Insight INTERVIEW Trevor Croker
Before taking the reins as CEO, Trevor was formerly Executive Vice President Global Product & Insights – Aristocrat Leisure, responsible for Aristocrat’s total product portfolio and product strategy, including management of creative studios and game development globally. In this role, Trevor has driven a global portfolio approach to the development and deployment of content across all Aristocrat channels and regions in order to deliver optimal returns and achieve the business’ objectives.
Additional roles within Aristocrat have included Interim Chief Digital Officer – Aristocrat Leisure and Managing Director ANZ. As Interim CDO, Trevor was responsible for all aspects of the strategy and performance of the Digital business.
As Managing Director ANZ – Aristocrat Technologies Australia, Trevor transformed Aristocrat’s underperforming Australia and New Zealand operations by boosting sales and marketing capability, rebuilding the product portfolio around customer and market needs, attracting outstanding creative and technical talent and improving customer relationships. From 2011 – 2015, ANZ revenues grew almost 200 per cent and the business significantly grew its share of new sales across key markets. During part of this period, Trevor was also Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions.
Remaining humble and staying focused is the Aristocrat ethos
Seven years ago two former Fosters executives, Jamie Odell and Trevor Croker, reunited within the management team at Aristocrat Technologies amid a backdrop of global financial crises and a critical need for internal transformation of the Australia-based business. On March 1, 2017, Jamie Odell stepped down as CEO and passed the mantle to Trevor Croker. G3 was granted an exclusive interview with Mr. Croker at the ICE show in London, where we discussed the past, present and future of a company that’s now one of the strongest performers in the gaming industry.
As a CEO, what’s harder - inheriting a company that’s doing badly, or taking over one that’s hugely successful?
When you talk about companies continuing to perform strongly, my belief is that organisations have to remain humble, stay focused on their core business and understand exactly what that is. Keeping customers at the centre of your business is also vital and to do that you have to make sure that you’re your own worst critic. You need the best possible team of people dedicated to providing customers with the products they need and supporting the business in achieving those aims. It’s not an easy task by any means.
On the opposite side, looking at a company that’s essentially broken, you have a lot of the same challenges, except you’re also under the constant pressure of prioritisation and justifying investments, which can cause a lot of tension and distraction. You have to balance customer expectations with building the best possible team, all the while seeking to transform the organisation. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s just as interesting.
As a former Fosters executive, joining Aristocrat around the same time at Jamie Odell, is a lack of “gaming experience” any kind of impediment to a role in gaming? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of an external versus internal promotion?
“We’ve focused on appointing the best game designers and technology people in gaming, who have created superb games that we’ve been releasing to the market over the past several years that have fuelled our progress.”
Seven years ago I didn’t know much about gaming, but I knew a lot about hospitality, which has a certain customer overlap and some strong commonalities. Over the last seven years I’ve spent a lot of time within the organisation, whether that’s across regions such as Asia or Australia, or working with the Europe and South Africa team, getting to know gaming in detail. Most recently I’ve spent time working within product development and our digital business. Te fundamentals of what we do centres around people and product. In terms of recruitment, I believe the most successful businesses embrace and grow talent
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internally and also bring in external perspectives – it’s about achieving a vibrant mix and ensuring you have the best people possible to maintain that success.
Is there a skills transfer and affinity from the brewing industry to gaming that has helped you in your role?
Customer focus was always a big focus in the drinks business, and Jamie and I brought a new version of customer centricity to Aristocrat. Another of the most important aspects we brought to the business was the ability to focus on the creation of great brands. We came from a really strongly branded company and saw opportunities for Aristocrat to leverage its game assets to grow iconic game brands with real longeivity, rather than simply churn titles and treat them as disposable.
As a CEO of a gaming company, how do you deal with the fact that your product is so volatile? Creating a successful game has been likened to a ‘black art.’ How do you plan for that, budget for that and make the right decisions as CEO?
In fiscal 2016 about 50 per cent of Aristocrat’s revenues came from recurring revenue products, up from around 25 per cent two years earlier. Our revenue and the structure of our business has changed from being focused on ‘for-sale’ products to products that deliver recurring revenue. We’ve achieved this through great technology and game content. We’ve focused on appointing the best game designers and technology people in gaming, who have created superb games that we’ve been releasing to the market over the past several years that have fuelled our progress. While I appreciate your point that success is never guaranteed in a creative endeavor, when you assemble a great team of game designers with strong technology and teams behind them, you maximise your chances of delivering something exciting. Part of that is also listening to our customers about what they want to see on their floor. We take that feedback, it goes into a melting pot from which we create the games.
How important has technology been in the transformation of Aristocrat and how big a role does investment in new technology and those employees with skills to exploit it - play in the company’s future?
Aristocrat is a technology company. Investing in new technology is critical to our business. I know when I joined Aristocrat there was some commentary about how we had lost focus on bringing the latest
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