Premier Foods and Vodafone deliver platform for business innovationPremier Foods is a Ready Business

Vodafone Global Enterprise

VodafonePower to you

The Vodafone solution made a lot of sense. Realistically, it was the only option that could provide leadership on fixed, mobile and WAN.Mark Vickery, Group Information Systems & Change Director, Premier Foods

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Consolidated communications works a treat

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Vodafone Global Enterprise

The challengeConsolidation 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.”

The bottom lineCreating 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.”

The solutionUnderpinning 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.

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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

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About the customer

Industry: Consumer Goods Headquarters: St Albans, UK Employees: 4,000 Web: premierfoods.co.uk LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/premier-foods

Help me manage my comms

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

Consolidates seven communications suppliers to one: Working solely with Vodafone delivers costs savings of 20-25 per cent and creates a long term strategic partnership

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

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