SBC News James Henderson “differentiation through technology” key to William Hill’s future strategy

James Henderson “differentiation through technology” key to William Hill’s future strategy

williamhill-jameshenderson
James Henderson – William Hill CEO

Having reported a record breaking 2014, with profits topping £370 million (FY 2013: £335 million), William Hill CEO James Henderson does not want his company to rest on its laurels as it faces new challenges in 2015.

Speaking to investors Henderson outlined that the company would face tougher times as it would have to navigate the long term impact of POC charges and growing competition from top UK betting operators fighting hard for market share.

Following a year of huge marketing spend by all UK facing operators, Henderson outlined that William Hill would have to look beyond marketing and player acquisition if the company was to maintain its positive momentum.

Henderson stated that a key strategic objective for William Hill would be product differentiation, as the operator looks to increase investment in its development units. The CEO pointed that the strategy had paid off well with its mobile product, which had witnessed a 43% take up of William Hill Digital revenues.

Henderson acknowledges that true differentiation in online gambling is hard to undertake

“Its very difficult to differentiate yourself technology wise in our sector because one way or another a lot of our competitors use the same technology stack. It’s not about getting rid of third party suppliers; it’s essentially reducing their reliance.”

However Henderson further states that William Hill would focus on creating responsive, customer led products which will aim to keep the operator ahead of the competitors and meet consumers demands

“Going fully responsive is a huge improvement on where we are at the moment. So it doesn’t matter what device you are, they all configure in a way. I was over in Gibraltar last week and the guys were taking me through exactly what that means. We have what they call them all in hidden live at the moment.”

“So all the things are there being tested and making sure that it’s fit for purpose when it rolls out in the middle of the summer period. So it is going to be a huge change; it does make it faster; it does make sure we can, as you say, make changes on a daily — any basis based on AB testing. So it’s really going to be a fantastic technology improvement.”

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