Vodafone unveils plans for strategic partnership with Accenture

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone Group unveiled plans for a strategic partnership with Accenture on Monday to accelerate the commercialisation of shared operations.

The FTSE 100 telecoms giant said the move was part of its broader transformation strategy, aiming to boost growth, enhance customer service, and drive operational efficiency across its operating companies and partner markets.

It said the partnership would capitalise on Vodafone's existing shared services unit, Vodafone Intelligent Solutions (VOIS), to establish a more efficiently structured organisation offering high-quality services and quicker market access for its services.

Vodafone said it would retain majority ownership, maintain management control, and continue making sourcing decisions.

Accenture would bring its technology and transformation services into the partnership, leveraging digital solutions, platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) expertise.

The company said Accenture's learning capabilities would also be crucial in nurturing talent development and creating new career paths for employees.

Accenture was committing €150m to support the collaboration in exchange for a minority stake.

The board said the partnership would harness the strengths and expertise of both Vodafone and Accenture, building on a decade of high-performance expansion.

It aimed to make Vodafone's organisation more agile and efficient, aligning with its customer-centric, simplicity-driven growth strategy.

A memorandum of understanding had been signed, and the final agreements were expected to be concluded in the spring of next year.

"Today's announcement is a significant development for Vodafone as we change and simplify the way we work to better serve our customers and drive growth," said group chief executive officer Margherita Della Valle.

"The partnership with Accenture opens up new opportunities for our company and our people.

"We're excited about the potential of our new commercial shared services organisation and the potential to serve not only Vodafone's own markets but our Telco partners across the industry."

At 0829 GMT, shares in Vodafone Group were up 0.36% at 76.65p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.