Tabcorp is on its way to becoming one of the biggest corporate users of Google’s open-source UI software development kit Flutter in Australia. The development toolkit is set to help the gambling company support its offerings in retail, online and mobile markets.
The gambling operator is currently engaged with the rebuilding of its TAB website, mobile application, and retail terminals, as it wants to implement a single codebase throughout its entire network of gambling services, instead of continuing to operate with a number of codebases, which include native iOS, Kotlin, and Java.
The company revealed it has assembled a massive 220 member project team of developers from Tabcorp and Accenture, while Google is also helping their efforts.
Ayten Ozenc, the General Manager of technology in the Wagering and Media business of Tabcorp, revealed for iTnews that the Australian gambling giant had joint goals of creating a single, smooth omnichannel experience for the operator’s customers, while the underlying technology is made less complex. Ms Ozenc further noted that Tabcorp is the first gambling company in Australia that is using the UI software development tool Flutter offered by Google to create a true omnichannel sense. She explained that Flutter will be what is seen by customers whenever they interact with Tabcorp.
So far, in the second half of the previous year, Tabcorp managed to effectively mix its already existing codebases, as it sought a way to meet its objectives for technical simplification and new customer experience.
Tabcorp Developer Team Working to Create Single and Smooth Omnicannel Customer Experience
Google’s UI software development kit was considered an attractive option by the Australian gambling giant partly because it was effectively a fresh start for the company’s development teams and provided the operator with the chance to stop using older technology decisions and designs.
As Ms Ozenc noted, the company found that if it continued with its already existing code base, the complexity was only building up throughout the years. She reminded that Tabcorp had a 10-year-old mobile app and everything about it, including the architecture and the codebase, made it feel outdated, especially considering how quickly technologies develop nowadays. Now, the Australian gambling giant is making an effort to move to next-generation technology and more modern ways of operation in order to keep its business in a far better position on the market.
The General Manager of technology for the Wagering and Media unit of the gambling operator also noted that the scrutiny on the product selection had been very tough, with various assessments on the way. Tabcorp considered and assessed large deployments of Google’s Flutter UI software development kit on a global scale, with companies such as eBay, Alibaba, BWM and Toyota, because everything about the project had involved the links between business and technology.
The redevelopment started in September 2021, with the project team expanding from 2 to 220 people within a month and a half. The Android and iOS betting applications of TAB were the first to receive the Flutter treatment. Ms Ozenc has noted that the progress on the applications had been pretty reasonable, with a launch planned to be made in the months to come. She also noted that the old and the new versions of the iOS and Android apps will coexist for a short period of time before Tabcorp moves over to the use of the new versions alone.
Currently, the Australian company’s member project team is working on the redevelopment of the retail and online (desktop) gambling services.
- Author
Olivia Cole
