Corporate Culture in iGaming: Interview with ATMOSFERA CEO Yury Ermantraut

The iGaming industry is a constantly evolving one, with new software companies entering the market in all corners of the world every year. Today, we talk to the CEO of ATMOSFERA, a live casino software provider whose fast growth has caught the eye of industry experts and players alike. We talk about the provider's games, future plans, and the corporate culture in the iGaming world in 2021. 

GP: Hello Yury and thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Before we go into any details, can you quickly introduce us to ATMOSFERA? When was the company founded and what main goals did you set when you first launched? What is the general idea behind ATMOSFERA?

Yury Ermantraut: ATMOSFERA - live gaming software provider. It’s already been two years since we are on the international arena of Live casino. ATMOSFERA has 7 products in it’s portfolio: 2 in the live casino category, 5 in the bet on numbers category, for example, Keno. From the start the company already had extensive experience in development bet on numbers products for a specific market. A little bit later we made the decision to play for high stakes and enter the competitive race for the live casino market.

GP: You have launched a number of live casino games since your launch. Can you tell our readers where they can play these games and how you distribute the games to the casinos? What software aggregators are you currently in partnership with and are there plans for further expansion in terms of distribution?

Yury Ermantraut: We work both directly with platforms and aggregators, it's hard to single out one. Players can already find our games on some big platforms, it actually depends on the client's geo. I can say that we have signed partnerships with such large companies as SoftGaming, SoftSwiss, BetConstruct, Digitain, BetB2B.

GP: You have been around for several years now and had to enter a highly competitive market of live gaming software providers. How did you find competing with the already established providers in those early years and how did ATMOSFERA get to the point where you are now?

Yury Ermantraut: Of course, we understood that this is a very competitive market and with the coming of each new provider it becomes more and more competitive. But at the same time, market volumes are growing, technologies are developing, new markets are opening up. Competition is a good stimulator to constantly develop and to be in good shape. Every top company started from scratch. We are under no illusions, but we clearly understand our horizons and directions of growth.

GP: Can you tell us more about the way ATMOSFERA operates on a daily basis? How does a typical day at your office look like?

Yury Ermantraut: In a nutshell, our team consists of several blocks: studio, development and management. Before the start of the year we approved goals for 2021 for all areas. Based on these goals, each team has its own tasks plan, which is divided into quarters and sprints. Within the team, there is a clearly formed order to keep abreast of the progress on the implementation of plans and this is why we have weekly meetings. In turn, team leads make sure that they meet deadlines. It’s important for the successful implementation of any task and maintaining the growth rate.

I am directly involved in the process of creating new products. It gives me adrenaline to move forward. At this stage of the company's development there is an opportunity to closely interact with the product, and I really appreciate it.

GP: What do you guys do to stand out and create a healthy work environment for your employees? Would you say the overall corporate culture you have been building has helped you create better products and get better results in the industry?

Yury Ermantraut: In simple words, corporate culture is a set of rules, orders, traditions existing in the company’s life. It unites the whole company with a common idea and emotional bond making it more attractive and reliable for both the team and newcomers.

First of all, the idea of creating a corporate culture should come from the founder of the company. But it is important that it is accepted and implemented further. If we talk about a pleasant atmosphere then undoubtedly people create a good vibe within the team. When we select candidates together with HR we very carefully study the soft skills of a person in order to make sure that we’ll be able to work together in a comfortable way. A team approach to the creation of a corporate culture will make it more diverse taking into account the interests of the majority and uniting the interests of everyone. Undoubtedly, these emotions and drive in work must be fueled by the company organising different team events, the opportunity to receive extra training. We do our best to pay a lot of attention to non-material motivation.

In our case, there was a request to formalize this within the team so that it would be possible to broadcast the values of ATMOSFERA everywhere: in hiring, in PR, in products and in the team itself, without regularly resorting to the founder of the company with an attempt to count these emotions and broadcast them further, but to apply to the created document.

As the number of staff grows and it becomes more and more difficult for me to personally participate in team life, we have come to the conclusion that we need to adopt a corporate culture as the need is more urgent than ever. A year ago, when we were discussing the plan for the development of the ATMOSFERA, such questions as “what is our mission” and “what is the vision of ATMOSFERA” were flying in the air. Now we understand that it is important for the company to have a common view both in products and in corporate culture, in HR positioning, in PR direction. I am sure there are examples of companies whose founders immediately understood their strategy and vision. As for us, we cultivate our own corporate culture together with the development and growth of the company.

GP: What problems do you see of lack of corporate culture in the companies in 2021?

Yury Ermantraut: In my opinion, the most important advantage of corporate culture is that job seekers appreciate not only opportunities for professional growth or monetary reward, but also the opportunity to be part of something bigger. We see great examples of corporate culture in such large companies as Goggle, Harley-Davidson, MINI Cooper. A poorly developed corporate culture or lack of it in general will always make you less attractive to others. The second advantage of corporate culture is a decrease in staff turnover, since it is difficult for people to part with what is mentally pleasing. In fact, if you think that you have no corporate culture at all, you are most likely wrong. The absence of any supporting document does not mean that it does not “fly in the air”. Take a closer look at what is happening in the team, what is the mood inside and what are the traditions, find the answer to the question "what is valuable to you".

Talking about ATMOSFERA, we are now on the path of transition to the first formalization of our version of corporate culture. I can't wait to check how and how fast we will develop at this stage, what progress will be for the company and what advantages we will receive in the market.

GP: Let’s talk briefly about the future? What direction do you see ATMOSFERA moving in these coming years? Do you have plans for particular products at this time and do you plan on maintaining a strong focus on live casino games or expand beyond this niche?

Yury Ermantraut: By the end of the year we will release 2 products. One new product from the Game Show category and a second updated version of the live roulette. We were changing the tech stacks that’s why the production pace is not so fast. Next year we will release noticeably more new products, 4 or 6. Time will tell. All of them are from the Live Casino category. We will also definitely get new certifications for the expansion of operating markets. You can always find out about the news of the ATMOSFERA in our social networks and on the website. Stay tuned with ATMOSFERA!