Here, in his own words, is what David Attenborough, the chief executive of gaming group Tabcorp, sees ahead in 2020.
You can read more from the CEO Survey.
How is your company affected by low-interest rates and what is needed to boost the economy?
Our businesses compete with other forms of entertainment for the Australian consumer’s discretionary spend. The current low level of interest rates reflects a softer economy and any positive benefit to discretionary spend is being more than offset by lower consumer confidence. In terms of cost of capital, our view is that increased equity risk premiums balance out the benefit stemming from lower interest rates. We believe economic conditions can be strengthened through increased infrastructure investment, tax reform and effective deregulation.
What is the impact of government regulations on your company including those applying to the financial sector?
We operate in the heavily regulated gambling industry which requires ongoing high levels of investment in regulatory and operational compliance. This is appropriate given the nature of the industry. However, the broad range of state and federal regulations in the gambling industry creates a complex and expensive framework within which to operate and affects the speed with which we can innovate and bring products to market.
What percentage of company revenues are spent on research and development and how is your company using technology to improve performance?
Around 1.4 per cent of our variable contribution is spent on R&D, largely to create new products and services for customers. We’re using technology to deliver a better customer experience. We use the Adobe Experience Cloud platform to give customers a more personalised experience and deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time. We are also using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help identify problem gambling behaviour. In terms of reliability and efficiency, Amazon Web Services allows us to scale up our server and processing capacity during major events such as the $150m
Powerball draw or the Melbourne Cup when we process more than 100,000 bets a minute.
What are the three major policy issues facing the country and what should be done about them?
● Tax reform: reducing company tax rates to ensure we’re globally competitive and broader reform to make the system more efficient.
● Energy: we need a balanced approach to cleaner but affordable and reliable energy.
● Skills and training: we support increased investment in upskilling Australians.
What are the major impediments to long-term growth facing your company and what can or is being done about them?
Our path to continued long-term growth will depend in large part on overcoming competition and disruption. We need to keep innovating, focus on delivering for our customers and ensure we compete on the same terms as other operators. One of the benefits of the
Tabcorp-Tatts combination is it has diversified our portfolio across more jurisdictions and market segments, reducing our reliance on a single business or category. We also continue to invest heavily in the customer experience through better digital, data and product capability.
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Every year The Australian’s John Durie asks some of the biggest names in Australian business five key questions about what’s coming in the year ahead.