As competition intensifies in the iGaming industry so do players’ expectations. Nowadays, a platform’s user experience must be excellent.
A lot goes on behind the scenes to make this happen and standardized iGaming supplier performance and benchmarking audits can give you a huge edge.
This article explores how TESTA helps iGaming operators improve their supplier audits and highlights how they reduce business risks and improve UX.
TESTA's supplier audit steps
In the iGaming industry, traditional audit methods struggle to keep up with emerging trends. To address this, industry leaders are turning to crowdtesting for supplier audits. Crowdtesting leverages diverse testers worldwide to provide comprehensive coverage in real-world scenarios, enhancing adaptability and mitigating risks.
Via the Qrowd, TESTA’s community of iGaming focused QA testers, iGaming operators can expect a thorough supplier audit involving 5 steps:
Supplier scenarios for each step
Crowdtesting delivers real-world insights for suppliers and can expose nuances that traditional audit methods may overlook.
To give you an idea of how it can play out here is a handful scenarios TESTA has encountered at each step of supplier audit.
Step 1, objective alignment and tester selection:
Your TESTA Qrowd SDM (Service Deliver Manager) helps you define clear audit objectives, from broad quality assessment to pinpointing specific issues; then TESTA chooses a diverse group of crowd testers to represent various player experiences.
- Scenario: An iGaming platform plans to launch a new slot game in multiple countries. To ensure cultural relevance and familiarity with local gaming preferences, TESTA assigns testers from the targeted regions.
Step 2, scenario testing and usability analysis:
TESTA creates real-world gaming scenarios the product will face; concurrently, we assess the product’s usability, focusing on its intuitiveness and overall player experience.
- Scenario: The slot game is tested during a virtual festive season event to understand its performance; feedback about confusing bonus round instructions is collected, suggesting a need for clearer in-game guidance.
Step 3, performance and security examination:
Test cases measure stress on system resilience, especially during high traffic periods; at the same time, a security audit unearths potential vulnerabilities.
- Scenario: During simulated peak playtimes, slight game lags are noticed; separately, testers discover a loophole allowing premature access to bonus rounds, which is flagged for correction.
Step 4, feedback aggregation and prioritization:
The TESTA Qrowd SDM collects and categorizes feedback from testers, ranking them based on urgency and nature; The SDM then determines which feedback points need immediate attention.
- Scenario: Feedback reveals both major issues, like payment gateway failures, and minor ones, like graphic glitches. The payment issue is prioritized for an immediate fix.
Step 5, supplier communication and follow-up mechanism:
Your SDM will then relay the audit findings transparently to the supplier and operator, ensuring mutual understanding; Implement a system to monitor the rectification progress and potential retests.
- Scenario: Detailed feedback gets shared with the slot game supplier, emphasizing the payment issue’s urgency. A timeline is set for the fix, after which a retest is scheduled to confirm the resolution.
Working through a supplier audit with TESTA standardizes processes for iGaming Operators that are thorough and specific to iGaming. TESTA’s aim is to help suppliers and operators make across-the-board improvements via crowdtesting.
Why supplier audits matter
In the complex world of the iGaming industry, operators rely heavily on suppliers. That’s because the suppliers have the foundational tasks of providing excellent game software, reliable infrastructure, and other essential services that contribute to the overall gaming experience.
The relationship between suppliers and operators in iGaming
iGaming suppliers are the foundation of the iGaming world. They set the stage for operators to bring the gaming experience to life for the players. If suppliers make a mistake, it can have a domino effect, potentially endangering the entire iGaming ecosystem and causing significant financial setbacks for operators. So in order to get their money’s worth, operators should have the testing capability to benchmark key suppliers against the competition and each other.
The urgency of pinpointing risks
Every enterprise grapples with risks, but when we turn our attention to the iGaming sector, these risks take on a heightened importance due to the live, on-the-spot nature of the industry and the high stakes of player expectations.
Upholding supplier excellence
Suppliers must maintain the highest quality standards. This entails providing software that runs smoothly, sturdy infrastructure that can handle heavy traffic, and other services that meet the standard of dependability. Failing to meet these standards can disrupt gaming sessions or, even worse, put players at risk of security breaches.
Prioritizing superior UX for players
For an iGaming operator, success hinges on the satisfaction of its players. Hiccups in the gaming experience, be it due to technical glitches, game delays, or other issues, can swiftly erode player loyalty. It’s therefore in the best interest of operators to be rigorous in ensuring that their suppliers adhere to top-tier quality guidelines.
Supplier audits: mission critical
Audits play a crucial role in the gaming industry as they rigorously check the performance and reliability of suppliers. By doing so, audits ensure that there is alignment between suppliers and operators, resulting in the delivery of an unmatched gaming experience.
Regular and thorough audits are essential as they prevent blindsiding issues that could potentially disrupt the smooth functioning of the gaming operations. These audits also allow for preemptive addressing of any identified issues, ensuring that they are resolved before they become major problems.
Enhancing audits with crowdtesting
To further enhance the audit process, incorporating crowdtesting can bring in a fresh and comprehensive perspective. Crowdtesting involves leveraging insights from a diverse pool of testers, who can provide valuable feedback and identify any potential issues that may have been overlooked.
This holistic approach to auditing not only identifies any existing issues but also rectifies them before they escalate, thereby safeguarding the interests of both operators and players. By adopting this approach, operators can ensure that their gaming platforms are reliable, secure, and offer an exceptional gaming experience to their players.
How crowdtesting strengthens supplier communication
Open dialogue with suppliers is crucial for successful audit processes in the rapidly evolving iGaming industry. Crowdtesting helps identify anomalies and potential issues, emphasizing the need for prompt and clear communication with suppliers.
By fostering strong communication channels, operators can align objectives and collaboratively work towards quick resolutions. Supplier communication is further enhanced through the following methods:
- Real-time feedback: Crowdtesting allows for instant detection of issues across varied real-world scenarios. This prompts operators to quickly relay the information to suppliers, ensuring everyone is up-to-date.
- Diverse insights: The varied backgrounds and locations of crowdtesters provide a well-rounded perspective on the product. Conveying these multi-faceted insights to suppliers guarantees a holistic understanding of user experiences globally.
- Strengthened partnership: The continuous stream of data from crowdtesting fortifies the relationship between operators and suppliers. Keeping suppliers in the loop with the latest findings cultivates trust and mutual respect.
- Proactive approach: Not only does crowdtesting identify present issues, but it also helps in forecasting potential future challenges. Sharing these insights with suppliers allows for early innovation and adaptability, streamlining the entire process.
- Feedback loop: The collective feedback from crowdtesters can lead to innovative suggestions. Engaging suppliers in these discussions fosters a collaborative dialogue, opening doors for joint innovation and enhancement of the gaming experience.
Safeguarding quality in iGaming
In conclusion, the iGaming industry requires rigorous quality assurance methods to adapt to its dynamic nature. Supplier audits, specifically using innovative techniques like crowdtesting, are crucial for maintaining high quality standards. Proactive management of supplier risks and transparent communication channels ensure an excellent user experience, leading to sustained growth and success.
Integrating crowdtesting into supplier audits offers significant benefits, making it essential for iGaming operators. Crowdtesting provides a fresh perspective, utilizing diverse testers worldwide to identify potential issues that traditional audit methods may miss. This comprehensive approach guarantees thorough assessments and timely issue resolution, saving time and resources.
Embracing supplier audits powered by crowdtesting allows iGaming operators to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. This innovative approach helps operators uncover vulnerabilities, optimize gaming platforms, and deliver exceptional gaming experiences. By combining stringent supplier audits with crowdtesting, iGaming operators establish themselves as industry leaders, building trust and loyalty while driving growth and success.
Contact TESTA today and get a free initial report to start improving your supplier audits and enhancing the quality of your iGaming platform.
About the author
Rebecca CHEN
TESTA Marketing coordinator