Andrew Wood
Global Senior Strategy Lead, Cloud Unified Communications & Contact Centre at Vodafone Business
Thought leadership in Future of Work, Digital Workplace and Digital Customer Experience.
Extensive global experience in Cloud Unified Communications, Team Collaboration, Contact Centre and Communications Platform as a Service.
Strong career background in Cloud & Managed Services transformation and working with major vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft & Ring Central.
Experienced Global Head Of Portfolio Management / Head of Practice / Head of Strategy.
BA degree in Business Information Systems & qualified part 1 & 2 TOGAF Enterprise Architect.
How did you get to become an expert in your key topics?
My career started in 1986 at Plessey Telecommunications in the QA department supporting the ISDX PBX. I have then worked in product management leadership , CoE leadership and Strategy leadership roles over the past 35 years. I have experienced and been involved with many industry transformations form TDM to IP Telephony, On-Premise to Hosted Voice and now Vendor Platform based UCaaS, CCaaS & CPaaS. I lead UC strategy globally for Vodafone business and passionate about innovation, best practice, customer success & being a great team mate for my colleagues.
What sub-topics are you most passionate about?
Who influences you within these topics?
Customer meetings and feedback. Analyst community – Gartner, MZA, Cavell Group, IDC, Frost & Sullivan, Omdia. Vendor community – Microsoft, Ring Central, Cisco, 8×8, Twilio, Five’9s, Amazon, Facebook. Industry press – No Jitter, UC Today. Innovative start ups – Zoom.AI, Poly.AI, MIO. Wider IT industry leaders – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg. Thought leaders – Dr. Lynda Gratton – London Business School.
What challenges are brands facing in this space?
1) Return to office and hybrid working from Oct’ 21.
2) Strategy development and capability development with HR in the driving seat.
3) Best practices and case studies.
4) Measurement of success and failure.
5) Employee experience.
6) Organisational productivity in a hybrid environment.
What do you think the future holds in this space?
What brands are leading the way in this space?
If a brand wanted to work with you, which activities would you be most interested in collaborating on?
What are your passions outside of work?
My family, sports, still play football, huge NFL fan and recently built a home gym in lockdown. Gardening, love movies, music & eating out. Would like to travel again.