Modernizing a Core iGaming Platform for Speed, Stability, and Scale

Industry:	Sports Betting & iGaming
Location:	UK & South Africa
Client since:	2024

3x faster test cycles with modular automation and pipelines

40% drop in user journey abandonment (early test results)

100% uptime maintained during CRM stabilization and migration

Services used

Application Development Application modernization Custom Mobile App Development Dynamics CRM Optimization Experience Design Software Testing & QA

Background

In iGaming, performance directly impacts the player experience—and the business behind it. A slow platform doesn’t just frustrate users; it leads to missed bets, failed transactions, and growing operational pressure. In an industry powered by real-time betting and high-speed data, these inefficiencies can quickly snowball into bigger problems.

Our client saw these challenges firsthand. Promotions were getting delayed, engagement was dropping, and outdated systems made it hard to keep up. With operations spanning multiple regions and handling millions of user interactions, maintaining consistent performance at scale had become challenging. They needed a stronger, faster, and more reliable platform to scale with demand and create a smooth user experience.

To get ahead of these issues, our client partnered with us to modernize its software testing framework, application architecture, user experience, and CRM system.

Client

Our client is a globally recognized online gambling brand, offering a wide range of services including sports betting, online casino games, esports, and poker. The company operates under various licenses across markets such as the United Kingdom, Malta, South Africa, Germany, Spain, and several U.S. states. It maintains a strong international presence and adheres to regulatory standards in all active jurisdictions. Additionally, the client is a member of major industry associations and supports initiatives for responsible gambling.

The Challenge

As the client expanded into new markets and scaled its operations, its existing digital infrastructure began to show strain. The challenges spanned multiple domains—automation, customer experience, backend systems, and CRM—each demanding targeted solutions without disrupting ongoing operations.

Automation & QA

The test development environment lacked consistency and structure.
Non-standardized testing practices made onboarding difficult and slowed down development cycles.
The absence of a scalable framework limited the ability to maintain reliable, high-velocity test automation.

Customer Journey & Drop-Off Points

User behavior data revealed drop-offs at critical stages of the customer journey. The key challenges included:

Mapping where disengagement occurred.
Understanding the “why” behind those moments—through behavioral insights and competitive benchmarking.
Designing refined solutions to improve retention and reduce friction across the experience.

Legacy CMS Limitations

The client’s CMS was running on an obsolete version, complicating content management and scalability. Addressing this required:

A full assessment of content types and data integrity.
A guided migration of both the project and database to a newer version.
Establishing a DevOps-enabled testing and performance environment to support a clean release strategy.

CRM & Integration Instability

The CRM system was part of a wide and high-speed integration network—yet suffered from:

Frequent Azure DevOps pipeline failures during deployment and testing.
A fragile middleman layer between CRM and Azure Service Bus that led to message errors.
Accumulating deadletters and data inconsistencies caused by inadequate error handling and lack of retry mechanisms.

Each of these areas posed significant risks—from data loss to stalled delivery cycles—and required careful planning and deep technical execution to resolve without compromising uptime or user trust.

Solution

Solving the client’s platform challenges required close collaboration between their internal teams and Symphony Solutions. This required coordinated efforts across automation, user experience, backend systems, and CRM infrastructure.

Test Automation Overhaul

Implemented the Page Object Model (POM) design pattern for modular, maintainable test code.
Applied Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) principles to improve reusability and scalability.
Segregated regression and smoke tests into dedicated daily and deployment pipelines to accelerate test cycles.

User Journey Redesign

Worked closely with the client’s in-house teams to assess the full end-to-end user journey.
Conducted user interviews and usability testing to identify key drop-off points.
Benchmarked against competitors and applied affinity mapping to prioritize friction areas.
Redesigned flows—from wireframes to high-fidelity UI—then rolled out with A/B testing and iterative optimization.

CMS Migration

Evaluated data types and content for integrity prior to migration.
Migrated the backoffice and core database, ensuring alignment with the new version’s architecture.
Built a dedicated QA and performance testing environment and resolved minor bugs ahead of live deployment.
Supported the transition with DevOps workflows and a staged release strategy.

CRM & Integration Stabilization

Developed a new middleman service to streamline communication between Dynamics 365 and Azure Service Bus.
Investigated root causes of deadletter accumulation and implemented robust retry and error-handling mechanisms.
Integrated Application Insights logging to enhance real-time monitoring.
Rebuilt Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines, resolving persistent deployment and test failures.

Web Application for External Data Access

Built a cost-efficient web application using the MudBlazor Framework, hosted on Azure Container Apps with Redis Cache for distributed performance.
Replaced the high-cost Syncudion license while allowing seamless access and interaction with external data sources directly from D365 CE.
Improved system flexibility and reduced reliance on third-party tools.

Case Workflow Automation with Azure Functions

Enhanced Case Creation and Case Resolution workflows by integrating D365 actions with Azure Service Bus and Function Apps.
Enabled automated third-party service communication with fault tolerance through retry logic and scheduled queues.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Standardized deployments using Terraform scripts for D365 customizations, service bus integrations, and web apps.
Enabled consistent provisioning across the app development, staging, and production environments—reducing manual errors and improving efficiency.

Business Process Flows & Power Automate

Introduced structured Business Process Flows (BPFs) to guide users through complex case management.
Integrated Power Automate approval flows for streamlined decision-making and improved compliance.

Each solution was designed not just to fix what was broken, but to strengthen the client’s digital core—enabling faster delivery, better user experiences, and a scalable foundation for continued innovation.

Results

This collaboration delivered strong early wins, a clearer technical structure, and solid foundations for long-term scalability. While some work is still in progress, key outcomes have already taken shape across multiple areas of the platform—setting the stage for continued optimization and growth.