Ireland was chosen for the location of the centre primarily because of the access to a large pool of the country’s highly skilled and talented graduate population. It is supported by the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland. Originally piloted last year, the centre has performed very well, resulting in a decision by Vodafone to commit to a five-year €60 million investment which will secure 200 permanent roles. Carrickmines will be the principal European location, with two additional support hubs located in central and southern Europe.  Recruitment for the new jobs is already well under way and employees will gain access to internationally recognised business analytics and sales training which will provide career development opportunities across Vodafone operating companies. Anne O’Leary, CEO Vodafone Ireland, said: “The selection by Vodafone of Ireland as a location for this European sales centre also demonstrates Ireland’s standing in Europe in terms of availability of highly skilled people for these emerging and developing roles.  “In addition, the centre will bring the latest in innovation including advanced sales tools and data analytics to determine customer needs and attitudes. We hope to offer much more in terms of answering all our customers’ communications needs while developing the right solutions so that our business customers continue to perform at their best.” Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said:“Data analytics is a key sector which we have targeted as part of our Action Plan for Jobs, and in recent years we have seen some major wins in this area. Today’s announcement by Vodafone that it is making a significant investment in Ireland with the establishment of a major international sales centre here, relying on analytics technologies, is a very welcome boost.” Minister for Communications Alex White said: “Vodafone’s selection of Carrickmines as the principal location for its new European sales centre underpins the strength of the telecommunications sector in this country. The 200 additional roles that are being created as a result of this €60 million investment are quality jobs, which will contribute to Ireland’s strengthening recovery. Investments like this have put Irish telecommunications at the cutting edge of global developments.” Vodafone Ireland’s announcement will bring its number of direct and indirect employees to approximately 2,000, with a customer base of 2.3 million. Refurbishment of the new state-of-the-art facility in Carrickmines will be completed in September. More information on the jobs is available at www.vodafone.ie/jobs

Vodafone Red Edge

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Vodafone Red Edge is a remote sales team supported by a set of sales processes, technology and analytics to drive productivity. Effectively it’s a sales channel designed to help Vodafone customers interact with the company in the way that is easiest for them. It includes all the traditional sales activities using new technologies and new ways of working to support different customer behaviours. It’s a joined-up approach to customer communications and sales. There are three core components to the inside sales function:

• Smart customer communications - technology that enables it to generate leads highly effectively;
• Predictive analytics – this allows it to predict which leads will be the best to follow up;
• Data - this is at the heart of the operation and allows it to manage the team better, identify areas of opportunity in customers’ accounts and drive higher levels of productivity than any other sales channel.