Virgin Media – Brochure 2020

Virgin Media: A customer focused digital transformation PROJEC T PARTNERS

How Virgin Media’s digital transformation means putting the customer first We speak with Sarah Golley, VP of Digital Transformation at Virgin Media, as she explains how a digital transformation is nothing without the people and the customers

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WRI T T EN BY

D al e Bent on

PRODUCED BY

And y L l oy d

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O

ne of the biggest impacts of the rapid and continuous evolution of the technology

landscape is that it has removed the traditional ideas surrounding customer loyalty. We live our lives through seamless and connected digital platforms, be it the smartphone or the internet, and this has created a sense of expectation.

If a customer goes through their daily lives with a digital experience that suits their every need, why should their experience and engagement with a business be any different? “How customers want to engage with us has changed and is continuing to change at a fast pace, driven by the rapid adoption of technology.

Customers of today are less likely to be brand-loyal and will leave if they don’t get

multiple types of people, from silver surf-

what they want and need. We want our

ers and baby boomers all the way down to

customers to find us easy to do business

millennials and Gen Z. We need to provide

with, and we want them to stay,” explains

solutions for everyone.”

Sarah Golley, VP of Digital Transformation of Virgin Media.

“Customers these days typically want

So, how does an organisation go about providing these solutions? For Virgin Media, the key is having technology that

information to be simple to find and

is flexible and adaptable to changing

instantly available. They want to have the

customer needs. In order to have this,

option to have everything online, they

Virgin Media embarked on a digital trans-

want to self-serve if they have issues, they

formation journey, and brought in Golley

want to shop or deal with issues at a time

to spearhead this transformation in order

that suits them. We are now speaking to

to build an IT architecture that could

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“By flipping the narrative I have put the customer in the driving seat, not the technology” —

S A R A H GO L L E Y, V P O F D IG I TAL T R AN S F O R M AT IO N. V IRG IN M E D I A

cater to the customer demands of today

of digital transformation, without really

and those of tomorrow. As VP of Digital

thinking about why we do it and what

Transformation at Virgin Media, Golley’s

outcomes should be achieved,” she

first responsibility was to understand

says. “It’s often the case where you hear

exactly what the ‘problem’ was that the

of businesses enduring previous false

company was trying to solve. This, she

starts and missed opportunities, which is

feels, is ‘always the number one question’.

very common when any company starts

“It’s easy to dive into the excitement 8

out with a digital transformation agenda.

I spoke to other telcos running digital

victim to the excitement of digital trans-

transformation projects both within the

formation. With so many organisations

Liberty Global family and outside. I looked

the world over embarking on and cham-

at the challenges, the scars and the

pioning their own digital transformation

things that were really turning the dial in

stories, it can be easy to lose sight as to

a positive way.�

what your own transformation journey

One of the bigger challenges, and something that Golley alludes to, is falling

can and should look like. Very often we think that the key ingredient is technology, 9

but Golley is keen to stress that technology should never be in the driving seat.

“Digital transformation is about people. It’s

Sarah Golley VP of Digital Transformation Virgin Media

about customer-centricity. It’s about focusing on actual customer journeys, how

Sarah Golley is the Digital Transformation

the customer can flow between different

Vice President at Virgin Media, a key

channels, rather than technical features

brand within the Liberty Global family.

and requirements,” she says.

She has been responsible for leading a

“It’s more than automation and data.

high profile digital transformation, which

It’s also more than setting up a website

has established new ways of working to

and having an app. It’s about putting the

create a future-back approach to journey

people first. Digital transformation refers

design, driving digital adoption, challeng-

to the way we as a business are chang-

ing conventional thinking and achieving

ing, increasing focus and keeping pace

unprecedented speed of outcome deliv-

with our customers’ needs, which are

ery. Prior to this role, Sarah has led large

changing fast as a result of their rapid

transformation and delivery teams across

technology adoption.”

Europe as part of Liberty Global’s central

The ultimate goal for Virgin Media is to make it easier and seamless for customers to engage with the business. To achieve this, Golley and Virgin Media are looking at each of the customer journeys in turn with the future in mind. This will allow the business to radically change those journeys, creating fully personalised, simple and digital first experiences.

“We use customer journeys as the unit of change. Predicting the customers’ needs results in improved customer satisfaction and reduces churn,” she says. “In turn this will improve revenue and reduce costs.

It’s a win-win for the customers and so for 10

VIRGIN MEDIA

delivery team

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Advisory | Design | Technology | Operations

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Guiding Change with Purpose and Spirit

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the business.”

Through the creation of these future-fo-

very heart of its plans to achieve this.

“It starts and ends with our customers,”

cused omnichannel journeys, Virgin

says Golley. “We have been improving

Media needed to adopt a different way

customer satisfaction by giving customers

of working and a new energy defined by

what they need, putting the control back

increased collaboration and fast-paced

in the hands of the customer. In parallel

change. The overall transformation jour-

we have been driving cost savings by

ney started with the aim to push Virgin

encouraging greater digital adoption.”

Media down a successful path to start

As it continues to follow its north star,

the digital journey, using intelligent-lead

Virgin Media has adopted a different

solutions and putting the customer back

way of working and champions greater

in control.

collaboration across traditional business

Virgin Media follows its very own north

divisions. Moving away from a traditional

star as a company; to grow through advo-

project-driven world, the company works

cacy, and digital transformation is at the

on removing barriers and works towards w w w. th e i n te r fa ce. n et

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common goals in cross functional teams. “With any transformation it is important not to disrupt the BAU business, so we started in an area that will bring additional value,” says Golley. “We started by creating a customer journey factory, creating future focused customer journeys, using digital tools that support a direct or indirect interaction with the customer (web, app, messaging) underpinned and enabled by the right technology.”

As part of her role, Golley was tasked with identifying the problem and truly understanding the challenge ahead. Virgin Media is one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the UK, serving around 6mn cable customers and 3.3mn mobile customers nationwide.

Trying to implement significant change across a company of this size is no small feat, something that Golley recognises. “It’s hard to effect complex change in a big company, bringing people on board with a new way of working, a new way of doing things. I knew it was possible and needed people to come on the journey with me,” she says.

“Virgin Media did not have a digital transformation plan when I first started this role a year ago. There were digital services, such as the usual website and apps, but as a company we weren’t making it easy for customers to do business with us, and we weren’t making it easy for them to find the information they needed, which meant they were often frustrated and calling into our call centres.”

With projects taking anywhere between 9 - 12 months with fixed deliverables that were difficult and expensive to change, and a few previous attempts at digital transformation in the past, Golley needed to have a board that was engaged and fully behind her. “Successful digital 14

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“There is no digital transformation rulebook… each company needs to find its own path” —

S A R A H G O L L E Y, V P O F D IG I TAL T R AN S F O R M AT IO N. V IRG IN M E D I A

transformation is not restricted internally

remove any impediments, to take leader-

only to the Digital or the IT teams, it is

ship decisions when required. To enable

impacted across the whole company.

a consistent understanding and message

This is not just an agile training plan and

we talked to the Executive Committee

a new process. It’s not just a project or

about how agile will work for us. This was

programme to be delivered, it’s a change

the first step because our culture was

in company culture and the way we do

going to start changing.”

things, so it was essential to have the

Successfully navigating a digital trans-

backing of the Executive Committee (EC),”

formation is a challenging and ultimately

she says.

complex process. These challenges are

“We had sponsorship from the CEO and

often commonplace from organisation to

COO and fortnightly Steering Boards so

organisation, but it is the way in which a

we could show progress and get help to

company overcomes these hurdles that

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proves unique. Golley can attribute the

“We empowered the cross-functional

success here to three things: a growth

teams, we left it in their hands to drive

mindset, empowerment and trust.

the future omnichannel journeys and how

“‘Let’s try it’ became my mantra,” she

they would be achieved. I prepared the

says. “When faced with differing opin-

EC and the leadership teams and told

ions I used a ‘let’s just try it’ mindset. By

them they would need to be bold and

working in an agile way we were able

trust us, and that they would need to start

to try out some ideas in small controlled

‘being comfortable with being uncomfort-

environments. If they worked then we

able’. We were trusted that we would not

would move forward. If we did not get

break the organisation, because we could

the expected results then we could

try new ideas out in a controlled way.”

correct the course and try something else,” she says.

Digital transformation is not a new phenomenon, but as Golley attests to, 17

successfully achieving a digital transfor-

will lead to people losing their jobs, as

mation is relatively new in nature. She

computers take over. This isn’t necessar-

puts this down to there being no digi-

ily true and if left unchecked people can

tal transformation rulebook, with each

be frozen in fear. The reality is that tech-

company needing to find their own path,

nology is actually increasing employee

based on what the problem is that they

productivity, increasing and speeding up

need to solve. Most notably, she feels it’s

some processes,” says Golley.

absolutely essential that while compa-

“We are nothing without people. People

nies can focus on what goes well, they

(employees and vendors) can make or

should also look closely at what doesn’t.

break a digital transformation programme.

“Every company will make their own

And people (customers) are the reason

mistakes. But we will improve the chances

we need to change.”

of success by learning from the lessons of the past and present, making sure we don’t recreate the same mistakes,” she says. “A growth mindset is always important, but as such it is even more so for digital transformations.”

That communication proves fundamental when transformation naturally lends itself to uncertainty, which can lead to stress and anxiety. When facilitating a major transformation in any business three types of employee should be considered, each with a different role and potential impact; the people within the business facilitating the transformation; the people that will not be directly involved, but will create value in a different way and the people whose jobs will be impacted by the change, either directly or indirectly.

“Some think that digital transformation 18

VIRGIN MEDIA

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VIRGIN MEDIA

Those vendors play a key role in deliv-

the foundation to be set and as a busi-

ering this transformation, as Virgin Media

ness, Virgin Media now works differ-

looks to redefine its internal processes

ently, bringing together real collaboration

and ask its people to work in different

across traditional business divisions by

ways, it requires the support and guidance

removing barriers and working towards

from key strategic partners. IPSoft and NTT

common goals in cross functional teams.

Data are just two examples of where Virgin

The customer journey factory will now

Media leverages key expertise in areas

deliver an omnichannel customer expe-

that are new and complex, such as trialling

rience, driving digital adoption and allow

AI-driven digital conversations and deliver-

Virgin Media to look at the future jour-

ing on the promise of agility.

neys, which will continue to evolve.

Ultimately for Virgin Media, this digital

Golley says that this new way of working

transformation is focused on the custom-

is “breeding a culture that is willing to try

ers of today and being ready and able

new ideas, empowering teams to make

to be there for the customers of tomor-

change happen”. The key to success-

row. Golley believes that the term digi-

fully making that change happen for her

tal transformation though, should be

can be broken down into three simple

rethought. “It implies that there is a trans-

ingredients that Virgin Media has and will

formation from one state and to another,

continue to follow. “It’s the same in tele-

that there’s an end,” she says. “People

coms as in any other industry,” she says.

are constantly changing, the landscape

“Put the customer front and centre and

will shift. This is not something you can

give the customer the control. Don’t make

do and then walk away from. I prefer to

the mistake by thinking that this is a tech-

use the term digital evolution, driving the

nically-led transformation and make small

continuous change needed to keep our

micro-changes and test the impact as you

DNA consistently relevant.”

go. I think we should continue to live by

This first digital evolution has allowed

that mantra; ‘let’s just try it’.”

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