From becoming digital to being digital

Two-and-a-half years ago, we laid the foundation of our digital transition. Today, we are switching from becoming digital to being digital. Our goal is clear: a perfect customer experience, forged from the best humankind and technology have to offer. A win-win, for our customers and employees  

THE TIME IS RIPE

The motivation to commit to digital is clear. Smart use of data sources provides us with greater focus and better results. And we need to do that in order to respond to the rapid changes in the world around us. Experience is the new product: in a world in which everything is available, customer experience is the key with which we can make a difference. The digital possibilities in that regard are endless. And this approach is high on the agenda internally. Data-driven working is one of the core values of our company. All systems are go for a digital future at both Vodafone Group and Liberty Global. 

DIGITAL PILLARS

Our digital strategy has two clear goals: to serve our customers more effectively and to help employees to perform even better. In order to achieve this, we are using four pillars. Bit by bit, they are bringing about change individually and together and are causing a complete transformation. The pillars are:  

• Personally relevant is about creating journeys that are so relevant to people that they become part of their daily routines. We know what people need and although contacts are to a large extent digital, they feel very human. 

• Easy & seamless for all is about making our journeys very simple and available in one converged app. And it should be accessible for everyone; we have opted for digital inclusiveness, leaving no one behind in the journey. 

• Proactively differentiating means that we use data & AI to predict and prevent any outages before they occur. Customers are really unburdened.  

• By showing appreciation to our customers, we make them feel rewarded and proud to be part of our brand and community. This is also about excelling in situations where we genuinely believe that human contact is important in order to make a difference. 

DATA IN ACTION

Digital thinking and doing ultimately revolve around one thing: data. To a layperson, this simply consists of ones and zeros, but to the trained eye, it is an endless source of valuable information. Information about how we can help customers on our website better, where the points for improvement lie on a customer journey or when a customer has a fault at home. For example, is someone having trouble with slow internet due to a damaged cable in their home? If so, our technician will see that at a glance and he/she can solve the problem straight away. In this way, data is increasingly becoming part of everyday living and is a powerful tool in order to further perfect our services. Sometimes, it even enables us to help our customers before they know that something is wrong. With the utmost respect for privacy, of course.  

CULTURE CHANGE

A digital transition is no small matter. It is a mind shift, which demands a lot from an organisation. The transition to agile working is already an enormous transformation. And with 1,400 people who mastered this working method in 2021, we are on the right path. In addition, we developed all kinds of tools and programmes with which our GO Digital team is showcasing the digital plans. We also immersed all our managers in the digital way of working via the Go Digital Leadership Experience. In two days, they learned to translate data into testable insights, which can be used to take decisions or initiate action. The more skilled you become in that, the greater the value it yields. 

The nice thing about it is we can see that it works. You make different decisions on the basis of a ‘to measure is to know mentality’. Our people are now coming up with solutions to improve digital services. Insights from data also help us to put our customers first. This gives us a strategic boost and keeps us ahead of the competition. We are already starting to reap the benefits from our efforts. 

THE HUMAN DIMENSION

We initially approach our customers via a digital channel. In this way, we offer them fast solutions and answers. However, we also retain the human dimension and focus on the best customer journey according to everyone’s preference. Digital contact provides a quick start, but after that it’s quite possible that a technician at your doorstep is the best follow-up step. Or that you can receive help in one of our 120 shops. 

THE WORLD DOESN’T WAIT

We are seeing the need for digital customer contact increase ever further and are doing everything we can to satisfy this. Our customers deserve a digital experience that can measure up to the number of digital natives in society. A single app, which meets all their daily needs. And support that consists of a perfect mix of human and digital, in which people truly make a difference. Those are our future goals, which we will be working hard on during the run-up to 2025. And the because the world doesn’t wait, we will be shifting up a few gears and speeding up our transformation. Everything for a digital breakthrough.