Multinational Corporations have acknowledged the fact that business readiness is, or must become, a priority. Avoid getting left behind. For more information on how to become a ready business, please visit enterprise.vodafone.com/readybusiness #readybusiness

1. Identifying lessons from
ready businesses
Multinational Corporations have acknowledged the fact that
business readiness is, or must become, a priority. The disparity
between the most and least ready businesses should be a
cause for concern for those in the least ready groups if they are
to avoid getting left behind.
The most ready businesses are more committed to listening to their
customers and adapting to their behaviours to drive better customer
relationships and outcomes.
These businesses are twice as likely
to believe that it is critical to deal
with customers on a more individual
and interactive basis.
Lesson 1: Be a rich communicator
46% of the most ready
businesses believe that
multi-channel interaction
with customers is critical.
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Lesson 2: Value employees and partners
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“Business readiness means satisfying customer needs as they change. We need
to be prepared with the products that will be in demand. We need to get better at
predicting what will happen in the future.” - Business Respondent, Industrial (MEC & Utilities), Germany
The most ready businesses are three times as likely to believe
their supply chain partners are very important to their operation.
50% of the most ready businesses believe that technology and
communications partners are very important compared to 15% of
not ready businesses.
“Business readiness means to develop the technology that people are using in
their day to day life. Adapt to new things and face the challenges. Create a
work environment that means our employees are satisfied in their work.”
- IT Respondent, Professional / Trade Services, UK
Lesson 3: Exploit connectivity to the full
The most ready businesses exploit connectivity to the full. They appear to be both more
aware of, and more focused on, the potential of modern IT and communications.
40% of ready businesses believe that exploiting Machine to
Machine communications for operational efficiency is critical.
The most ready businesses are twice as
likely to believe that it is critical to exploit
mobile technology in order to optimise
the way employees work.
Lesson 4: Be open-minded about meeting technology needs
The most ready businesses are more open-minded about meeting their technology
needs and appear to be more inclined to embrace more ways of thinking about IT.
“Business readiness means being creative with the latest trends and the business
dynamics in terms of cloud and big data. We must not forget analytics at the
same time because this is where the enterprises are moving to.”
- IT Respondent, Professional/ Trade Services, Germany
64% of the most ready businesses believe that advice from
specialist communications providers is important for their
business.
“The main focus is on faster IT delivery. Have to be able to move quickly when a new
need arrives. It’s difficult to project the needs in advance for a large organisation so
we need to be responsive.” - IT Respondent, Financial Services, UK
92% of ready businesses feel fully confident about the
readiness of their IT organisations to handle changing
business needs. This reinforces that the importance of
IT as a determinant of readiness.
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The most ready businesses appear to place greater value on their
people and partners. 69% of ready businesses believe that their
internal talent is critically important.
Source: Achieving Business Readiness - How multinational companies can future-proof success in a world of change. Vodafone 2014
Are you ready?
Become a ready business: enterprise.vodafone.com/readybusiness