Vodafone Gets Closer To Businesses With Regional Support And Sales Units

Vodafone is restructuring its business division into local divisions, backed up by a major national unit for enterprises

Vodafone is restructuring its enterprise division into regionalised units, claiming the changes will help the operator get closer to business communities across the UK.

Dedicated teams of business specialists, led by Vodafone’s head of regional business, Dave Langhorn, will be stationed in regional towns and cities to provide “grass roots support” to companies and public sector organisations.

The Newbury-based operator also plans to work with local businesses by facilitating networking and business skills events in Vodafone’s high street stores and partnering with local industry and trade bodies.

Vodafone regional

Vodafone Leeds“We’re changing how we do business, putting more of our people where our customers are and where they run their businesses,” said Phil Mottram, Vodafone UK enterprise director. “We know that being able to respond quickly to our customers and being available when needed, is really important to organisations of all sizes up and down the country.

“Our new approach will enable us to do this better than ever before and see specialist business advisers and support teams becoming an integral part of local business communities across the private and public sector.”

The new business regions are London, West Midlands, Wales, East Midlands, East, Scotland, Northern Ireland, South West, South East, North West, North East and Yorkshire, within which are key “hub” towns and cities, which will report to the head of each region.

Vodafone said a pilot programme in Leeds last year identified the benefits of a regional approach, especially with regards to small business, and follows expansions to the firm’s retail footprint and a £25 investment in key office locations last year, including in Manchester and Glasgow.

Satisfaction rates

“That pilot saw customer satisfaction rates significantly increase,” continued Mottram. “We were able to get to know our customers even better, and run or support events within local business communities.

“This move to work with SMEs, mid-sized and even larger businesses, as well as local public sector organisations within a defined local area, will see us become more responsive and help us to transform the relationship we have with our customers and enable us to become a trusted, local partner.”

To complement the new regional teams, Vodafone has also created a dedicated Major Business team which will operate across the UK. This team will support and service the UK’s largest firms with a nationwide presence, as well as the public sector’s central government and defence and security organisations and departments.

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This article was originally published on ChannelBiz