VodafoneZiggo’s Flex value proposition offers a fast connection, is highly flexible in use, provides easy admin through self-service, and delivers real-time insight into usage and requirements. The proposition offers multiple products in a single ecosystem with a zero-click provisioning system.
A Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) solution that gives customers full control of their network, it connects to any company network (without requiring a Vodafone network); offers immediate use of network applications, alarm systems, and pin-based payments upon opening a new location; can be set-up in real-time using the self-service portal with full control; and provides insight into all data streams within the company network.
Lightning-fast response to evolving customer needs
The quality-first collaboration between VodafoneZiggo, SIG, NetRom, and Codaxy has been designed to deliver superior performance in productivity and effective management of partners in delivering the value proposition to the market. This is essential for VodafoneZiggo in order to respond to evolving customer needs in its product development. On average in the Telecom industry, time to market for a software product ranges between 1 to 3 years. VodafoneZiggo, however, can deliver product increments to market in a 2-week interval following an agile development methodology with an average time of ideation to go live of only 90 days.
“Vodafone Flex is a relatively new value proposition that only started a few years ago, initially only offering 1-2 services,” says Jo Smits, Technical Product Manager of Vodafone Flex. “Now we have almost 10 services in a fully integrated portal.”
Maximizing User Experience for VodafoneZiggo’s customers
Maximizing the user experience for VodafoneZiggo customers is the single most important objective for the Vodafone Flex team, aiming to make ordering and changes to the network set-up as easy and fast as possible. Borges describes the results as “Power to the customer! Combining various products in a self-service portal is a huge ask from our customers. We continue to mold the value proposition and shape our offerings to improve their user experience.”
Through zero-click provisioning and lean product development organization, VodafoneZiggo also maximizes the cost-effectiveness of its value proposition. In product development, effective prevention of technical debt, strong security parameters, and maintainability of the software solution contribute to this outcome. “Focus on customer value is the most important objective for Vodafone,” says Erik Kroon, Program Lead Architect at VodafoneZiggo. “All results drive towards satisfying this objective through a combination of optimal user experience and maximizing cost-effectiveness.”
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Mature internal IT organization
Mature internal IT organization
A mature internal IT organization is critical for maximizing the return on investment from an in-house team, where product owners are responsible for managing the ‘product backlog’ of work, and software architects create a plan that describes a set of aspects and decisions important to a software product. ”In the collaboration with VodafoneZiggo we see a great example of a mature product development process and a very experienced product owner and architect,” says Mircea Negrilla, CTO of NetRom. “The impact of this level of maturity is immediately visible in the velocity of the scrum teams.”
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Culture of quality, co-creation and accountability
A culture of quality, co-creation, and accountability is fully ingrained in the DNA of the involved teams. From the start of the program, there has been an immense focus on quality beginning with the vendor selection process, where NetRom was ultimately selected due to its culture of quality. With a fully dedicated Quality Assurance department with ISTQB-certified engineers and a “borderline obnoxious” focus on full integration testing the NetRom team is able to ensure maintainability and security while minimizing the build-up of technical debt. In the broader collaboration, a culture of co-creation and accountability is adopted. Through its vertical-specific knowledge base, NetRom is able to drive co-creation in the design of the technology solutions based on convictions built up through relevant experiences in the sector. Unlike a remote staffing model that is common in outsourcing of software development, the team drives towards shared convictions on how to address the architectural set-up and shares accountability over the outcome of the product and business challenges.
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Open and collaborative approach among all parties
Establishing a common purpose has set the foundation and serves as the glue holding the collaboration together. Open and effective communication channels between all three parties continues to keep expectations aligned, facilitate smooth operation of day-to-day activities, and drive overall project success. This, combined with a conscious effort to connect beyond the scope of the delivery and hold in-person meetings between the teams in the Netherlands and Romania (before the COVID-19 pandemic) regularly, drives a ‘one-team, one objective’ mindset. “The ultimate objective for all three parties – the product owner, the quality partner, and the supplier – is to make the product the absolute best it can be,” says Heijstek. “With this primary focus on product quality, communication stays open and transparent and any issue is viewed positively as an opportunity for improvement.” This shared objective and shared commitment contributes to a true ‘in-house’ software development capability for VodafoneZiggo.
