Pets at Home’s CIO unleashes IT on customer experience

At a time when other IT leaders have been forced to scale back investments, shuffle projects, and make do with limited resources, Pets at Home’s CIO William Hewish, finds himself mid-transformation, hiring in IT teams, and investing in technology more than ever before.

Booming pet sales, a fledgling veterinary practice, and the return of dog grooming services have seen the FTSE250-listed pet supply retailer outperform forecasts, even during COVID-19.

“Last year was the first time in the company’s history that we invested more in technology than we invested in anything else,” says Hewish, who describes his own role as half “running the business with the rest of the executive team” and half overseeing technology and technology teams.

“That’s quite a thing for a store-based business – we’ve got 450-odd stores and 460-odd practices – to be spending more on your technology than you are on the fabric of that. It’s quite a big leap.”

Digital Transformation, IT Leadership