Vodafone Q&A: SME boss Rob Shardlow

Vodafone’s indirect strategy has been the subject of much speculation, and little detail, for well over a year. Its appointment of former Avenir Telecom UK managing director Tanny Price in late 2008 appeared like a channel-pleasing move by the operator, and overdue.

Price’s acrimonious exit  early last year as Vodafone fell out with her previous employer, set it back. It has taken a long time to recover, and questions remain of its strategy still.

Rob Shardlow, formerly with Virgin Mobile and One2One, joined a restructured enterprise team at Vodafone late last summer, taking the role of SME sales director. Since, it has arguably stuttered with its One and OneNet unified communications propositions, and failed to make much public sense of Yes Telecom.

It is running revenue share schemes with certain Yes Telecom dealers and direct ‘premier partners’, but nothing unilateral, or firm.

Likewise, long-running rumour Yes Telecom, once a service provision business, will be rebranded ‘Vodafone Distribution’ and set as a central unit for all third-party connections has done the rounds since a stop was put on Yes Telecom-marked stationary in spring last year.

It remains unanswered here. Which does not give the impression, really, Vodafone is much clearer on its channel strategy now, despite Shardlow’s vague promise of the “best customer and partner experience on the UK’s best network”.

In the economic climate, with the added uncertainty of industry changes and challenges, O2 has provided partners with extended contracts. They also have in place a working revenue share model. Vodafone has said much about both but has so far issued neither. Will Vodafone bring in these partner business models, and when?
We have been trialling many different approaches with our partners to find a model that is mutually beneficial and builds on those models that other operators put into the market. It is not necessarily a case of one size fits all. Watch this space over the coming months for more news. 

Will Yes Telecom be rebranded ‘Vodafone Distribution’? Will ‘premier partners’ work through Yes Telecom?
Our goal is to create the best customer and partner experience on the UK’s best network. We’ll take the best of Yes Telecom together with the best Vodafone UK and create a unique offer for partners. Our approach will centre on offering the right type of service to the right partners. More on this to follow soon in Mobile News.

What are Vodafone’s plans for revenue share? I understand it is trialling revenue share with certain Yes Telecom dealers and that you will offer 30 per cent ongoing revenue as well as a significant upfront commission to cover kit costs, and that you will take a cut of revenue share each month to pay off the hardware subsidies. Can you shed more light on this? When and how will it be introduced?
Watch out for the next instalment on what we’re up to.

O2 has given control of large numbers of SME customers, originally signed by it direct, to dealers to manage. Will Vodafone look to do the same?
Our channel strategy is to do what’s right for the customer – if the customer wants to be managed directly, we will manage directly, and if, as many SME customers do, they want the benefits of the local service from a partner then our partners will manage them. In certain instances we may pass customers to dealers to manage but it will be very specific cases.

Is it true Apple will not allow any new resellers to sell the iPhone? I understood Vodafone would allow certain of its service provider partners to sell the device. Is this incorrect?
We want to allow as many of our partners who are able to be accredited, to be accredited so as many of our customers can buy the iPhone 3G S on the UK’s best network. We are currently evaluating the next wave of partners who will be able to sell the iPhone 3G S. More details to follow soon.

When will the dealer market be able to sell OneNet to customers?
OneNet is currently live, following the successful launch with customer and partner trials in progress today. We are progressively bringing more customers and partners on board as we finalise what will be an outstanding experience for customers and partners.

In the past five years, Vodafone has had three different heads of SME and three different heads of channel, all with different strategies. How can I be sure your strategy won’t change again?
We are totally committed to the partner channel as a key route to market, offering benefits of local service, geographical reach and additional capabilities. My arrival at Vodafone, along with my 20 years experience in UK channel sales of which 15 years have specifically been in the communications space, signals the increased focus on delivering a fantastic, rewarding partner experience across the board for our customers.

O2 has a process called ‘rules of engagement’, which, whilst not perfect, does at least attempt to manage conflict between channels in a constructive rather than divisive way. Does Vodafone plan to introduce anything similar and, if so, when will it do so?
Our goal is to create healthy channel competition while ensuring we do what’s right for the customer and for our partners.

In an environment as challenging as mobile, networks could potentially churn their own customers to inflate new connection figures. Are you aware of this happening within Vodafone stores? And how damaging would you say such activity is?
Vodafone UK is a public listed company and we regularly report our key KPIs, which are subject to a high level of governance.

Why is it so difficult to get a response from Vodafone’s SME recruitment team? Has Vodafone frozen recruitment within its SME sales team?
We’re on the look out for great people to join Vodafone UK. Please feel free to send your CV for my personal attention: rob.shardlow@vodafone.com.