Vodafone 2016 Annual Report Download - page 29

Network/IT infrastructure failure Movement from 2015: Increased
What is the risk?
If our network or IT systems fail, voice, video or data transmissions may be signicantly interrupted. We need to ensure that our critical assets are
protected and our systems are resilient, so that impact on our customers is minimised, particularly during our major IT transformation projects.
How could it impact us?
For the majority of network and IT infrastructure failures, the associated impacts would be conned to a single market. There are, however,
some exceptions where data centres and critical network sites serve multiple markets.
There are a number of causes for failure such as major incidents caused by suppliers, natural disasters, deliberate attacks or a failure as a result
of an internal project or transformation.
Failure to successfully implement key IT transformation projects would also increase the risk of IT systems being unable to support our
strategic objectives.
Changes from 2015
During 2016 a number of major projects to improve key IT systems are taking place in some of our markets, which increases this risk, during the
project implementation phase.
How do we manage it?
a Specic back-up and resilience policy requirements are built into our network and IT infrastructure
a We monitor our ability to replace strategic equipment promptly in the event of end-of-life failure, and for high risk components we maintain
dedicated back-up equipment ready for use
a A blueprinted approach to geographic resilience, where the secondary IT location is expected to be in a different country, has been
developed with external market specialists. This will be used for business applications which require this degree of location resilience
a Network and IT contingency plans are in place to cover the residual risks that cannot be mitigated
a A crisis management team and escalation processes are in place both nationally and internationally. Crisis simulations are conducted annually
Non-compliance with laws and regulation Movement from 2015: New
What is the risk?
Vodafone must comply with a multitude of local and international laws as well as regulations. These encompass but are not limited to,
licence requirements, customer registration, data privacy, anti-money laundering, competition law, anti-bribery and economic sanctions.
Non-compliance with these requirements exposes Vodafone to nancial and reputational risk.
How could it impact us?
Non-compliance with legislation or regulatory requirements could lead to reputational damage, nancial penalties and/or suspension of our
licence to operate.
Changes from 2015
Now included in our principal risks due to changes in laws and their enforcement.
How do we manage it?
a We have subject matter experts in legal and regulatory teams at a local and global level who manage risk across the Group
a Our Compliance team monitors all high risk policies and tracks remedial actions for non-compliance or partial compliance
a We train our employees in “Doing what’s right”, our training and awareness programme which denes and reinforces our ethical culture
across the organisation
Overview Strategy review Performance Governance Financials Additional information
Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2016
27