[WATCH] Zimpler CCO Rhi Burns: ‘We had some very aggressive goals’
Zimpler’s Group Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Rhi Burns, joins SiGMA TV’s Executive Series explores the company’s growth strategy during a challenging 2020
In today’s episode of our exclusive Executive Series, SiGMA TV sits down with Zimpler’s Group Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Rhi Burns to discuss the company’s explosive growth in 2020 and diversity in iGaming.
Having been moved from a very small affiliate company to being acquired by a larger structure and eventually moving to Zimpler, Rhi has come a long way! WATCH this in-depth interview discussing the challenges and opportunities she has faced throughout her career and also as Zimpler evolved and capitalized on an instant banking arena.
‘Very aggressive goals’ in 2020
Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced seismic waves across all industries. Those who saw the silver lining and adopted new business strategies and technologies thrived. Burns comments that Zimpler had ‘very aggressive goals’, which exceeded by over 100, for such a challenging year. She continues:
Definitely around 2019 we really changed track of where we were headed. We switched from a kind of niche mobile e-wallet solution into taking on the instant banking arena. The overall goal was to really bring some free competition into the markets take on a kind of monopoly situation and bring down pricing – which we’ve definitely achieved.
I’d say for 2020 specifically, we really focussed on transaction volumes. In our specific goals we were more focussed on getting clients on board, showing them that the product is great and improving the kind of operator supplier relationship.
The company’s growth has meant hiring surges, the Malta team for instance keeps getting bigger and bigger. Commenting on this expansion, the Chief Commercial Officer shared:
We were very lucky because we were such a small company already {…} so we weren’t too affected by what happened this year. But what we did is we came in, I think, with a good value just in time. Our value was to come in and to bring down pricing in an area that has become very expensive which ended up fitting perfectly with everything that happened this year. Operators were really looking to cut cuts wherever they could.
With that growth, it meant I could finally start hiring a team here in Malta which has been so much fun, it was very hard hiring and onboarding during a global pandemic. […] all the interviews were digital, the onboarding process was completely remote … all the training.
Diversity in iGaming
The casino and gaming worlds have largely been dominated by men since the mid 1950s, with women being under-represented at their highest levels. SiGMA News recently reached out to some top tier industry leading women to share their experience on what it’s like to be a women in gaming. Discussing the topic of diversity in gaming, Burns added:
When I first joined iGaming 15 years ago, I found myself the only female on a kind of 40 person team. So finding female colleagues or mentors or superiors was impossible. […] But I think iGaming more than many other industries, especially in recent years, has really embraced diversification especially within I’d say gender diversity. I’m seeing a lot more C-level positions taken by women, general decision-making positions taken by women.
Watch the full episode below:
About SiGMA Magazine:
SiGMA Magazine is the ultimate biannual publication shedding light on the gaming industry. The magazine covers five major continents, namely: Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas with contributors reigning from all over the world. The publication is distributed to a global audience, with a print run of 10,000, giving readers exclusive content about our vast client base. Due to our global audience SiGMA utilises its in-house translators to translate content in their specific language, depending on the continent. The Magazine is available online via our digital version and is also distributed during SiGMA’s annual shows. If you want to be part of our next issue please contact Katy.
