Communication in the workplace today is measurably different to what it was five years ago, when booking a meeting room or having a productive chat by a boiling kettle was the order of the day. Before 2020, Vodafone staff were spending 50 million minutes a month using digital collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams. After the rise of hybrid working, this year it hit 250 million minutes – a fivefold increase.
Having more modern, flexible ways of collaborating offers huge benefits, but the sheer increase in the speed and volume of digital information flow brings issues too.
Microsoft’s Work Trend Index shows around two in three people (64 per cent) say they struggle to find the time and energy to do their jobs. And those people are three and a half times more likely to also have difficulties sparking innovation and strategic thinking.
Given that Vodafone’s mission involves helping its customers respond to such digital challenges, it’s equally as invested in applying the latest AI tools to help its own staff work more effectively.
Despite the rise of hybrid working, two thirds of employees say they struggle to have enough time and energy to do their jobs. Could AI help free them from the digital mire?
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IT chief Robert Leeson says AI makes online meetings more efficient
Find out how generative AI is having a measurable, long-term business impact on Vodafone by making work more rewarding and helping staff achieve more. For insights about how organisations across the UK are using intelligent solutions to boost productivity, reimagine processes, boost customer experience and drive security, please visit the Microsoft UK AI Hub
How workers can win back two hours a week
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Robert Leeson, head of global office IT and digital workplace at Vodafone Group Services, has been spearheading the company’s efforts to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot.
This generative AI assistant is embedded in Microsoft’s suite of productivity apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, to help people save time and get more done. Leeson sees these benefits manifesting at three distinct levels.
First is the impact it has on individuals’ productivity. “I have personally found Copilot helpful when preparing for and following up on calls,” he says. “I ask it to generate pre- and post-meeting reminders and summaries, which it can do because it can securely access all the work data in my Microsoft graph, as well as check or improve the quality of my draft messages and documents.”
Then there’s the impact on team efficiency – the network effect of multiple people collaborating in a more streamlined way. “We have found Copilot combines well with Microsoft Teams’ whiteboard function, grouping ideas and capturing discussion points during live meetings,” Leeson adds. “Live transcripts help everyone follow along too.”
Lastly, there are what he calls “extensible applications”, where Copilot can integrate and work across different software platforms and business applications, beyond the core Microsoft 365 suite. “This means it can improve productivity by extending to, and interacting with, Vodafone’s other business critical systems,” he explains. “This extensibility allows Copilot to support more complex and specialised business processes – one of the most exciting areas for future progress.” Vodafone’s approach to testing, learning about and encouraging the adoption of generative artificial intelligence is another reason that such a positive impact was achieved so quickly.
Three levels of AI benefits and value
During the early access programme and trial period that provided 300 Copilot licences, Vodafone commissioned an independent analysis of the business impact and return on investment (ROI). This found consistent evidence of “opportunity hours” – those hours often lost to inefficiency – being maximised by speeding up tasks such as drafting emails and other documents.
Specifically, the data showed Copilot was saving on average about two hours a week per person. And when surveyed, 92 per cent of users said they would not want to give up access to Copilot, with 25 per cent saying it helped them improve the quality of their work. It was this hard data regarding the ROI of generative AI that informed Vodafone leadership’s decision to expand the rollout to 68,000 employees.
Proactive and data driven
As generative AI is still an emerging and rapidly developing technology, staff at Vodafone are on a continuous learning journey to better understand how it could assist people across all its potential applications.
To help bring everyone along on that journey together, weekly drop-in sessions were held for people to connect in person and over Teams to discuss their Copilot experiences. Bespoke Copilot guidance tailored to specific roles and departments, supported by relevant communities and regular updates via Teams, also empowered staff to experiment and communicate better.
Community and role-based education
Vodafone’s senior executives have been incredibly hands-on, meeting Microsoft AI experts to learn more and helping connect C-suite staff at Vodafone with those at Microsoft to share their AI experiences.
As Jen Bagshaw, Vodafone global client director at Microsoft, explains: “Robert has been brilliant at leading the rollout and adoption of AI tooling on the ground, while reflecting the company’s determination to transform itself, and exemplified strong executive sponsorship.
“Vodafone and Microsoft have a shared mission around using technology for good and has encouraged senior business leaders to communicate about how they are using AI to drive performance within their own teams.
“The Copilot programme has offered a great opportunity for us to work holistically, hand in hand, while strengthening and renewing our partnership. And the results are showing up in the pace at which Vodafone is driving adoption and improving the staff and customer experience through AI.”
Sponsorship from C-suite to grassroots
Copilot adoption in Vodafone’s in-house legal teams has been a breakout success. As a global telecoms provider, the company has numerous complex supply-side and go-to-market contracts that require professional oversight. Generative AI’s ability to dig into the firm’s repository data and interrogate it for nuances in contract and term comparisons, as well as finding, sharing and using helpful terminology more consistently, has proved a huge advantage.
It’s an area where building Copilot into the fabric of Vodafone’s core, secure workplace environment has helped earn users’ trust: the legal teams happily advocate the benefits of experimenting with AI and Copilot’s use as a crucial tool for modern work.
Vodafone treats AI as part of its broader business transformation strategy rather than an isolated IT project. Leeson’s work has involved experts from across the business. Staff in HR, finance, legal, as well as consumer and B2B customer and sales operations, are all consulted and engaged.
Exciting as all this is, he says generative artificial intelligence is bursting with potential to empower workers further: “We’re only at the foothills of AI-driven organisational transformation.”
Everyone has value to contribute
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Important point
Getting together to learn and talk with each other is vital for understanding benefits of AI
‘92 per cent of users did not want to give up access to their AI assistant and 25 per cent said it helped improve the quality of their work’
Empowering champions to lead the way
How workers can win back two hours a week
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Communication in the workplace today is measurably different to what it was five years ago, when booking a meeting room or having a productive chat by a boiling kettle was the order of the day. Before 2020, Vodafone staff were spending 50 million minutes a month using digital collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams. After the rise of hybrid working, this year it hit 250 million minutes – a fivefold increase.
Having more modern, flexible ways of collaborating offers huge benefits, but the sheer increase in the speed and volume of digital information flow brings issues too.
Microsoft’s Work Trend Index shows around two in three people (64 per cent) say they struggle to find the time and energy to do their jobs. And those people are three and a half times more likely to also have difficulties sparking innovation and strategic thinking.
Given that Vodafone’s mission involves helping its customers respond to such digital challenges, it’s equally as invested in applying the latest AI tools to help its own staff work more effectively.
Three levels of AI benefits and value
Robert Leeson, head of global office IT and digital workplace at Vodafone Group Services, has been spearheading the company’s efforts to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot.
This generative AI assistant is embedded in Microsoft’s suite of productivity apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, to help people save time and get more done. Leeson sees these benefits manifesting at three distinct levels.
First is the impact it has on individuals’ productivity. “I have personally found Copilot helpful when preparing for and following up on calls,” he says. “I ask it to generate pre- and post-meeting reminders and summaries, which it can do because it can securely access all the work data in my Microsoft graph, as well as checking or improving the quality of my draft messages and documents.”
Then there’s the impact on team efficiency – the network effect of multiple people collaborating in a more streamlined way. “We have found Copilot combines well with Microsoft Teams’ whiteboard function, grouping ideas and capturing discussion points during live meetings,” Leeson adds. “Live transcripts help everyone follow along too.”
Lastly, there are what he calls “extensible applications”, where Copilot can integrate and work across different software platforms and business applications, beyond the core Microsoft 365 suite. “This means it can improve productivity by extending to, and interacting with, Vodafone’s other business critical systems,” he explains. “This extensibility allows Copilot to support more complex and specialised business processes – one of the most exciting areas for future progress.” Vodafone’s approach to testing, learning about and encouraging the adoption of generative artificial intelligence is another reason that such a positive impact was achieved so quickly.
Proactive and data driven
During the early access programme and trial period that provided 300 Copilot licences, Vodafone commissioned an independent analysis of the business impact and return on investment (ROI). This found consistent evidence of “opportunity hours” – those hours often lost to inefficiency – being maximised by speeding up tasks such as drafting emails and other documents.
Specifically, the data showed Copilot was saving on average about two hours a week per person. And when surveyed, 92 per cent of users said they would not want to give up access to Copilot, with 25 per cent saying it helped them improve the quality of their work. It was this hard data regarding the ROI of generative AI that informed Vodafone leadership’s decision to expand the rollout to 68,000 employees.
Sponsorship from C-suite to grassroots
Vodafone’s senior executives have been incredibly hands-on, meeting Microsoft AI experts to learn more and helping connect C-suite staff at Vodafone with those at Microsoft to share their AI experiences.
As Jen Bagshaw, Vodafone global client director at Microsoft, explains: “Robert has been brilliant at leading the rollout and adoption of AI tooling on the ground, while reflecting the company’s determination to transform itself, and exemplified strong executive sponsorship.
“Vodafone and Microsoft have a shared mission around using technology for good and has encouraged senior business leaders to communicate about how they are using AI to drive performance within their own teams.
“The Copilot programme has offered a great opportunity for us to work holistically, hand in hand, while strengthening and renewing our partnership. And the results are showing up in the pace at which Vodafone is driving adoption and improving the staff and customer experience through AI.”
Empowering champions to lead the way
Copilot adoption in Vodafone’s in-house legal teams has been a breakout success. As a global telecoms provider, the company has numerous complex supply-side and go-to-market contracts that require professional oversight. Generative AI’s ability to dig into the firm’s repository data and interrogate it for nuances in contract and term comparisons, as well as finding, sharing and using helpful terminology more consistently, has proved a huge advantage.
It's an area where building Copilot into the fabric of Vodafone’s core, secure workplace environment has helped earn users’ trust: the legal teams happily advocate the benefits of experimenting with AI and Copilot’s use as a crucial tool for modern work.
Despite the rise of hybrid working, two thirds of employees say they struggle to have enough time and energy to do their jobs. Could AI help free them from the digital mire?