For over 100 years, London-based British Pathé has been synonymous with moving and still images of the greatest events in world history. In 2008, British Pathé was split and became an independent archive for the first time in its history. Since then its CEO and shareholder has been Roger Felber, who said:
‘When we acquired British Pathé, we saw the opportunity to create a modern subscription service, to increase the licensing and programming revenue, and to drive our social media activities as well and though a significant part of our revenue is dependent on technology, we are not and don’t want to be a technology company.’
Today, British Pathé is considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world and is a treasure trove of films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance. In 2012 British Pathé was awarded ‘Footage Library of the Year’ and the materials are now used extensively by broadcasters, corporations, publishers, teachers and museums, amongst many others.
Steve Clarke (one of Freeman Clarke’s founders) first met Roger in 2011 when British Pathé were attempting to switch their software development partner and build a new online presence at the same time. But the project had run in to significant difficulties and needed someone to take charge and ensure that it was delivered.
Roger explained:
‘Initially Steve rescued our website project and designed the website’s replacement infrastructure, an element that had been overlooked, but badly needed.’
Since then, Steve has steered the website and supporting infrastructure through a number of major changes as well as continual evolutions and updates. Steve has implemented corporate-grade hosting as the revenues generated online have grown. And the site had to be hardened against cyber-attacks which are common for high-profile sites.
In addition, performance of the site has had to be improved to support the business as it has grown and internationalisation has required further enhancements as well.
At the same time, Steve has directed the IT through many other major growth initiatives, including office moves and new commercial opportunities like British Pathé’s partnership with YouTube. Throughout this he has also ensured compliance with PCI and other regulations.
Roger added:
‘Freeman Clarke have always provided honest and clear advice, guidance and support to the senior team. Having someone completely independent and trusted who understands both the business and the technology has proved to be a significant business enabler.’
British Pathé - Client story
Expertise to rescue projects and then deliver an ongoing long-term strategy for a secure platform for growth…
Plain English board-level briefings focused on technology strategies to deliver competitive advantage and business success.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thank you.
You’ll now receive regular expert business insights.
Call us on 0203 020 1864 with any questions.
Graeme Freeman Co-Founder and Director
Subscribe to our Business Insights
Plain English board-level briefings focused on technology strategies to deliver competitive advantage and business success.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thank you.
You’ll now receive regular expert business insights.
Call us on 0203 020 1864 with any questions.
Popular content for CEOs
Latest briefings written by IT experts
I would like to receive:
Popular content for CEOs
Latest briefings written by IT experts
I would like to receive:
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.