning one of the goals is achieved. Belgrade is in our neighborhood, and we have very good relationship with the event organizers, for years. If we wanted to become the sponsor, this was the place to start. There are many options, many challenges in front of us. We are growing rapidly and will continue to work our way further up from this point on. Sponsorship is just one step forward.

EEG: I think the planning is on its way for a while now, how are you guys coping with the schedule of taking the whole team and setting up your stand in a neighboring country? Probably easier then heading to ICE Totally Gaming 🙂

Amir: Well, visiting the expos and showcasing the products has been and still is one of our most important strategies. We are pretty experienced when it comes to organizing the trips to the events. ICE Totally Gaming is always logistical challenge, and Belgrade is always the easiest trip to organize.

It is 5-6 hours drive from Mostar, the same language is spoken, the mentality, the customs, the behavior, everything is the same. Having that in mind, the trip is much easier to organize comparing to more distant European destinations, or even Asia, Africa or South America.

This year it is even easier because everything will be exactly the same as it was at ICE 2016. The stand is the same size, same products will be showcased, less people is going, it will be easier for Test Department to make sure everything is working flawlessly. Belgrade on its own will be easy to organize, but there is also one more expo being held more or less at the same time – Sports Betting East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Our sales representatives will be there together with Betradar.

That means NSoft will be present at two different expos at the same time. It is a bit harder to organize, and a bit harder in terms of marketing to cover it and communicate with media about it, but we are ready as always.

EEG: Even from the beginnings, the NSoft stand looked awesome, and has grown a lot in just 6 months, what are the visitors supposed to look forward when visiting your stand at the event?

Amir: We always try to prepare something special for the ICE, something greater than usual. This year we had a big stand and big mirrored number seven symbolizing the name of our platform – SEVEN. Everything was in blue and white, our brand colors. Lucky X, new draw based game was presented on large 4K screen, our web solution could be tried on mobile devices, visitors could see new virtual games and much more. We do not pay such attention to other events, but we are making an exception this year, and we are going to Belgrade with full power.

Everything will be exactly the same as it was during the ICE Totally Gaming show 2016, and even better. How could it be better you might ask. Well, we are developing new things and improving ‘old’ ones. In this case, old can mean three months ago. New features are constantly added to both the games and platform.

EEG: To bring a better perspective about what NSoft really is like a brand, would you be kind in sharing some aspects of what your daily routine is at the office and how are you guys having fun while working at the head quarter? We have seen a demo video of the company and we can certainly say that we are amazed….

 

Amir: I would rather tell you a word or two about the Company’s culture in general, than speaking only of my work day in particular. First of all, we have fully flexible work time, meaning we have no work time at all. Most of the employees (except for departments like Support or Administration) can come to work whenever they want to and work as long as they want to. The only metric is to finish the tasks within the deadlines. Internal research conducted, actually showed higher productivity but lower amount of work time on average. That is excellent, because employees work when they can contribute the most, and they make pause when they need it. It is great balance which makes everyone happy.

No work time means no pre-set number of days off, meaning you can have 20 days off in one year, and next year you can have 35 days off if you wish to have more rest. Again, the only metric is job done. The video you mentioned was used to grab the attention of potential employees back in 2014/2015 and it worked perfectly. Nothing is fake in that video. We do have all those activities indeed.

Once a month we have a ‘work’ Saturday. Why quotation marks? Well, two hours are dedicated for the Monthly Meeting where all employees gather and listen to the presentation by Top Management about previous month’s results, as well as future plans and expectations. After that, it’s fun time! We have team building activities like the ones that could be seen in the video.

There are no offices or cubicles in NSoft, it is open space. Tables are grouped per departments or teams working on certain projects: Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, Top Management, Administration, Support, Test Department, Finances, Graphic Design, 3D Design, Project Management, Operations, Maintenance, and the biggest of all – Development which has multiple subgroups. Within that open space, there is different playing equipment – billiard, table tennis, foosball, darts, pinball etc. However, unwritten rule says no one should use these devices until 4 p.m. to avoid disturbing colleagues working, and everybody respects that.

Work ethics is very high in NSoft and employees are very dedicated to deliver the best possible results, and you could see that visiting our stand for a few times and witnessing we are moving forward rapidly, and all of that thanks to very professional and hardworking people. Of course, there are times when the rest is needed in the middle of the day. Well, we have our own café where employees can drink, smoke a cigarette, play games on Xbox, Play Station, Nintendo Wii, or any other popular console, play board games like chess or backgammon, play card games, have a snack or just sit and have relaxing conversation with other colleagues.

Trust me when I say this is just 10% of what is happening at NSoft. If you could spend 10 days with us, it wouldn’t be enough to experience everything, to see the product development process, to try all non-work activities and much more. You should be there for a few months, and one interview wouldn’t be enough. A book should be written of it. But, one thing is certain – you could immediately feel the atmosphere of happiness generated by people who love their work and put their hearts and effort into it every day, and who enjoy working with each other.

EEG: What do you expect to achieve by attending the event and why should companies involved in the iGaming suppliers industry attend the event?

Amir: This is the most popular event in the Balkans. Everything is combined here, from software suppliers, slot machine manufacturers, casino games suppliers, platform developers, virtual games and sportsbook developers to betting and gambling providers. Everyone involved in the industry attending the event can benefit from it – make new business relationships, find potential customers or partners, see the newest solutions and compare its own efforts with competition.

We have pretty much covered the whole region where we are leading software supplier, and we just want to further strengthen our position, to show novelties from ICE and even new product improvements since ICE. Sponsorship of this event is ours, and we have a lot of media as our special guests. Raising brand awareness and spreading the word about our products are the main goals, and equally important is to meet our current partners and potential ones, and try to acquire new business deals.

Belgrade Future Gaming is our long term partner, and our presence there, as well as the presence of media guests should also help this event grow and become more popular even outside Southeastern Europe boundaries.

EEG: The trade fair has gathered the leading global manufacturers of products and platforms within the gaming industry and claimed the very top, as the highest quality manifestation and most visited event of this kind in Southeastern Europe. I see that there are a total of 34 exhibitors, 95% of the from region, it’s a hard market, but I think NSoft has an advantage with the c. Could you fill us in on the details on why should operators look towards your brand at the fair?

Amir: You are correct, the market is hard. However, as stated previously, we are the leading software supplier in the region, and the quality of our products, customer care, and amazing workforce are already an advantage. SEVEN Platform is there to help keep the leading position and help us enter new markets in Eastern Europe, Africa and South America.

SEVEN Platform is a single cloud based solution able to offer all the tools for betting products to make them available on all major distribution channels – from retail and terminal to web and mobile, and offer betting operators all the tools to manage every segment of their operation, from locations, terminals, users, payments, settings, reports, etc.

Everyone is more than welcome to see and try our Sportsbook solution that has been polished and it looks better than ever before, and, oh man, there are virtual games, created incorporating dynamic weather and time of day features which are astonishing. If it’s raining outside, and it’s night, the race will also be during night time and rainy weather – it is adjusting to local conditions. Not to mention the level of details on jockeys, horses, dogs, tracks – something incredible.

Our most popular game Lucky Six has new visualization. We developed brand new draw based game Lucky X which will be presented on large 4K screen. There are other virtuals like World Numbers Service developed in collaboration with our partner Betradar, and also Betradar’s games Virtual Tennis Open and Virtual Football League – there is something for everyone. Operators will be able to see why our products are so wanted on the market and why they bring success to us and our partners.

I don’t remember, the last time we have met, if you had the chance to try out virtual reality seen through the Oculus. Anyway, it is so much fun that there is no reason for anyone not to try it.

All of novelties have been introduced during the ICE 2016, resulting in doubling the amount of business opportunities compared to ICE 2015, and making room for 100 additional vacancies and further development and growth of the Company. We want visitors in Belgrade to experience everything as our visitors in London had the chance to experience, and even better with latest improvements.

EEG: As a closing question, what other conferences are you guys going to attend this year, since we are almost at the half of 2016?

Amir: ICE 2016 was the turning point for our upcoming attendances to expos and conferences. First of all, sales departments of Betradar and NSoft merged, meaning our sales team is able to offer their products, as well as Betradar’s team is able to offer our SEVEN Platform, Virtual games and Sportsbook.

This merger also means visiting certain events together with Betradar, on their stand, and going to certain events with our own stand and equipment. This month is very busy for us. Our largest stand ever goes to Belgrade. More or less, at the same time, our sales representatives are travelling with Betradar to Sports Betting East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Soon after that, we are travelling with Betradar to iGaming Supershow in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Basically, we are covering three different events on two different continents in a period of 20 days.

This interview came a little too soon to give you definite answer for the rest of the year, but here are a few pointers. We are definitely going with our own stand to Entertainment Arena Expo in Bucharest, Romania, and will probably visit, also with our stand, EiG in Berlin, Germany and BEGE in Sofia, Bulgaria. Gaming Show in Lima, Peru; Sports Betting West Africa in Accra, Ghana; Big Africa Summit in Cape Town, South Africa – these expos are covering interesting markets for us, and there is a good chance our representatives will be there together with Betradar, but nothing is yet certain.

Market is changing very fast, and we are developing new products very fast. That taken into consideration with some other factors prevents us from making long term plans, and we rather do it bi-annually. Since we are going to make final decision for the second half of the year within 20 or so days, let me play safe and say that everything here said about NSoft’s presence at expos in the second half of 2016 is subject to change.

Keep a close eye on our website, profiles on social networks and press releases through different media, especially here at EEG, one of our most important partners, and we will inform you on time about upcoming events we are going to visit, and of course, about our new products and business deals. And thank you for such a lovely conversation and opportunity to give you some insight about NSoft.

 

You can reach Amir for more NSoft related questions on the following contacts:

E-mail: [email protected]

www.nsoft.com