Even the former CEO criticised the German market’s performance
Tech Mahindra and Vodafone Germany have extended their partnership to improve the operator’s sales and customer experience processes.
As a part of the multi-year engagement, Comviva, a Tech Mahindra company, will deliver a unified sales solution across Vodafone Germany’s mobile, fixed, cable and TV businesses.
The relationship began in 2019 to upgrade assisted sales. The expanded partnership will seek to improve self-service digital sales channels and integrate the entire buying experience.
Poor performance
Vodafone’s German operating company has been criticised for poor customer service, including by its own former CEO, Nick Read, who stepped down in December. Commenting on the fiscal year that ended in March 2022, he blamed factors for declining profits in the Germany over the previous 18 months on ongoing issues with customer support systems and less busy retail outlets.
Vodafone Germany is the group’s largest European market, accounting for 30% of the group’s service revenue. In November 2022 Vodafone Group lowered its outlook for the fiscal year that will finish at the end of March as its German market profits for H1 fell by 7.4% to €2.86 billion, which in part was due to losing broadband customers and higher acquisition costs.
Exploring new alleys
Comviva has deployed its BlueMarble platform for Vodafone, which it has implemented in other markets for digital commerce, catalogue, order management and customer care. The first phase of the engagement focused on creating a unified platform to provide a 360-degree view of the customer across telesales and retail operations.
The second phase will extend the convergence to digital channels so Vodafone Germany can offer more on-demand, personalised bundles across every customer channel.
Ulrich Irnich, CIO at Vodafone Germany said, “We are a customer-obsessed organisation. Our expanded partnership and choice of ODA-compliant cloud-native Comviva platform will enable us to enhance the customer experience even further, driving personalisation at scale and further optimising experience across online and in-store.”
The ODA to which he refers stands for TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture which the Forum describes as, “a standardized cloud-native enterprise architecture blueprint for all elements of the industry from communication service providers.”
Irnich continues, “The new solution shall help us align teams around a single view of the customer, with insights and activation capabilities that will make experiences even more seamless, connected and relevant.”
Ongoing quest for omnichannel
Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer at Comviva said, “Today, customers use a variety of touchpoints to engage both digitally and offline and a unified integrated customer experience across all channels is paramount.
“Our partnership shall deliver a more comprehensive view of customer journeys and enhanced omnichannel experiences…this partnership… shall serve as a great foundation for personalization efforts, while also empowering organizational efficiency.”