View from the Boardroom: How Virgin Media O2 is Staying Ahead of Industry Trends and Leading the Way in CX

Expanding on the session he led at CCW Europe’s Exchange in March 2023, Director of Innovation at Virgin Media O2, Ant Morse shares his insights on the future of innovation and its impact on customer experience (CX). In this interview, he explores how innovation is about more than the technology you use, and that it’s about how you can positively disrupt the system by changing the way we work, shop, and live.  

CCW Europe Digital: What is the key takeaway you hope attendees took away from your session at CCW Europe’s 2023 March Exchange?

Ant Morse: The future of innovation isn’t just about the advancement of technology, but instead the impact it has on society. Technology allows us to work and live in different ways, so when we think about innovation we need to ask, ‘How will it impact and transform the way we work and how we live as a consequence?’.

CCW ED: What does customer service mean to you?

AM: Customer service is evolving fast and lots of organisations are doing similar things, so companies need to look at their service strategy and find differentiation. Looking for differentiation is important because you are not always going to be competing in your own sector, you are also competing for digital spend. Everything is becoming a service – I refer to this as life-as-a-service. Everything from your mobile phone subscription and your broadband through to your television, even your doorbell and groceries that come on repeat are all generating a digital cost. As these services increase, I think there will be a period of time where salaries don’t increase to match and therefore we will have an imbalance. That will put huge pressure on organisations to make sure that they are not only competing in their own sector, but they are also competing elsewhere. To compete with businesses across all sectors, the service can’t just be good, it has to be brilliant, to give customers a reason to stay and to keep that digital subscription going.

CCW ED: What is Virgin Media O2 doing to stay ahead of industry trends and lead the way in CX?

AM: The merger of Virgin Media and O2 has enabled customers to reap the benefits of reliable and fast connectivity, now with greater mobility. At home or in the office we typically stay connected over Wi-Fi but once you leave that vicinity you rely on wireless mobile networks. 

Our customers expect brilliant connectivity coupled with brilliant solutions and experiences. We are providing customers with the solutions, devices, and applications that allow their people to work in new ways, that not only drive efficiencies but also allow them to improve the service they provide to their own customers.

CCW ED: What is Virgin Media O2's main focus area over the next year?

AM: We are focusing on our differentiator, of staying ahead of the pack, leading by innovation, where we can better support our customers, and really empower our customers to see what they can do. We feel that our people have the skills and expertise to really open up their eyes to the possibilities of change and we have a robust innovation exploration process that allows us to work in partnership with our customers to explore not only the Art of the Possible for the future, but also the enhancement and evolutions of today. It’s an incredible combination and we are delivering some very exciting projects with our customers. 

CCW ED: In your opinion, what area should every CX leader be investing in to receive the best return on investment?

AM: I think it is got to be the omnichannel experience to make sure that there is a high level of self-service, but also to ensure the human element is not diminished within service. To that point, companies need to also look at being proactive and actively speak to customers before they are reaching out to companies.