“There’s been a return to traditional values and a sense of community in the past year. Our message that “Together is better” couldn’t be more timely.”
Danuta Gray, Chief Executive Officer, Telefónica O2 Ireland.
2008 was a challenging year, particularly given the difficult economic climate in Ireland and internationally. At O2, this has simply underlined our commitment to innovation and to meeting our customers’ needs.
We believe there is a distinct trend towards a return to traditional values and a sense of community, as people acknowledge that working together, connecting together and being together can make a better world. As a communications company we’re all about connecting people, not just with each other or with friends and with family, but also with the community and the things they care and are passionate about.
Through our ongoing partnership with Irish Autism Action (IAA), we aim to help make the future a better place for children and families affected by autism. This year we celebrated the 1st anniversary of The Solas Centre, Ireland’s first national diagnostic and assessment centre. To date over 420 children have accessed services of this centre.
As well as contributing funds and technology, we believe in engaging in a hands-on way with the communities in which we live and work. Our connection with IAA has been a very rewarding experience for the company and our employees, many of whom volunteered in the last year to help IAA.
Our relationship with the St Andrew’s Resource Centre, based near our head office in Dublin, goes from strength to strength, and this year, as always, we sponsored the South Docks Festival – a great opportunity to be part of our community and get to know our neighbours better.
A major event in our year was the opening of “The O2” music venue in Dublin. We bought the naming rights to the venue and negotiated priority ticketing to enable our customers to connect with something they really love – music.
Value for money became more important than ever to our customers in 2008. We responded by introducing O2 Experience – the first operator to offer unlimited free texts to any other Irish mobile network at any time for life. We also launched “Spend Alerts” whereby our customers can set a limit on their monthly expenditure and be alerted by us when they are close to that limit.
Our biggest O2 highlight of 2008, in terms of innovation and technology, was the hugely successful launch of the iPhone in Ireland. The iPhone is a ground-breaking product that’s really changed the way our customers use the Internet on the move.
As new technologies like the iPhone develop, we continue to make sure we put systems in place to educate parents and help them protect their children, educating them around the potential dangers of mobile internet and issues like bullying by text. In February 2008, we launched a new, dedicated child protection website which promotes safer use of mobiles by young teenagers and children.
At O2, we know that how we treat our own people will be reflected in our customer experience. We do all that we can to make working at O2 a very positive experience. In 2008 we had external recognition of this policy with a number of awards, including Retail Employer of the Year and the Contact Centre of Year.
Internally, the Spirit of O2 awards acknowledged and celebrated the great work of our people. We also continued to place great importance on the work/life balance of our employees with our award-winning Perfect Balance programme.
Protection of the environment continues to be a key business imperative for us at O2. We aim to reduce and recycle our waste, purchase power from renewable resources, and provide customers and staff with more opportunities to be environmentally friendly. One of the key highlights in 2008 was the re-launch of our handset recycling scheme, with all money raised donated to our charity of choice, Irish Autism Action. We also commissioned Ireland’s first self-sustaining base station in Co Louth which is powered entirely by ‘Green’ electricity from a small wind turbine and solar panels.
Our vision for the future
Understanding what our customers care about and how we can meet their needs will remain as our first priority as we move into the future. We will also continue to focus on our impact on society, working with our communities, our charities and our environmental partners in the year ahead.
We will carry on living our values of Open, Bold, Clear and Trusted, and help our customers and employees connect and experience the real value of our “Together is better” message.
While success is as important to us as it is to any business, we want to enjoy that success hand-in-hand with the beneficial impact we make on society. It is our wish that O2’s presence be a positive one, for our customers, the wider community and the environment in which we all live together.
