G2E: ACS’s flagship platforms, PIE, and HostXP impact gaming

Saturday, October 19, 2024 4:51 PM
  • United States
  • Buck Wargo, CDC Gaming

Advanced Casino Solutions (ACS), which touts itself as standing at the forefront as the premier provider of intelligent marketing and customer engagement tailored exclusively for the gaming industry, is showcasing its flagship Precision Insights & Engagement (PIE) platform and HostXP at G2E. These platforms are designed to reach players in ways like never before.

Scott Stokes, founder of ACS, said the platforms have revolutionized how casino-resorts can piinpoint the individuals they want to engage them. “It’s truly end-to-end digital marketing that has changed the game by enabling the identification of demographic and psychographic attributes, as well as real-world behaviors of casino goers.”

In June, ACS released a powerful market-analysis update that provided unparalleled insight into market performance by geography and region, all the way down to the zip-code level.

“It helps to understand market penetration, revealing whether a partner casino is overserved or underserved in specific areas and identifying strategies to capture more market share,” Stokes said. “PIE has transformed the landscape of analytics, not only enabling detailed audience analysis, but also facilitating direct engagement through digital-marketing, email, SMS, and direct-mail campaigns.”

Tyler Bain, ACS’s Chief Operating Officer, said that they were at a conference recently and PIE was the talk of the day. The positive feedback has been tremendous.

Stokes, an outsider when he came into the industry five years ago from Silicon Valley, was looking for opportunities. He saw a deficiency in the ability of player-development teams to perform both sales and customer- service functions.

“What differentiates the HostXP platform is that we integrate with APIs,” Stokes said. “I’m not talking about replicated data or read-only databases, but we integrate directly with CMS platforms, so the things that occur are in real time. We can show a host where someone has carded in and how much they’ve coined into the machine. It’s really important information to be able to engage with those patrons, as well as see their prospects on the floor. It gives hosts the ability to perform sales and service functions.”

Stokes noted that what’s unique about the HostXP is both full desktop or web applications. It’s also available on the Apple and Google app stores for mobile devices.

“We’ve created full functionality of everything hosts can do at their desk, so they can leave and be on the go,” Bain said. “I might run into one of my hosted players on the floor who may need assistance, whether it’s receiving an invitation to an event or incentives to enhance their play. I can take care of all those things from my mobile phone or tablet in terms of issuing a comp or booking a reservation at the hotel.

“All the way from junior hosts and the rewards clubs to executive-level hosts can meet new patrons if they don’t have a rewards card, sign them up from a tablet or their device, and pick the card up from the club. We can provide comps for our players, book reservations, and find out which of our players from an operational and support perspective are live and on the floor, so we know who to go see, greet, and take care of during their stay with us.”

Bain said it shows how hosts are doing their jobs and is a testament to the platform.

ACS is a group of Silicon Valley’s best software developers and engineers around the world, Stokes said, adding that their technology integrates fully with any technology they develop solutions for. They’re not talking to replicated databases, but directly to API from the CMS system. That empowers a faster-performing solution with real-time results on what’s happening live on the floor. “There’s also a lot fewer potential points of failure for operators.”

Bain added that they “have world-class Silicon Valley people working with world-class operators to solve problems.”

ACS enables partners to set criteria for prospect players and with real-time data gathered via API integration, it qualifies unprospected players. It enables host, management, and player development teams to not only see what play has occurred historically, but on the floor in real time.

“If I’m looking to allocate assignments of players to hosts or able to as a host capture and grab players in real time, I can see the players that are on the floor that meet our minimum criteria, whether hosted or not,” Stokes said. “We get unrated play too, in terms of large cash buy-ins, betting patterns, and worth. We tell them which slot machine or table game that individual is at, so they can go and greet them, prospect them, and start to cultivate a relationship with those guests.”

It’s also perfect for end-of-day or next-day analysis by management, Bain added.

Stokes’s favorite saying from customers who use the system is “they can’t live without it.” Once they onboard their partners, they get so ingrained in the features and functionalities that their guests and their patrons can’t live without it.

As software developers and engineers, Stokes said they are constantly pushing the envelope on what they’re capable of and seeing what deficiencies there are in the industry.

“We’re always optimizing and pushing the envelope in what we can develop and how we can further integrate and how we can gain better efficiencies. One of the easiest ways to do that is listening to our partners, getting their feedback, and knowing and understanding things like the analytical insights. We looked at the most-used features through our logs and we see where more clicks occur and where people are using certain features the most. We make sure we’re always pushing the envelope to improve upon those features and make them better, quicker, and more powerful.”

Stokes has seen that, lost in software development in the industry, are three principles that guide development teams.

“It needs to be simple, intuitive, and powerful. We encapsulate those things in everything we do and push the envelope where we can take it.”

As for casinos looking to implement HostXP in terms of what the integration process typically involves and how ACS supports its clients through this transition, Stokes said they standardize and automate all their deployments. The onboarding process is minimal once they have access to the system they integrate with.

How does HostXP exemplify ACS’s mission as encapsulated in the tagline, “Igniting Success, Powered by Innovation”?

Stokes said it’s powered by innovation, because they’re constantly looking at how they create being fast, intuitive, and powerful. They’re always innovating and creating new opportunities for customers in how they optimize and operate to maximize revenue.

“Ultimately, it’s about enhancing profitability and guest experience, which ACS achieves through innovation. The platform’s success lies in its simplicity and powerful functionality, requiring minimal training for users ranging from junior to executive hosts, enabling them to effectively engage with guests anytime, anywhere.”

ACS continues to bring frequent innovative updates to their products and partners are excited to see them at G2E, in addition to those who want to be partners, Bain said.

“With the PIE platform and other products in our portfolio, we’re now global,” Stokes said. “We’re servicing some of the largest travel and hospitality corporations in the world on multiple continents. We’re not just in the United States and North America but across the globe now. We have real reach.”