Mantel Group to implement Databricks Lakehouse with Tabcorp

CRN Fast50 firm Mantel Group has been chosen by Tabcorp to implement the Databricks Lakehouse platform and mature the company’s machine learning and data science capabilities.

Mantel Group won an request for proposal to deliver services that will include assisting with priority business use cases to enable Tabcorp’s TAB25 ambitions.

Tab25 aims to transform Tabcorp’s entire wagering ecosystem and achieve a 30 per cent digital market share.

Mantel Group will also implement an enhanced reporting layer to enable more efficient and effective business decisions.

The 18-month project commenced a few weeks ago and is currently in the design and discovery stage.

"We've recently partnered with the Mantel Group and over the next 12 to 18 months we are going to fulfill the ambition that we've set here. "

"That ambition is one instance of the data; unified, consolidated on the Lakehouse," Tabcorp's GM of technology Matt McKenzie said at the Databricks Data + AI World Tour in Sydney last week.

"Moving forward, as we unify our data and consolidate the platforms, the opportunity to continue to grow on this journey with Mantel Group is [something I'm] really excited about."

Mantel Group's chief client officer Ben Bloomfield said that the company looks forward to the project.

“We are exceptionally grateful for the opportunity and look forward to strategically partnering with Tabcorp to successfully deliver their TAB25 goals and ambitions, with data and analytics being a strategic enabler/pillar of their success,” Bloomfield said.

Continuing relationship with Mantel Group

Speaking to CRN Australia, McKenzie said that Mantel Group has previously worked with Tabcorp for a number of years.

He described why the company was chosen to assist with Tabcorp's data transformation.

"The two things I learned working with Mantel Group over the last 12 months in my engineering team was that they hire experts, and they put experts in the market."

"At some points I've had 10 or more Mantel folks embedded in my team, and they're all quality engineers," McKenzie said.

"When it came to the RFP for data transformation, we could just see in their written response, but really reinforced in the initial response sessions, that they were just a cultural fit for us as well."

"We internally talk about ourselves as the new Tabcorp since the demerger with Lotteries in June last year, and new Tabcorp is let's get shit done, let's move quickly, let's do a really great job, and they just had that really can-do attitude that we're really embracing."

Tackling problem gambling

Tabcorp has so far implemented the foundations of Lakehouse for experimental purposes.

At the Databricks event last week, McKenzie spoke about how Tabcorp is using Lakehouse to enable responsible gambling measures across Tabcorp's betting platforms.

"Using Databricks, we currently use over 1,200 different data points in order to identify potential harm and then do real time interactions to prevent harm and really take this approach of responsible gambling to the next level," McKenzie said.

"I think about the opportunities to be able to proactively identify harm and to intercede before it happens has been hugely interesting."

"The real time aspects of this are absolutely essential."

"We can't have yesterday's data to try and figure out if somebody's having a harm issue today, we need to know right here right now, so that we can do it."

"With Databricks, we're able to do that today."

“Unify your data”

McKenzie also advised the Databricks audience on data transformation.

“Number one is unify your data, because you can now. I don't think any of us ever wanted separate data warehouses and separate data lakes, we did it because we had to do it. We don't have to do it anymore," McKenzie said.

"So whether it be for TCO, whether it be for efficiency, whether it be for ease of access for greater control and governance of your data, unifying your data is a huge part of achieving all of that."

"We take a customer-first approach, and my recommendation is that you do similarly. Look at it from all angles; look at it from the offer angle, look at it from the marketing angle, look at it, in our instance, from the responsible gambling and harm minimisation angle. Look at it from the customer lens."