Creating consistency at scale

How we keep millions of customer connections on track

By Gary Adey, VOIS CEO & Executive Director 

The best customer experiences are the ones nobody talks about. They just work - consistently, across markets and channels, without friction.

But delivering that feeling, across millions of daily interactions, multiple channels and different markets, in a way that feels seamless to the customer, is anything but simple.

We’re always exploring how connected customer journeys are evolving and what it takes to earn and keep trust. Just as important is how we deliver that consistency: through shared data, shared platforms and coordination across our global footprint.

At Vodafone, this happens at a scale few organisations ever have to consider. And it’s powered by a global operation that most customers will never see, but always benefit from.

So how do we deliver on this promise, day after day?

This is where Vodafone Intelligent Solutions (VOIS) plays a central role. It’s not a single technology or a set of guidelines, but an operating model - connecting people, platforms and expertise to keep customer experiences running smoothly.

Most customers will never see this infrastructure. That’s exactly the point.

From shared services to shared intelligence

VOIS is the operational engine behind much of what Vodafone delivers. Over more than 20 years, it has become one of the largest shared operations units in telecoms - bringing together over 35,000 people across more than 10 countries and delivering over €2 billion in value to Vodafone.

The expectations around customer experience have changed a lot in that time. So too has the infrastructure behind VOIS, adapting and evolving to earn our customers’ trust at every touchpoint – no matter the shifting landscape. A strategic partnership with Accenture in 2024 has further accelerated this shift - evolving VOIS towards a more intelligence-led model that combines expertise, AI and technology to improve how work is delivered day to day.
VOIS runs on four interconnected principles:

• Shared data, so every team works from the same picture.
• Shared platforms, built once and deployed across markets for consistent quality.
• Shared operational expertise, with playbooks proven across two decades of delivery.
• Shared accountability, where outcomes are tied to business results.

In practice, this means that a process refined in one market can be deployed in another without starting from scratch. Where solutions that work in Egypt perform just as well when they reach Hungary, India or the UK.

How we’re getting ready for the future

Working at this scale takes more than capable teams and strong processes. It takes technology that’s been tested and proven in the real world.

Across VOIS, teams have spent years building AI directly into day to day operations, not as a bolt on, but as part of how work gets done. That experience now sits across multiple markets, supported by over 2,200 AI specialists.

Take SuperTOBi, the evolution of our chatbot TOBi. Enhanced with the power of generative AI, it can handle more complex tasks more easily and has taken the user experience to another level. It operates in 8 countries, serving 1.5 million conversations every month.

Or our Atlas Programme, which rebuilt Vodafone’s CRM platform from the ground up. Through VOIS, we automated over 10,000 test cases, accelerated testing cycles by 40% and eliminated 98% of manual testing effort. The result is a system that now supports more than 11,000 agents serving over 33 million customers.

Both are already live across markets, running at full scale and shaping the experience millions of customers have with us every day.

And more than that, VOIS is using agentic reinvention to fundamentally redesign how problems are approached. It starts with the customer view and a desired outcome, using VOIS' Agentic Lab to bring business need and tech together in rapid sprints to redesign, build, test and iterate, in order to produce solutions that scale.

Proven expertise beyond Vodafone

Our joint portfolio is now extending beyond our own business. Earlier this year, Vodafone Business, working alongside VOIS and CGI, signed a four-year partnership with Centrica, the parent company of British Gas and Hive. The agreement covers workplace services and connectivity across 80 Centrica sites and approximately 30,000 devices across the UK.

This is a strong example of how the consistency model and playbooks we’ve built internally can also create value for other organisations.

Why does this matter?

Consistency doesn’t make headlines. Nobody posts on LinkedIn about a frictionless interaction that simply worked the way it should. And yet, it’s one of the most important factors in earning customer trust. It’s the difference between a single transaction and a partnership that lasts decades. It’s work that’s never finished. Customer expectations will keep rising, new markets will bring new complexities, and the bar for what a good customer experience looks like will continue to shift.

At its best, trust is something customers feel, not something they think about. It gives people the freedom to get on with everyday life, without questioning what’s happening behind the scenes. What Vodafone and VOIS are building together delivers exactly that. An operating model that moves in step with customer expectations, where every customer journey feels continuous, connected, and resolved end to end.