An HR solution you can bet onAffinity’s integrated HRIS solution.

SPORTSBET.COM.AUCustomer 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.

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.

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

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.

affinityteam.com Australia: 1800 778 326

info@affinityteam.com New Zealand: 0800 729 633

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.”

As previously mentioned, Affinity’s one-step-ahead technology was another drawcard.

“You get the sense that Affinity has a real vision for where their products are heading,” says Kristy.

“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.”

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.

“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-the-shelf, 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.

“That manual back-end work has been greatly reduced,” says Kristy.

“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.”

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.”

The Affinity solution is also helping the finance team to process the general ledger, streamlining things by an estimated 50%.

Another key benefit is the ability to track labour costs in real-time.

“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.”

POSITIVE USER FEEDBACK

So, how has Affinity been received by Sportsbet’s tech-savvy team?

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. ”

“

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.

“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.”

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

Kristy recalls that the implementation of Affinity was a smooth, well-managed process.

“Our Affinity consultant, Sam, was amazing. We had great support for the implementation, which was really reassuring for our go-live date.”

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.”

affinityteam.com Australia: 1800 778 326

info@affinityteam.com New Zealand: 0800 729 633