COLLECTORS
“ To give you an idea of the scale in trading cards alone, we used to see tens of thousands of cards a month. Now, we’ re seeing anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 million a month,” says Collectors’ Chief Technology Officer, Dan Van Tran. More well known as DVT, he emphasises the immense scale of the business, as well as the amount of both human and technological power required behind the scenes to keep Collectors running.
Collectors’ digital transformation The business is embarking on a radical digitalisation and modernisation journey, using its industry-leading services as the foundation. Mixed with the creativity and passion of its employees, it is sculpting the future of both Collectors and the industry for the benefit of all.
Collectors’ transformation involves moving from a business with a proud but dated technical backbone into something fit for the 21st century: a change that requires more than a few tweaks. At its peak, Collectors was facing a backlog of up to 14 million cards, causing a temporary pause in services.
“ I had to balance clearing a backlog while continuing to build new technology and ship things,” DVT explains.“ The focus was on how we could both scale and solve the real immediate problem but not do it at the cost of losing what made the company great to begin with. It’ s been a fun challenge.”
At the core of Dan’ s work is a belief that collecting shouldn’ t be exclusive, opaque or intimidating. As Dan emphasises, collecting can be overwhelming for beginners in the hobby, with countless factors that determine a coin’ s worth, like scarcity, preservation, history, demand. Collectors sets out to break down those barriers. He says:“ Every time our AI accurately identifies a card, we help educate and lower the barrier for a new collector. That openness brings people into the community and allows them to participate faster with more confidence.”
The technology engine driving Collectors’ change Collectors’ database can facilitate the instant identification of a card which sits on top of nearly 40 years of card
psacard. com 7