Vodafone Global Trends Barometer 2019

/ 15th March 2019 /

The Vodafone Global Trends Barometer 2019 is based on extensive primary market research, thought leadership reports from industry analysts, global consultancies, vendors, futurologists and more. Regina Moran (pictured), Enterprise Director in Vodafone Ireland, explains what Irish businesses need to know from this comprehensive Vodafone report.

What did we discover in the Vodafone Global Trends Barometer? In short, we identified four key trends that all companies should be embracing to benefit their business.

Trust: In a digital world, trust comes first

In a digital world, trust is king. Trustworthiness is defined there as the ability to keep data safe and being transparent with its use. Business leaders need to identify what is threatening or preventing trust in their business, and where opportunities to nurture and develop it lie.

Customers, partners and employees are seeking new and trusting relationships with organisations. To take advantage of that, business leaders need to build quality, transparency and reliability into every corner and interaction within their organisations.

Businesses need to treat building and maintaining trust as a differentiator and as an opportunity. Strategic investments in technologies that make your organisation more robust are likely to provide a return, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

Ethics: Doing the right thing matters

Doing business ethically has business benefits and prioritising ethics is central to being competitive. The world is starting to recognise a correlation between pursuing profit and having a purpose.

Businesses should actively look to engage in social and ethical initiatives that are key to their customers. Strategically choosing initiatives will help organisations reach an expanded, similar audience to their customer base. Customers are looking for clear indicators of a business’s ethical leanings. Businesses should incorporate their ethical stance into their mission statements and ensure that all business activity ties back to that vision?

As we move into the future and humans and machines learn together, businesses should take a holistic view of automation and ethics, and keep the benefits that these could bring for employees front of mind?

Tech Vs People: New technologies should benefit employees as well as businesses

Being able to balance people and technology is key and will become more important in future. In particular, good business management means being able to trade off the skills provided by humans against the efficiencies provided by artificial intelligence (AI).

Businesses that are starting to build automation and AI into business processes need to create a strategy that focuses on the benefits they bring to employees and to the business. Future-proofing businesses is about more than just implementing new technologies; it’s preparing employees and infrastructure to adapt and embrace a more automated future?

AI and automation will fundamentally change how businesses operate and businesses need to act now to stay ahead of competitors. They need to embrace the possibilities of AI and other new technologies while continuing to focus on attracting the right talent through targeted recruitment campaigns?

Disruption: Put people at the centre of your strategies

Disruption is impacting every facet of the business world, so managers need to prioritise how they adapt to their customers’ and employees’ changing demands. Businesses need to put people at the centre of their strategies.

The changing needs and requirements of customers and employees mean that businesses need to prioritise tools and services that transform how people work and do business with their organisation, making it as simple and seamless as possible?

Communications and mobility technologies need to be the cornerstone of transforming customer experiences and improving the productivity of workforces. Businesses need to tailor services to individual needs – whether that’s customers or employees.