Virgin Media Business
partners with Cebr

• Research partnership will explore the recent impact of Covid-accelerated digital transformation programmes, and the role that IT investment and the adoption of digital solutions plays in the UK’s private and public sectors, helping the country through the economic downturn
• Cebr’s research will look at how digital transformation programmes contribute at a national and local level, understanding how they benefit the performance of organisations and their employees and deliver greater outcomes for the customers and citizens who use their services
• As part of the research, Virgin Media Business will be talking to leaders in business and public service nationwide to contribute to Cebr’s work on what a digitally enabled rebound will look like for the UK

Virgin Media Business has partnered with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), one of the UK’s leading economic consultancies, to understand the role of accelerated digital transformation on companies and organisations during Covid-19.

The partnership will also explore how digital investment could help UK enterprise and public services stabilise, recover and rebound.

During Covid-19, organisations across the UK rapidly adopted new IT and digital-led solutions, enabling them to quickly adapt their operations.

The UK is preparing to move from a period of stabilising to one of rebound – all in the face of economic instability and the ongoing impact of Covid-19.

As private and public organisations plan ahead, they need to understand what investments will help them recover. And digital transformation will no doubt have a renewed importance.

Virgin Media Business and Cebr have committed to understanding how digital transformation could support UK plc, contribute to our GDP and help strained public services save money and become more efficient.

The research will also explore how technology impacts people in remote and flexible workplaces, along with citizens and local communities.

It will also assess the impact and potential cost of the UK not adopting accelerated digital transformation throughout the economy, underlining its fundamental importance.

The Cebr partnership follows recent research that Virgin Media Business undertook with its own customers to understand the impact of Covid-19 on their operations and what their priorities are for recovery.

The business spoke to 127 of its large enterprise and public sector customers and surveyed another 230 c-suite level leaders in the UK across a range of sectors, including health, construction, local government, police and justice, education and retail.

Findings from the research include:

• 67% of public sector and 53% of enterprise customers believe their
  sector is well placed to rebound
• 53% of large enterprise and public sector organisations have increased their IT budgets as a result of Covid-19
• 63% of public sector customers and 55% of large enterprise customers plan to continue flexible working practices post-Covid 

Peter Kelly, Managing Director of Virgin Media Business said:

“Covid-19 has created new and fundamental challenges for every organisation across the country. All of us have seen our everyday revolutionised by events beyond our control.

“We have seen fantastic examples of how our customers responded to the crisis, making immediate changes to keep their businesses going, to support the public effort and deliver our front-line services. We are enormously proud of the part we have played in enabling customer success during Covid-19.

“Now, UK plc. and our public services need to understand how to prepare for what comes next. The partnership with Cebr will deepen our understanding of the importance of digital transformation in helping to deliver economic growth and resilience in our society and local communities.”

Mike Smith, who leads Virgin Media Business’ enterprise and public sector arm as managing director of VMB (Direct), said:

“Covid-19 has permanently reshaped working patterns, business operations and how we serve our customers and citizens. Our behaviours have been forced to change at a national, local, organisational and personal level.

“For many years, conversations around digital transformation have been focused on technologies and processes. But now we are all living it every day, the subject has a renewed meaning and importance in our lives. By partnering with Cebr, a renowned voice on economic and societal impact, we will identify just how crucial digital transformation is for the UK’s recovery.”

Cristian Niculescu-Marcu CFA, Director of Analysis at Cebr, added:

“Recessions and periods of economic hardship often also help to catalyse technological progress and adoption, as businesses and other stakeholders seek to adapt to new realities. Within this research we will seek to examine the potential impact of a wave of digital transformation, driven by the rollout of new ways of working and interfacing.”

Virgin Media Business will be publishing regular research findings and customer insights on our dedicated hub page.