Vodafone's IT cost-cutting plans on track

Vodafone has completed the core piece of its European data centre consolidation as part of plans to slash almost £100m off the mobile operator's IT costs.

Data centres from Vodafone's Northern European businesses have been integrated into a hub in Germany, and data centres from the mobile operator's Southern European businesses have been centralised in Italy.

The regional consolidation is expected to deliver savings of 25 to 30 percent off Vodafone's £320m annual European IT spending within two to three years. The final phase will see the UK consolidate its data centres within the next 12 to 18 months.

The plans form part of the wider "One Vodafone" consolidation and shared-services programme which, in the latest ZDNet's CIO Vision series of video interviews, Vodafone chief information Paul Wybrow said is about taking the best ideas from one country to another to reduce duplication and get group synergies.

In the interview, Wybrow said: "I, like any other CIO, have to sweat the assets of the business, and that's really important when you're in a maturing market and to keep your cost base as low as it can be, because low cost actually is a competitive differentiator."

By consolidating its data centres, Vodafone said it will benefit from improved economies of scale in purchasing IT equipment, more efficient use of servers and reduced duplication.