Casino Enterprise Management

Recognizable game titles, an abundance of casino management tools, award-winning top technology, some of the most popular games, eye-catching logos and designs—these elements make it easy to see why Bally Technologies is one of the leading companies in the gaming industry—at least from the outside. But what really makes the company thrive is its distinguished team of leaders and executives. One of the major players on the team includes recently promoted President and COO Ramesh Srinivasan, who oversees the newly merged games and systems divisions.

Srinivasan’s Entry into the Industry
While almost all of his professional experience has taken place here in the U.S., Srinivasan’s upbringing and education took place in India. He received his bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, and his MBA in marketing and systems from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India.

While he has always had high goals for himself business-wise, when he was younger, Srinivasan’s only goal was to become a professional cricket player. When he came to the realization that he “wasn’t good enough talent-wise,” he chose to go to school to be an engineer.

After about four years of working in general management consulting and in general management roles, he moved to software and became a hands-on programmer. In September 1988, he made the move to the U.S. to work for Bugle Boy Jeans as a contract programmer.

From there, he went on to work at Manhattan Associates, where he worked for Bally’s current Chief Executive Officer Richard Haddrill. Srinivasan jokes that his moving to Bally was an arranged marriage, because he made the move to continue working for Haddrill. But, he said he’s loved it ever since. “I came into the gaming world for one reason—to work for him,” Srinivasan said. “He is the single reason why and how I got here, and ever since, I’ve had a great time.”

Haddrill, along with other executives at Bally, have nothing but good things to say about Srinivasan. “Ramesh Srinivasan has been a terrific business partner for more than 11 years across two companies,” Haddrill said, “and I am confident that his outstanding track record of success will continue in these new responsibilities.”
   
New Responsibilities, Opportunities & Challenges
One of Srinivasan’s main goals in this new position is to constantly better the company, and be prepared for change. “I think a lot of change is coming, and I want to be sure that Bally is nimble enough to change quickly when it comes,” he said. “We also want to be sure to balance execution and innovation, execute our current goals, and make sure we are innovating for the future.”

While he was a key executive before the recent promotion, taking over the supervision of an entire division of a company can bring daily challenges. “There’s a lot of learning involved,” he said. “I’ve always been comfortable with systems, but games is something I’m learning every day.”

Although it might be a challenge, he notes that experiencing new things and expanding his knowledge is something he likes doing. “I enjoy learning—getting better every day. There’s no better pleasure than that.”

Motivated by Improvement
With a work schedule majorly made up of travel, it’s important that an individual enjoys it. In Srinivasan’s case, he lists spending time with employees and customers as his favorite aspect of the job. “Sometimes travel can get a little tiring, but I want to listen to and spend time with each of our employees and customers, both in the country and international,” he said.

Srinivasan said that the cooperation and success of a team is what motivates him. “There’s always something we can be better at, both me and my team,” he said. “Improving is what motivates me.” He also notes that his proudest accomplishments are being part of and playing a role on successful teams. “I’ve associated with many great people,” he said. “Over the last two to three decades, virtually all of the companies I have worked for, and divisions I’ve worked for, have done very well. I’ve been very lucky to be part of very good teams.”

A humble man, Srinivasan claims that he hasn’t played a major individual role in any particular projects. However, his contributions are evident, as he’s been a part of—and even lead—some of the most successful teams and projects at several companies. He also played a key role in the reinvention of the systems division at Bally several years ago. “The decisions we made four or five years ago to completely reinvent ourselves in systems—to re-engineer our products carried to modern technology—I probably had a pretty big hand to play in all of that,” he said. “Those were very difficult decisions at the time, but they all are doing well now.”

He also oversaw the production one of Bally’s new and most successful products, the iVIEW Display Manager™. But, in expected modest fashion, Srinivasan claims he didn’t have much to do with the production. “All the credit should go to the brilliant engineers,” he said. “I was only a member of the team who helped it along.

Mentorship
Srinivasan’s list of mentors includes people like his parents, teachers, colleagues, Haddrill, and surprisingly enough, Miami Heat president and head coach Pat Riley. “Many people have shaped my life and my thinking,” he said. “Some of those people I have never met in person, but if you break me apart now, you’ll find a little piece of each of them.”

Another man who he looks up to is Bob Luciano, Bally’s former chief technology officer. “If I had time for a working lunch, it would be with Bob,” Srinivasan said. “He was one of the greatest innovators this industry has ever seen, and I don’t get to see him much.” A self-proclaimed “structured guy,” Srinivasan said he would enjoy picking Luciano’s brain and asking him what the company can do better. “I always envy great creative thinkers like him. He found so many innovative solutions for the problems the industry faced many years ago.”

Now on the other side of the spectrum, he strives to be a mentor for those around him. “I try to lead by example,” he said. “What I demand of others, I make sure I demand even more of myself.”

Uniting Games and Systems
In March 2011, when Bally announced the promotion of Srinivasan, they also announced the reorganization of executives and the merging of the games and systems units. Srinivasan has been at the company since 2005, when he joined as executive vice president of Bally systems. In his opinion, the joining together of the divisions is going to greatly further the success of the company. “Overall it’s going to help us better prepare for how integrated the world is becoming,” he said. “The ability to expand our popular titles across brick-and-mortar, mobile, Internet and social domains is going to help us.”

One thing he would like to point out, however, is that even without the recent change, in his opinion the company would have still been successful. “An organization’s structure is just one of the enablers of success,” he said. “The cooperation and working together between games and systems would have worked well even without the recent change.”

Products for Players and Operators
Bally’s product line is one of the most successful in the industry—reel-spinning slot machines, video slots, wide-area progressives, and Class II, lottery, and central determination games and platforms. Not to mention, Bally produces a variety of casino management, slot accounting, bonusing, cashless, and table management solutions.

One of the challenges the company faces is maintaining the balance of these products to appeal to both players and operators. “On one hand, it’s a matter of providing greater entertainment and a fair gaming experience for the players,” Srinivasan explained. “On the other side, it’s a matter of providing the operator with a much better competitive edge and higher levels of profitability.”

And these products are obviously doing just that, as they continue to receive awards and sign installation contracts with properties across the globe. Some of the newest and most successful products include the iVIEW Display Manager, Elite Bonusing Suite™, Service Tracking Manager™, TableView™ and CoolSign®.

A Continued Path to Success
In the words of Srinivasan, Bally is made up of an extraordinarily hard-working, customer-centric, winning team. After all, he plays a key role in a company that just celebrated its 80-year anniversary, and he’s happy to be here. “The product we create is ultimately making gaming fun for people,” he said. “You can’t say that about too many industries.” And this industry is certainly happy to have him.


Jenessa McAllister is an Associate Editor for Casino Enterprise Management. She can be reached at (701) 293-7775 or editor1[at]aceme.org.