CIO Martin Davies bet365 not interested in ‘fashionable technology’

In a recent interview with Computing.co.uk’s Sooraj Shah (21 Jan), bet365 Chief Information Officer Martin Davies stated that the company was not committed to adopting the latest ‘hot’ technologies.

Davies stated that although bet365 were technology driven, its operational knowledge and competence gave it the abilities to asses the latest corporate technology trends and their potential impacts on its business channels.

“One of the biggest problems with IT is that it is very fashion driven… we’re in a world now where we are getting a lot of flip-flopping from one thing to another. It’s almost like if Captain Kirk’s Enterprise gets shot by a torpedo and he just runs from one side of the bridge to another, because he’s following the latest trends” Davies told Computing.co.uk

Davies pointed out two corporate technology trends in particular which he feels are not appropriate to bet365 operations DevOps teams and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) schemes. With regards to DevOps teams, Davies believes that the operator is too heavily regulated for DevOps teams to work effectively in a highly controlled environment.

In regards to BYOD schemes which have become popular in other sectors, Davies states that the corporate technology trend is fraught with potential security risks making the schemes incompatible with igaming operations.

“BYOD says to me ‘bring your own security threat’ … I really can’t see the benefits of BYOD, if I’m honest.”

Davies further highlights that corporate security is a key concern for bet365 operations, as all digital companies are faced with the possibility of being hacked or hijacked. Davies stated that bet365 operates and tests all existing and new technologies to make sure the operator cannot be breached.

“There are people wanting to do bad things to companies so you have to be vigilant with what goes on in your business to ensure you don’t have potentially serious situations cropping up,” Davies says.

“If you compare a site like Reddit being hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army to Bet365 being hacked, there is a big difference because we deal with customers’ money on a daily basis, so the damages could be huge, and this is why security has to be at the forefront of everything all of the time,”