Vodafone
B2B SaaS Cybersecurity & IoT Services
Executive Summary
Managed a €600M Cybersecurity and IoT SaaS portfolio at Vodafone with P&L accountability, serving 150,000 SMBs across Europe and contributing to €1B in annual revenue.
The Challenge
The global telecommunications industry faces mounting pressure from the commoditisation of traditional connectivity services, driving providers to diversify with high-value digital solutions.
In response, Vodafone launched its B2B SaaS Marketplace to serve SOHO and SME business customers with a comprehensive suite of technology enablement services. Initially focused on Productivity and Collaboration SaaS solutions like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, Vodafone’s strategic vision for the platform needed to evolve to address more sophisticated business needs and challenges.
SME Expectations
SMEs in sectors such as logistics, healthcare, and finance increasingly required solutions that combined secure IoT functionality with robust data protection.
Vodafone needed to ensure its offerings aligned with industry-specific compliance requirements while remaining agile enough to support diverse business models.
Cybersecurity Threats
Cybersecurity threats continue to escalate, with global cyberattacks rising by 38% in 2022. Vodafone’s clients, many of whom manage sensitive data across interconnected devices, sought comprehensive security solutions to mitigate these evolving threats.
This demand necessitated a portfolio of services extending beyond basic connectivity to encompass advanced threat detection, endpoint security, and incident response capabilities.
Market Dynamics
The markets for cybersecurity and IoT are projected to grow rapidly, with the cybersecurity sector expected to reach $376 billion by 2029 and IoT anticipated to expand from $478 billion in 2022 to $1.85 trillion by 2029.
With hyperscalers and niche providers entering these markets with specialised offerings, Vodafone recognised the need to differentiate its platform by delivering industry-relevant, high-value solutions that drive digital transformation across all customer segments.
Platform Strategy & Orchestration
I joined Vodafone to lead the expansion of the B2B SaaS Marketplace to include Cybersecurity services across Europe, later appointed to manage the full €600M Cybersecurity and IoT portfolio with P&L accountability.
To drive growth, I conducted an extensive audit to understand service usage and initiated feedback loops with customers, sales teams, and OpCos to identify which services had achieved market-fit and which failed to gain traction. Simultaneously, I assessed the capabilities of the SaaS Marketplace platform (user experience, billing systems, and technical architecture) to identify opportunities to enhance customer acquisition, activation, and service usage.
Portfolio Expansion
Led the strategy and launch for 15 new SaaS Cybersecurity and IoT services across Europe. Forged strategic partnerships with AppDirect, Accenture, TrendMicro, and ServiceNow to white label and rapidly scale services including Breach Response & Forensics, Penetration Testing, Managed Firewall, Phishing Awareness, and IoT-enabled Tag & Track.
This expansion drove 25% annual revenue growth through regional strategies tailored to local market requirements.
Portfolio Orchestration
Managed the portfolio using Lean Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, and OKR methodologies to assess strategic fit, market viability, and operational feasibility, enabling consistent go/no-go decisions across 25 potential services.
Operated within a 150-person SAFe organisation, coordinating across Cybersecurity and IoT business units, Enterprise Architects, Experience Teams, and European OpCos for regional deployment.
Business Intelligence
Centralised investment, sales, and performance metrics, creating a unified dashboard that enabled real-time visibility across the portfolio and informed critical go/no-go decisions for service launches.
This data infrastructure delivered rich insights that allowed the optimisation of service positioning, pricing, and promotional strategies, leading to a 23% increase in customer acquisition, 36% growth in upsells, and 54% reduction in customer churn.
Service Validation
Conducted 50+ time-boxed experiments to validate product demand across European markets, employing manual processes and pilot programmes to gauge customer interest before committing to significant investment and service development.
These experiments identified high-potential services whilst eliminating low-demand offerings early, de-risking investments to support a sustainably growing portfolio.
Customer Experience
Redesigned the customer journey for new and existing services, enhancing onboarding flows, messaging, and support experiences derived from user research and behavioural analytics.
This improved satisfaction scores by 30%, reduced time-to-value for new customers, and strengthened retention, enabling service expansion across Europe.
Technical Enablement
Aligned business requirements with Vodafone’s technology ecosystem, integrating the SaaS Marketplace with IDAM, ServiceNow, and AppDirect to ensure seamless authentication, provisioning, and billing for customers across all services.
These integrations enabled scalable service delivery whilst maintaining enterprise-grade security and compliance standards, facilitating rapid expansion from pilot services to full production.
Capabilities
Expertise
- Cybersecurity
- Firewall Management
- Identity & Access Management (IAM)
- Incident & Response Planning
- Penetration Testing
- Phishing & Social Engineering Prevention
- Security Information & Event Management (SIEM)
- Threat Detection & Response
- Threat Intelligence
- Data & Artificial Intelligence
- Business Intelligence (BI)
- Data Analytics & Insights
- Finance
- Budget Planning & Management
- Cost Optimisation
- Financial Efficiency Analysis
- Profit & Loss (P&L) Management
- Marketing & Communications
- Go-To-Market Strategy
- Market Research & Analysis
- Operating Models & Value Orchestration
- Agile Methodologies
- Business Process Mapping & Optimisation
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Operational Performance & Reporting
- Resource & Capacity Planning
- Risk Management
- People & Culture
- Line Management & Leadership Development
- Platform & Product Strategy
- Business Case Development
- Competitive & Market Analysis
- Executive/Board Stakeholder Management
- Feature & Enabler Trees
- Go-To-Market Strategy
- OKR & KPI Definition
- Portfolio Management
- Product Lifecycle Management
- Release Planning & Management
- Strategic Roadmaps
- Strategic Themes
- Value Streams
- Version Roadmap
- Technology & Infrastructure
- Cloud Strategy & Management
- Monitoring & Logging
- Network Infrastructure Management
- Technical Architecture & System Design
Technologies
- Front-End Development
- CSS
- HTML
- JavaScript
- React
- Project & Product Management
- Atlassian Confluence
- Atlassian Jira
- Security & Identity Management
- Lookout
- Microsoft Sentinel
- Palo Alto Networks
- TrendMicro
- Strategy & Business Planning
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Power BI
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Mural
Results & Outcome
This engagement transformed Vodafone’s B2B SaaS Marketplace from a productivity-focused offering to a comprehensive business enablement ecosystem that served 150,000 SME customers across Europe, contributing to Vodafone’s €1B annual B2B SaaS revenue and strategic positioning.
Portfolio Growth
annual revenue growth through strategic expansion of Cybersecurity and IoT services.
new services launched from 25 evaluated.
Customer Impact
reduction in customer churn through data-driven optimisation of service positioning, pricing, and promotional strategies.
improvement in customer satisfaction scores following journey redesign and enhanced support experiences.
Orchestration Excellence
time-boxed experiments conducted to validate demand and de-risk investment decisions.
Program Increments delivered across a 150-person SAFe organisation, ensuring iterative planning and execution.