How cloud-managed devices accelerated global expansion

Launched in 2015 in Australia, PointsBet cut their teeth as a small online bookmaker before expanding to international markets.  

And, when Andrei Goutnik, Head of Technology Systems & Operations, first joined the company back in 2019 resources were limited. 

“The onboarding of new staff had always been a constant source of pain. New hires especially at the new offices in the US required a lot of back and forth in terms of allocating hardware and getting them set up for those new devices.”

Andrei was one of the first in-house IT staff and had to quickly implement the right solutions and processes to support the company's ongoing international expansion and increasing headcount. 

At the time, PointsBet did not have an in-house service desk, standard operating environment (SOE) or any visibility on employee devices.

“When we pushed into the US market, we were competing against some big players. The pace of growth coupled with the high-risk environment, and with different compliance issues in each jurisdiction, was an issue for us as we lacked the ability to keep pace and ensure it was a secure expansion.”

As PointsBet accelerated their growth within the online gambling industry and pushed into global markets, it became paramount that they needed a scalable solution for procuring, managing and maintaining a hyper-distributed device fleet.

By leveraging Devicie, PointsBet gained visibility and control on their entire fleet, the capacity to streamline app packaging and patching processes, and the power to onboard new end-user devices remotely.

Now an ASX-listed global online sports bookmaker, PointsBet employs over 1,500 staff across Australia, Canada, India, the Philippines, and the US. 

And, all devices are securely managed remotely by a small IT team in Australia.  

Managing end-user devices at scale through automation  

When Andrei first joined PointsBet, part of his function was to build the structure for scale and support the company’s transition from start-up through to medium-sized business and eventually global enterprise.  

With a tested and templated approach to configuring Intune at scale, Devicie helped PointsBet seamlessly transition from legacy management to Intune with minimal in-house resources. This provided PointsBet with an out-of-the-box solution that gave Andrei and his small team the ability to automate the rollout of new devices and manage applications at scale.

“It was transformational and after the company-wide rollout onboarding new employees and setting up their devices went from taking several days to just 30 minutes and their experience was improved dramatically.”

Enhanced visibility and security in a global environment 

PointsBet's expanding hyper-distributed workforce and increased end-user attack surface dramatically reshaped their threat landscape.  

To ensure devices and data remained secure and compliant, PointsBet needed complete visibility over their fleet, and the ability to deploy patches at scale. 

One of the key benefits PointsBet found with Devicie was enhanced visibility and security in a global environment. 

With Devicie's dashboard monitoring tools, PointsBet gained 100 per cent visibility and management of their fleet. With this greater control and visibility, PointsBet were able to swiftly identify and rectify any potential compliance concerns or security issues from unmanaged machines.  

“The most important benefit is security and compliance. We hold a lot of sensitive and important customer data and now all our devices are 100 per cent compliant, with the latest versions of everything and up to date with their patches and security.”

For peace of mind and to ensure keeping a fleet of devices up to date in a painless process, Devicie applies patches in a 30-day period in line with the PCI DSS security standards. 

Devicie’s dashboard provides PointsBet with complete visibility over every end-user device, including application inventory, compliance status and warranty information. Devicie also provides 24/7 management dashboards and security reporting with all configurations, updates, patches and privileged access information.  

“It does not matter what device type operating system or where the user is, the device is always secure and up to date—and we can manage it all from one dashboard. This leaves me to focus on helping grow our business knowing our data is protected and our team are happy and that they have everything they need on their device to do their jobs.”

Ongoing compliance, increased productivity and greater end-user satisfaction   

By automating the processes inherent to end-user device management and application management, PointsBet enhanced their security posture, achieved ongoing compliance and improved operational efficiency.

From the moment they onboard a new user, PointsBet can ensure the device is protected via a continuing-automated process. 

Even before a new user receives their device, Devicie applies security controls by integrating with the native capabilities of operating systems and software ecosystems. Devicie then facilitates consistent management of all supported devices for streamlined system patching and updating of security policies and benchmarks. 

By removing the need to individually deploy and manage devices, Andrei and his team were liberated from tedious and time-consuming tasks—affording them to focus on more empowering projects.  

“In the first 12 months after we rolled out Devicie across the whole company, we have not had a single IT service request about device management. And, we have not had a single end-user incident since.    

So, from a productivity perspective, that is where we have seen a huge difference. Our staff have increased by 400 per cent but our IT team by only 20 per cent—and they can now all focus on more strategic challenges.” 

When it comes to security, Devicie automates defence in depth, including up to 300 security controls, across an organisation’s end-user device fleet. This assists organisations in meeting maturity levels 1, 2 and 3 across each of the Essential Eight controls on end-user devices. 

Devicie has helped PointsBet maintain compliance, improve security, and manage their device fleet effectively, allowing them to focus on their core business and achieve rapid growth. 

PointsBet's success is a testament to the power of technology in driving growth and innovation in the competitive world of online sports betting.