SPORTSBET.COM.AU

SPORTSBET.COM.AU
Customer Information: sportsbet.com.au I Industry: Online Bookmaker I Implemented: 2013
Overview: With tech-savvy team members located throughout Australia, sportsbet.com.au was looking for an HRIS solution
that’s innovative, intuitive and provide the same high quality experience to its team that it delivers to its customers.
An HR solution you
can bet on
Affinity’s integrated HRIS solution.
Established in 1993, Sportsbet.com.au is
Australia’s first licensed bookmaker and
leading internet betting website.
In 2009, one of the UK’s largest online
gaming companies, Paddy Power, invested in
sportsbet.com.au, acquiring a percentage of
the company. In 2011 they became the sole
owner of the business.
The company has undergone rapid growth –
doubling its staff numbers to 550 within two
and a half years. Kristy Lane, HR Systems
and Analytics Manager, has been part of
the business’ evolution over the past
three years.
“The biggest challenge for HR has been
scaling the business, and our support
functions, to manage that growth.”
The 13-strong HR team supports team
members across three locations in Australia.
The company’s main office is in Melbourne,
with a team of 20 based in Sydney. There
is also a call centre in Darwin, which
employs around 50 people to take
incoming phone bets.
HIGHLIGHTS
• dramatic reduction in manual
transactions – manual timesheet
transactions have reduced
by 70%
• lower internal payroll costs –
Sportsbet has reduced the internal
payroll processing time by
around 40%
• real visibility on labour costs
– easy-to-extract data helps
Sportsbet to manage their
people costs
• mobile & browser-agnostic –
team members can access their
information from any device
• seamless interface with existing
systems – Affinity’s system
integrates with Sportsbet’s
existing programmes
• a secure Cloud-based solution –
provides Sportsbet with peace of
mind around business continuity
BACKGROUND
Sportsbet.com.au has undergone strong growth in the past few years, doubling team member numbers and opening a new office in Sydney.
In 2013, they chose Affinity as their new tech-savvy partner to streamline payroll and other HR functions for their 550 employees.
affinityteam.com
Australia: 1800 778 326
[email protected]
New Zealand: 0800 729 633
“
I think the biggest benefit was that Affinity offered a single source
of truth. Their technology can capture not only standard payroll data,
but everything related to our people.
SMART TECHNOLOGY IS KEY
Sportsbet had one fundamental requirement
when it came to choosing a new HRIS system
– it had to fit with the company-wide culture of
smart technology.
“We pride ourselves on being a company
at the forefront of technology. If we’d
delivered an HRIS that was clunky and dated,
it just wouldn’t have delivered to our teams’
expectations. It had to be mobile, optimised for
all devices, and a leading-edge product.”
One of the key differentiators that made
Affinity attractive was the fact its technology is
browser-agnostic.
“Our people are used to accessing information
from different devices, so our HR system needs
to offer that. If they couldn’t log on to apply for
leave from their mobile or tablet, the system
would probably just fall by the wayside.”
A NATURAL CHOICE
Kristy first came across the Affinity name via
The Association for Payroll Specialists’ website.
The project was put out for tender, and a
shortlist of three chosen.
Affinity was the stand-out for a number of
reasons, says Kristy.
“I think the biggest benefit was that Affinity
offered a single source of truth. Their
technology can capture not only standard
payroll data, but everything related to
our people.”
”
“Unless your company is willing to take several
years determining requirements and creating
a bespoke solution, it can be hard to find a
product that does everything you want. Affinity
can fill that gap – by providing a system that
integrates with everything else.”
IMMEDIATE IMPROVEMENTS
Prior to adopting Affinity, Sportsbet.com.au
was using an off-the-shelf HRIS system, which
they had outgrown.
“It was only accessible via Internet Explorer on
desktops. Because the product was off-theshelf, there was lots of manual effort and the
reporting capability was very limited; there was
a lot of rework required to deliver reports in the
format the business wanted and could use to
make decisions.”
Although Affinity has only been live at
Sportsbet for six months, the benefits are
already obvious.
From HR’s perspective, reporting data is now
far more accurate and easier to extract.
“Our information used to be held on separate
spreadsheets, which resulted in version
control issues. Now we can input the data
in our preferred format, and extract it in a
single report.”
At line manager level, managers are also using
self-generated reports to give them greater
visibility over their teams.
Sportsbet has recently rolled out Affinity’s
Clever Forms, a new workflow tool designed to
eliminate paperwork throughout the employee
life cycle. Kristy says the “early adopters” have
already given positive feedback.
RESPONSIVE SERVICE
“That manual back-end work has been greatly
reduced,” says Kristy.
Kristy recalls that the implementation of
Affinity was a smooth, well-managed process.
“For instance, we’ve already saved 17 days per
annum in setting up new starters. It used to take
us 30 minutes each time. Now, with Affinity’s
automated data integration, it is literally a
five-minute check and data validation.”
“Our Affinity consultant, Sam, was amazing.
We had great support for the implementation,
which was really reassuring for our go-live date.”
The processing time for fortnightly pay, which
used to take a whole day, is now cut in half.
“We’ve reduced it to 4-5 hours, and we can
see it will get even quicker over time.”
As previously mentioned, Affinity’s one-stepahead technology was another drawcard.
The Affinity solution is also helping the
finance team to process the general ledger,
streamlining things by an estimated 50%.
“You get the sense that Affinity has a real
vision for where their products are heading,”
says Kristy.
Another key benefit is the ability to track labour
costs in real-time.
“They also showed a true understanding of
the pain points for our HR team. We felt they
really understood our issues, and could offer
a solution.”
“Because our business is growing so rapidly,
a real challenge is tracking our headcount
against budget. It used to take several days.
We can see Affinity will save us an immense
amount of time each quarter.”
Another benefit was the seamless integration
with Sportsbet’s existing IT systems. Affinity
designed an interface with their finance
system, and another third party recruitment
and onboarding system.
“Everyone agrees that Affinity’s interface is
far more intuitive than the previous system.
The fact that it’s browser-agnostic is a huge hit.”
POSITIVE USER FEEDBACK
So, how has Affinity been received by
Sportsbet’s tech-savvy team?
Affinity single source system is designed to organise employee information.
Their software provides your people with complete information in the formats
required at the right time to make the right decisions.
affinityteam.com
Australia: 1800 778 326
[email protected]
New Zealand: 0800 729 633
Nor have there been any outages or major
issues since.
“Most of our interaction is now with the
helpdesk. We’ve got to know the Affinity people
we’re talking to – it’s a very personal service.
Kristy says Sportsbet and Affinity share
a similar mindset. They both like to push
technology boundaries, to further enhance the
functionality of the system and create a great
user experience.
“There’s continuous development happening
at Affinity…there’ve already been several
enhancements since we went live six
months ago.”
“There’s a definite feeling that we all have the
same objective. We’ve got lots of ideas and
requests, and everyone at Affinity is really open
to that. If we had gone with one of the other
providers, we probably wouldn’t be getting
that kind of shared innovation.”