1.
Executive Summary
Advancements in information systems, diffusion of ICT and overwhelming adoption of
internet have transformed the business processes completely, where all the different
business divisions have been exposed to an electronic phase and business entities are
increasingly realising the importance and requisite of e-business and information systems
to thrive in the digital era. What is E-Business? Li (2007) states that e-business is not just
related to Internet buying and selling, but it is a much broader concept involving
redesigning and integrating organisation’s internal processes and external relations to
enable more efficient operations, better communication and productive solutions. Xu and
Quaddus (2013) agree and further provide that electronic business involves deployment of
information communication and technology (ICT) for development of information systems
(ERP, eSCM, CRM, BI, etc.) and reinvent the business model to enhance organisation’s
productivity and efficiency.
Issa-Salwe et al. (2010) stated that it is very important to identify and understand how the
E-Business strategies and implementation process align with business objectives.
Therefore, the focus of this report is to identify and analyse the E-Business initiatives
adopted by Vodafone UK – a subsidiary of Vodafone Group. The report starts with
providing information about Vodafone to discover the background, main business
partners, product and services of the company. Thereafter, the market analysis and
strategic context will highlight the strategies and market positioning of Vodafone. Finally,
the report identifies and analyses the E-Business initiatives implemented by Vodafone.
Keywords: information systems, strategy, Vodafone, E-business, business
transformation, enterprise resource planning, mobility, procurement

2.
Vodafone – Power to you
Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider,
operating in 30 countries and has collaborative networks in over 0 additional countries as
shown in Figure 1 (Mintel, 2014). After making the first-ever mobile call in United
Kingdom in 1985, today Vodafone is the 2nd largest mobile telecommunications company
in the world by subscribers and revenue, headquartered in London and with its business
office in Newbury (Gillet, 2013; Vodafone, 2014). The Vodafone Business division provides
IT support, telecommunications and Internet services to corporate clients in more than 65
countries.
Figure 1: Vodafone Markets
Source: Vodafone 2014b
Vodafone employs about 90,000 people all over the world, of which 12000 employees in
United Kingdom handles over 19 million customers, making 5.2 Billion GBP annually
(Vodafone, 2014b). Vodafone claims that over 77% of the United Kingdom emergency
services including ambulance, fire and police uses Vodafone services to communicate and
deliver the services to millions (Vodafone, 2014c). Apart from telecommunications,
Vodafone has introduced money transfer services using mobile device, business services
for small and medium enterprises, cloud computing solutions, etc. Additionally Vodafone
has also been involved in a project with TFL to make the Internet available at more than
100 underground London Tube stations.

3.
Vodafone business is supported by great experience of its business partners and advisors.
The corporate brokers of Vodafone, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan monitor the finance
and investment division, while PWC replaced Deloitte as Vodafone’s official auditor
(Financial Times, 2014). Moreover, Vodafone has formed five-year strategic partnership
with BAE Systems to enhance cloud based mobile security system for safeguarding against
malicious attacks (BAE Systems, 2013). For e-business initiatives, Vodafone collaborated
with different companies to automate its business processes. For instance, Vodafone
appointed Accenture for the planning and execution of global Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) system; adopted Orcale 10g Siebel CRM databsae for managing the
customer relations and introduced SAP Hana platform to secure the accurate and faster
month-end financial reporting. The commencement and application of e-business
initiatives are discussed later in this report.
Vodafone – Market Analysis & Strategic Context
To ensure maintenance of electronic communications infrastructure, the United Kingdom
government established the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group
(EC-RRG). According to EC-RRG (2011), telecommunications is a vital component of UK’s
annual GDP and Critical National Infrastructure (CNF). The U.K. telecommunications
industry contributes GBP 38.6 billion annually and Statista (2014) reveals that Vodafone is
most valuable telecommunications brand in United Kingdom. It is very important to
analyse the market positioning of Vodafone to understand strategic context and need for
E-Business initiatives.
This report does not discuss PESTLE approach in detail, as political and economical
situation is considerably stable while social life and technology is rapidly changing and
adapting to each other and industry policies are in line with European telecommunications
laws. Johnston (2008) and EY (2012) agree that the United Kingdom’s political situation is
stable and economic situation is improving in every phase. Dalken (2014) conducted a
critical research to investigate if Porters Five Forces (1980) is still applicable to analyse the
market positioning and strategies of a firm in the digitalised economy. The research
concluded that despite the regeneration of business models due to information technology,
the Porter’s Five Forces model is still valid because every business operation still revolves
around buyers, suppliers, competitors, substitutes and new entrants. Therefore the five
forces model will determine the market positioning of Vodafone competition in the
telecommunications industry (Appendix 1).