Quick Custom Intelligence announced the latest upgrades to its platforms at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, where it also unveiled the latest in QR codes tied into a loyalty system, including the potential to do so with casino table games.
QCI Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Andrew Cardno said they’ve released Version 5.0 of their core platform, and host, marketing, and slot products and how they interact with one another.
The QCI Platform aligns player development, marketing, and gaming in what the company calls “powerful real-time operational tools developed for the gaming industry.” All QCI products are built on the QCI Platform, an on-premises-software or cloud-based technology that enables fully coordinated activities across a gaming enterprise.
“For us, this is a big statement about maturity, now that we’re operating in 3,000 locations and 55 resorts in North America,” Cardno said. “Critical things, like a full-phone integration on the back end, are included. If you click on a button, your phone system calls the mobile of a customer, with the host also getting it on their phone.”
On the slot side, Cardno said QCI has a new set of visuals of the floor to see multiple metrics and an in-time market-basket analysis tool.
“That helps with the critical question of how to arrange the floor,” Cardno said. “What bank do I put next to that bank and what bank do you recommend to make it work? Those questions are totally addressed with powerful algorithms in our Version 5.0. On the marketing side, it’s hyperscale. We have a marketing product that actually works and has an interface that is user-friendly and usable by a wide range of different properties. You set up your program and the algorithm will project how much money you’re going to make.”
QCI unveiled one innovation on the trade-show floor that won’t come to market unless there’s enough interest. The reaction at the show, however, was positive, Cardno said. QCI displayed a table-game felt with a QR code that’s tied into a loyalty system. If players scan the QR code, they begin their table-gaming rating without handing over a player card. The concept is already available for slot machines.
“It gives people options,” Cardno said. “It’s a disruptive and radical idea and I think table games are wide open for innovation.”
With table-game ratings, Cardno said, you take the theoretical win on the game, which is based on the average bet, and sum that up. Half of the theoretical win is rated. When you sum up the drop, the total revenue for the game – the theoretical win exceeds the drop – which is off by at least a factor of two. The marketing people say they then cut the incentives in half.
QCI is launching the same QR-code loyalty technology for hotel rooms and restaurants where players can accumulate points for their expenditures. Cardno said the technology is perfect for every touchpoint in a resort, from gaming floor, restaurants, rooms to valet and even the parking garage. Guests can scan their spots in the garage to remember where they parked and a host can receive notification that they’ve arrived.
“Every touchpoint can be personalized without having to build an integrated loyalty system,” Cardno said. “My dream is to have the entire resort with one program. The approach I’ve been taking for a decade or more is to wire together all these systems and make the player card work in every one of them.”
Cardno continued to highlight the importance of data for casinos. The valuation of a player database is about $1,000 per player. That means for the average casino, the customer database is worth $100 million to $200 million.
“Those are the valuations I’m reading about,” Cardno said. “That’s what I’m seeing on the street. That’s a real number. That means your biggest asset in your bricks-and-mortar casino is your data if it’s working for you. Because if the data isn’t working for you, you’re not getting the value. That’s what we’re about, unlocking the value and making the streams of data in your business come through to the point of action.”
Data looks at what has happened and helps decide strategy, whether it’s over three months, six months, or two years, Cardno said. It can answer questions, for example, about entering a deeper relationship with a new gaming-machine manufacturer, from which you have some newer games on the floor.
“It helps the question of whether I should spread my jackpots across a bigger area,” Cardno said. “What’s the yield of my hotel and how should I relate that to the gaming floor? They’re big questions about operating the business and reporting analysis of what people traditionally think about data. It’s important to get that right.”
QCI adds value in refining the data, Cardno said. It’s hard to get all that data right. Getting it into a form that is usable and reliable, and where all of the numbers are right, is a specialized job.
“We do that,” Cardno said. “On the surface, it feels easy, but all the little underlying details can trip you up.” Many departments and specialized areas within a casino organization need correct and consistent data, Cardno said.
“The slot and table-game teams are experts at their data set,” Cardno said. “It’s the same with the player-development and marketing teams. But each is in a silo, because of the complexity of managing all of that. What our platform does is work with all those different areas and make it work across everything – now you get a crossover. The slot people tell me what my high-value guests are doing. The marketing people can say what slots are driving this play and the player development people can say what games my players are at right now. It all works together and to do this, you have to create that cohesive set of correct underlying data, which is no small feat.”
