As restrictions on entering office spaces are being removed across Europe and beyond, is it simply a return to normal or has the pandemic changed forever the way in which we iGaming companies operate?

We caught up with Ori Zilbershtein, Chief Business Development Officer at Hyperion Tech, to understand how Covid-19 has influenced a culture of remote working, which is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Tell us more about Hyperion Tech, what services do you provide and how are you delivering growth for operators?

We are a technology services provider for the iGaming industry that sources exceptional tech talent to help grow teams for businesses. Hyperion Tech currently works within the iGaming, Fintech, and various other tech sectors, building hybrid teams of internal and external developers that elevate an organization’s development capabilities.

The previous year has been very busy for us, with more businesses leaning on our support to recruit the right talent to expand their operations. The pandemic has broken down barriers that technical staff needs to be in one location and working together in the same office space. Clearly, the previous 12 months have shown that organizations can achieve business growth when their staff is working from home across multiple locations. From our perspective, this is hugely welcoming as we can now find the right individuals for a business without the limitations of being restricted to one geographic location.

The office setup has completely changed following Covid-19, yet the iGaming industry’s progression and product innovation has shown no signs of letting up. Why do you think remote working has worked?

Fewer meetings and distractions in the remote work setup have allowed developers to truly focus on their own job and become more efficient. We’ve all been in meetings in the past that were unnecessary or took longer than required. Remote working reduces these constraints by making discussions more concise and delivering better time management, meaning developers have more availability to concentrate on projects that need their attention.  

Also, employers quickly found out that they could trust the majority of their staff to work from home. That trust was inevitably repaid by a staff willing to go above and beyond, which directly influenced productivity in a positive way. Given the advantages of allowing staff to work from home and choose the days in which they head into an office, it’s very unlikely we will see a return to the 9-5 office job as we all knew previously.

Before the pandemic, key iGaming hubs such as Malta were reporting a major skills shortage. Has this new culture of working from home solved this crisis? 

Absolutely – the key lesson from this pandemic is that new products can still be delivered when employees are based across multiple locations. Technology is sufficient enough for us all to interact through instant messaging platforms and video conference calls. Of course, it’s important to still have social interaction in person when possible, but now there’s no need to constantly be in an office space every day and within rigid working hours.

Before the pandemic, we often heard about the difficulties from Malta-based businesses about finding the right talent on the island and in a cost-efficient way. Simply put, the best talent in Malta comes at a cost and competition is fierce to acquire these individuals. However, the hybrid model of employing staff from across Europe is a clear and obvious solution that is being embraced. While some firms were previously hesitant at this approach, they are now understanding that product roadmaps and lead times are unaffected as employees can be trusted to collaborate when working remotely. 

Ultimately, some businesses will want to see a return of staff to their offices. How do you see the working culture evolving when restrictions are eventually lifted?

We’ve already seen that businesses are committed to keeping a working from home policy in place beyond lockdown and that’s likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. Forcing a return to the office on a daily basis will run the risk of many employees looking to move elsewhere to a company that is keeping a hybrid office model.

The iGaming space is an advanced tech sector but can still improve its work processes. With the hybrid model, offices can remain open for training sessions, team brainstorming, and specific group activities that are beneficial face to face, or for those individuals who cannot work comfortably in their home surroundings, but there’s no need for a daily and lengthy commute when the world has shown it can work remotely. At Hyperion Tech, we take great pride in building successful teams for multiple clients. As the hybrid model becomes the industry standard, we are ready to help firms grow their business and allow them to tap into a huge pool of tech talent.