Q2 2023 saw us undertake an 8 week engagement to conduct a technical audit for an international Tier 1 sports betting and online casino client. With a new senior leadership team including newly appointed CEO and CFO, there was a need to gain an in-depth understanding of how their technology, people and processes could be optimised. 

The value of a technical audit is in ensuring that the technology capabilities of the business are able to support the business strategy and goals. Therefore, a successful technical strategy relies on a well-defined business strategy. In this case, the client had a clear vision for their future and just needed to understand how best to achieve their objectives.

Some of the businesses that we work with have their business strategy securely in hand, for others it’s been on their to-do list for a while. For those that would benefit from further support in this area, we strongly recommend partnering with our sister company, business design consultancy, Rokker.

If you are considering utilising technical consultancy, we suggest that you make available:

• An overview of the organisation structure with a focus on key technology; software development, project / product management and infrastructure / operations personnel 
• Subject matter experts.
• Contact details for key business priority stakeholders 
• Timelines, key dates and dependencies for both upcoming and ongoing priority project(s) set to deliver on key business goals..
• Top level documentation on ways of working, technical processes and architecture
• The business strategy regarding markets, products, customer acquisition and retention of users
• A list of concerns, known constraints, risks and dependencies.

In order to undertake a successful technical audit, it’s essential for trust and transparency to be present. Communication is key to ensuring that the client team understands the purpose of the audit. It’s also imperative that they understand their value as a source of insight and information and feel valued in the process.

We’re often asked how long a technical audit should take. This largely depends on the complexity of the organisation, the scope of the review, the availability of information, the issues faced and the level of detail required.  In general our process is conducted over a 2-8 week period.

By way of example, we delivered a 3 week technical due diligence report on behalf of a company looking to acquire an iGaming technology business. The process involved conducting interviews with key management at the acquisition target and reviewing documentation provided through a Virtual Data Room.  The report included:

• An overall assessment of the technology including strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities.
• Review of the software, solution architecture, infrastructure, processes, team capabilities, security and scalability.
• Comparison to industry best practices

Another example was a project of significant scale for an international Operator where we spent 8 weeks, including time in each of their international offices to:

• Interview key business stakeholders, subject matter experts, tech management and the development and operational teams.
• Review existing technical documentation including the overall architecture and strategy.
• Review the key projects and priorities to understand their status, risks, issues and dependencies.
• Observe the current ways of working, team effectiveness and culture.
• Review standards and consistency across processes.

Our work with this client enabled us to provide:

• A holistic and prioritised list of key recommendations across people, process and technology.
• An impact analysis.
• Suggested roadmap of requirements.
  

All of which were summarised in a report alongside a proposal for a transformational change programme to support their strategic goals. 

Pretty Technical provides a strategic and transformational service to our clients and are proud to have gained a reputation as a trusted partner. If you need independent insight into the challenges and opportunities your technology, data, processes and people present, then our technical consultancy service might prove useful. Simply email [email protected] to chat to one of our team about how we might be able to help.