1. Premier Foods and
Vodafone deliver
platform for
business innovation
Premier Foods is a Ready Business
VodafoneGlobalEnterprise
Vodafone
Power to you
TheVodafonesolution
madealotofsense.
Realistically, itwas
theonlyoption
thatcouldprovide
leadershiponfixed,
mobileandWAN.
Mark Vickery, Group Information
Systems & Change Director,
Premier Foods
“ “

2. Consolidated communications
works a treat
2
Vodafone Global Enterprise
Thechallenge
Consolidation and enablement
Premier Foods is one of the UK’s largest food
producers, with some of the country’s most
iconic brands, including Bisto, Oxo and Mr Kipling.
It claims 95 per cent of households will have
bought at least one of its products last year and
43 per cent of us eat a Premier Foods product
each week.
But the business had started to become a victim
of its own success. A decade of acquisition
and expansion had left the group in need of
consolidation. In response, the management
strategy was to concentrate on its leading
‘power’ brands, trim costs and boost its
marketing support.
“Communication and collaboration are a vital
part of our future,” says Mark Vickery, Group
Information Systems & Change Director,
Premier Foods.
Previously, the group had separate suppliers for
its fixed, mobile and WAN. With seven in total
across the entire communications estate, this
impacted on cost and management time. The
plan was to consolidate this to one, cutting costs
and creating a strategic partnership.
“Mobility and communications is a difficult
market to call,” says Vickery. “We wanted to
partner with someone who lives in the tech
world, someone to advise us where the market
is heading.”
Thebottomline
Creating a platform for growth
Vickery estimates the Vodafone solution will
deliver cost savings of between 20-25 per cent.
The savings come from balancing charges across
the mobile and fixed estate, streamlined supply
chain, reduced management and billing. “It’s one
supplier with which to collaborate,” says Vickery.
The roll-out is expected to be complete by the
end of 2014: “Fixed is done, we’re in phase two
of mobile and we’re dealing with data in planned
phases to ensure it goes smoothly.”
The impact is three-fold, says Vickery.
Immediately, cost savings will be channelled
into marketing support for Premier Foods’
brands – nearly 90 per cent of the group’s £850
million revenues come from branded products,
with double-digit increases in marketing support
planned for its eight ‘power’ brands.
“In a more strategic sense, it’s given us the
platform to improve process and collaboration
across the business,” he says. It has allowed
Premier Foods to introduce mobility to a much
wider number of users.
“Vodafone will help us put mobile devices
into the hands of a lot more employees,
and we’re looking at how they use these
devices. It’s been amazing to see how people
respond and not just from a productivity
standpoint. You can’t tell people how to be
innovative, but working with Vodafone we’re
now in a better position to listen to – and act
on ideas, from wherever they come from within
the business.”
Thesolution
Underpinning group-wide collaboration
Premier Foods selected Vodafone as its exclusive
provider of integrated communications. It will
deliver fixed, mobile and WAN across the UK.
The five-year deal ensures flexible SLAs and
guarantees mobile coverage at 2 to 3 previously
patchy locations.
"I see this single-source agreement as an
important step in supporting the company's
plans to simplify the organisation, improve
operational efficiencies and enhance
collaboration,” says Vickery. “The Vodafone
solution made a lot of sense. Realistically, it was
the only option that could provide leadership on
fixed, mobile and WAN.”
In conjunction, the business has also adopted
new collaboration tools enabled by the
consolidated technology. “Vodafone provides
the technology on which these tools work.
It underpins our attempts at collaboration,”
says Vickery.
“We’re a business that deals in brands and, in
Vodafone, we’re working with a huge brand,”
he continues. “There is value in our staff trusting
the Vodafone brand.”
The typical pains of a growing business: with expansion comes multiple suppliers, different
contracts and increasing complexity. The business has a continual drive to become more
nimble and cost efficient. For Premier Foods, a revised management plan allowed the
business to rethink and regroup, with communications at the fore. It means the business
is now more focused on its core competencies, more agile, more mobile and better
prepared to face the future.

3. 3
Premier Foods
You can’t tell people how to be innovative,
but working with Vodafone we’re now in a better
position to listen to – and act on ideas, from
wherever they come from within the business.
Mark Vickery, Group Information Systems & Change Director, Premier Foods
“ “
About the customer
Industry: Consumer Goods
Headquarters: St Albans, UK
Employees: 4,000
Web: premierfoods.co.uk
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/premier-foods
Helpmemanage
mycomms
Vickery says innovation need not be confined
to sales and marketing. “It’s group-wide, from
factory floor to head-office. We’re looking at
simplifying every process, anything that prevents
employees from doing what they need to do.
We’re pretty efficient at this anyway, but there is
more potential to unlock.”
From an infrastructure perspective, having
one supplier makes it easier to integrate new
acquisitions, dispose of other parts of the
business or to deal with unplanned market
changes. For example, in April 2014 Premier
Foods reached an agreement with The Gores
Group, a private investment firm, to operate its
bread business as a stand-alone joint venture
trading as Hovis Limited. The new technology
contributed to a smooth transition. As the group
supports its various brands into the future, this
Ready Business mentality will be vital.
The strategic relationship with Vodafone leaves
the company more agile and better prepared to
act on opportunities.
“The hard work of recent years, including the
decision to focus our communications with
Vodafone, has given us the platform we need
to grow and thrive,” says Vickery. “The vision is
to be a brand-led, innovative business, focused
on people and process-enablement. Working
smarter is directly linked to this. Selecting
Vodafone is evidence of the ICT agenda evolving
and becoming more strategic.”
Benefits
Consolidatessevencommunications
supplierstoone: WorkingsolelywithVodafone
deliverscostssavingsof20-25percentand
createsalongtermstrategicpartnership
Guarantees mobile coverage: For the first
time, coverage will be ensured across every
Premier Foods location, allowing roll-out of
mobile devices to a wider range of employees
Creates a consistent, reliable platform:
Allows Premier Foods to drive workforce
productivity improvements

4. enterprise.vodafone.com
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