Restructuring of BC Lottery Corporation IT Department
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is a technology dependent company and is currently reorganising its IT department.
The organisation not only conducts lottery operations but also runs an online casino and oversees land casinos in the Canadian province. Michael Graydon, the chief executive officer of BCLC, explained the process in an interview given to KamloopsThisWeek.com.
The restructuring of the BCLC IT department was necessitated by changing business processes. Graydon said many of the existing systems are being decommissioned and being replaced by a highly specialized architecture. The expertise and skills required for the new structure are different.
The Restructure Will Abandon the Siloed Format
The broad contours of the restructuring involve abandoning a siloed format, incorporating new technologies and eliminating tasks that were being carried out by outside contractors or doing them in house. This last change alone would result in a saving of about $1 million according to Graydon. An example of the changes being carried out in the internal functioning of the BCLC is a new casino management system with an improvement of its present sophisticated technological base.
Speaking about the specific changes in the personnel, Graydon said that 14 employees in the IT department were relieved, 13 from Kamloops and 1 from Vancouver, and 23 employees assigned other tasks.
Prior to these changes the IT department had 185 employees. After the layoffs and reassignments are completed, new employees will be recruited by BCLC. They will possess the skills required for managing the new structure. The net tally will be an addition of seven employees in the department.
Graydon pointed out that the 14 employees relieved of their jobs constituted less than 10% of the total department strength. In any event about 8% attrition takes place per year at BCLC.
In January this year 25 employees, mostly from Vancouver, were laid off. The 4 employees who were laid off from Kamloops were working in the BCLC lottery subscriptions. This operation was discontinued because the lottery tickets were now being purchased at the BCLC online casino PlayNow.com.
Law Violations in BCLC IT Department
Though no specific mention was made by Graydon in this interview, it was reported earlier that BCLC had been plagued by violations under the federal Proceeds of Crime Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Act. This Act required the land casinos under BCLC to record detailed backgrounds of patrons who incurred large expenses in the casinos and paid for them in cash.
At that time Bryon Hodgkin, the director of operation compliance at BCLC, had said that IT systems were being tightened and this could be contributing at least in part to the current restructuring.
