The Tote, one of the UK's largest bookmakers, is reaping
the benefits of a new database analysis tool it installed in
May.
The Alterian Marketing Suite has enabled faster delivery of
management information to senior personnel and is expected to pay
for itself many times over within the first year, said Bob
Broadbridge, IT director at the Tote.
"We are already getting fast results for our key performance
indicators and have been able to reduce fraud and errors," he
said.
With some betting shops operating at twice the margin of others,
the Tote needed shop-by-shop and bet-by-bet analysis to improve its
performance. The Alterian database engine is used to aggregate
betting data from 542 UK shops overnight, prior to enabling
in-depth data analysis and reporting. These reports help managers
steer shops towards higher-margin betting.
The database engine performs a daily data aggregation on
approximately 10,000 SQL Server files overnight from 1,400 tills to
append the Tote's datawarehouse, which is then used for financial
reporting by its IT and finance departments.
The Tote had to alter the way electronic point of sale data was
uploaded onto its database to offer data by each bet, rather than
by each betting slip.
"To take full advantage of major sporting events such as the
World Cup or Royal Ascot, managers and the senior retail team need
to be able to see how shops are performing on a daily basis," said
Broadbridge.
"Two days into the World Cup, for example, management was able
to identify which factors were generating the highest returns in
which shops and improve in-store promotions and activities at
weaker-performing locations."
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