Fitting into a theme of optimism about the future, Vodacom recently launched its new brand strategy. The new strategy brings a shift in the way Vodacom does its business, and has been implemented in the 36 countries where Vodafone has a presence.
The new strategy was developed after comprehensive research among 32 000 people in 17 countries – among them, South Africa. In South Africa, research done by YouGov found that 41% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 believe the standard of living in the country will be better in 20 years.
The strategy has been designed to underline the belief that new technologies and digital services will play a positive role in transforming society and enhancing individual quality of life over the years ahead. As a part of this, Vodacom is realigning efforts to help to reduce the cost of communication in the country. Vodacom has already reduced out-of-bundle prices from mid-October, with a 50% drop for Prepaid customers, and an out-of-bundle reduction from R1 to 89c per MB for Postpaid and Top Up customers.
Vodacom’s new tagline, “The future is exciting. Ready?” ties in with Vodacom’s vision to foster connection, democratise Internet access and bridge the digital divide.
Vodacom’s vision for 2020
This year, Vodacom revised its strategy to ensure that the organisation is best positioned to seize the opportunities, and manage the risks, of a rapidly changing marketplace, characterised by significant levels of digitalisation, highly connected consumers, and a changing landscape of competition and collaboration, with continuing regulatory challenges.
Our Vision 2020 strategy has five key strategic elements:
1. Segmented propositions
Using big data analytics and machine learning, we will develop a complete 360 view of the customer, and develop personalised customer propositions to lead in our chosen segments.
We have established dedicated acceleration units to develop product and service offerings for each of our targeted customer segments.
Across each of these segments we are identifying new opportunities to monetise data and grow data usage by delivering relevant digital content services (in TV and video, music streaming, gaming, news and sport), as well as developing new offerings in areas such as mobile financial services, insurance and IoT.
2. Best customer experience
Our aim is to provide customers with a seamless and frictionless one-channel experience, ensuring consistent, personalised and efficient customer engagement, across all touch-points, with digital the dominant support channel and MyVodacom app the channel of choice.
Having successfully delivered on our three-year retail strategy – transforming 97% of our Vodacom-branded stores, achieving a 10% year-on-year improvement in total NPS – we are placing greater focus on enhancing our digital customer channel.
We are investing in richer and more intelligent interfaces, big data analytics, and IT-based customer engagement and management tools to optimise the customer experience and achieve greater efficiencies across all channels.
3. Best technology
We are preparing the network for the future to be the leading telco with the best network, and are placing an increased focus on technology and intelligent information systems to unlock big data capabilities and improve organisational agility.
We will further expand both mobile and fixed connectivity (FTTx) and deploy new network technologies, while rolling out a national IoT network and developing new IoT applications and solutions.
4. Digital organisation and culture
Becoming a leading digital company requires a digital transformation within our own organisation.
We have begun the process of transforming Vodacom into a truly digital organisation, with our investment in acquiring new skills and talent in areas such as big data, analytics, actuarial science and digital marketing.
We have partnered with tertiary institutions to develop and access the required emerging skills for our digital future.
To ensure that we capitalise most effectively on the rapid rate of change across the ICT sector, we are developing a culture of innovation and agile decision taking, simplifying our existing systems and processes, and empowering our people to use their skills and resources to develop and deliver innovative products and services through more collaborative structures.
5. Our brand and reputation
Our aim is to ensure that Vodacom is the customer brand of choice, with a strong purpose-driven brand and a deserved reputation for responsible leadership.
This year saw further progress in promoting financial inclusion, education, agriculture, and healthcare, through our business driven partnership initiatives such as M-Pesa, the Connected Farmer platform, Vodacom e-school, and our various health related mobile applications.
Taken together with our corporate social investments activities, and our core business of connectivity, these initiatives are making an important contribution to national developmental objectives and the global UN Sustainable Development Goals.