Name: Arul Arogyanathan
Title: Group Chief Information Officer
Company: Village Roadshow Group
Commenced role: Sept 2021
Reporting line: Group Chief Financial Officer
Member of the executive team: Yes
Technology Function: 80+ staff with 8 direct reports
 
Arul Arogyanathan has been leading the digital transformation efforts at Village Roadshow Group since his appointment as Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) in September 2021.
His leadership has been instrumental in reshaping Village Roadshow’s technology landscape, aligning IT strategies with the company’s core business pillars of guest and employee experience, customer loyalty, operational efficiency, growth and innovation.
Village Roadshow, an entertainment company founded in 1954 in Melbourne as a drive-in cinema, now operates across theme parks, cinema exhibition, film distribution, and marketing solutions, with over 5,000 employees in Australia. Under Arul’s guidance, the company has undergone a strategic transformation to become a digital-first business, leveraging technology to enhance operations, improve customer engagement, and drive innovation.
Driving digital-first business transformation
The transformation efforts began with a comprehensive review of the company’s value chain, customer journey mapping, and business processes to identify opportunities for digitisation, automation, and innovation. This analysis formed the foundation for initiatives designed to reduce friction across guest and employee experiences, enhance customer loyalty and trust, introduce new service offerings, and drive operational efficiency.
One of Arul and the team’s most impactful achievements has been the implementation of a cutting-edge content management platform. The adoption of a modern headless Contentful CMS, encompassing Algolia Search and hosted on Vercel, with security provided by Cloudflare’s Web Application Firewall (WAF) with deep insights provided by Dynatrace. The composable architecture has changed the way Village Roadshow manages and distributes content across its digital channels. Complementing this, Arul led the deployment of Okta’s identity solutions to ensure seamless, secure access for both customers and staff, incorporating adaptive multi-factor authentication (MFA) to bolster security.
The team introduced low-code/no-code automation and integration through the Workato platform, allowing for greater operational efficiency and innovation. Enhancements in the company’s DevSecOps and software development lifecycle (SDLC) tools — including Dynatrace for observability, Cypress for testing, and Snyk and Stackhawk for dynamic and static security scanning — have further improved the company’s ability to innovate swiftly and securely.
These initiatives were incepted with the successful launch of a Digital Food & Beverage app, integrating payment gateways like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. The app’s NFC and QR code functionality also supports seamless interactions at Village Roadshow’s cinema locations, enhancing the guest experience while opening new revenue streams.
Delivering tangible business outcomes
Arul’s leadership has driven a significant increase in key performance metrics across the business. The redesign of the company’s digital channels, underpinned by a modern tech stack, saw the Web Vitality Score improve from 51/100 to 98/100, alongside a 14 per cent rise in web traffic and a 21 per cent increase in session duration. Customer trust and loyalty have been bolstered, with the Okta identity solution contributing to an increase in employee Net Promoter Score (NPS) and  customer NPS. These improvements have also led to a rise in loyalty program adoption.
The modernisation of Village Roadshow’s technology infrastructure has virtually eliminated system outages during peak periods. The introduction of a new DevSecOps model has shortened the deployment cycle from three weeks to on-demand releases, significantly enhancing the company’s agility and speed to market. These efficiency gains, combined with the operational cost savings driven by automation and cloud optimisation efforts, have resulted in significant OPEX savings.
Leadership and Influence
Arul’s influence extends beyond the technology team, impacting the wider executive leadership at Village Roadshow. His ability to distil complex technological concepts into accessible, business-relevant language has been pivotal in securing buy-in from the company’s leadership, including the Board and the Group CEO. This clear communication, along with regular updates on IT projects and their alignment with business objectives, has strengthened IT’s role as a strategic partner within the organisation.
Alistair Bennallack, Group CFO and COO, says Arogyanathan has profoundly impacted the leadership team and set up the group for further growth. “His ability to simplify intricate ideas through relatable analogies has been instrumental in fostering understanding and support among executives and board members. Arul has successfully driven alignment between IT initiatives and our business objectives, spearheading key projects that enhance our operational efficiency and innovation. His persuasive communication has been crucial in securing investments in new technologies and foundational infrastructure, positioning Village Roadshow for significant growth. Arul’s leadership in adopting AI and other cutting-edge solutions has set us on a path to making IT a cornerstone of our strategic success.”