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Louise Reddy, Executive Head of Private Sector Sales, Vodacom Business

Businesses can invest in digital platforms and still leave part of their workforce disconnected. A company app has limited value to an employee who cannot access it. An important announcement has little impact if the people it concerns never receive it. Before leaders assess how far their businesses have progressed digitally, they should ask who can participate.

That is where digital inclusion becomes a business responsibility. The success of transformation depends partly on whether employees have the connectivity, devices and support to benefit from it and contribute to it. Enterprise mobility strategies have often focused on office-based employees. Yet businesses rely on people working across sites, shifts and locations, including retail and contact centre teams, manufacturing workers, mining employees and logistics personnel. Their ability to communicate, access information and receive support deserves the same consideration.

If an organisation depends on frontline employees to deliver its service or sustain its operations, their connectivity must be treated as essential business infrastructure. Consider a business introducing a digital employee portal. Management may see a more efficient way to share announcements, explain benefits and provide access to support. But if employees cannot consistently connect to it, the business has created a channel that reaches only part of its workforce.

The practical consequences can include missed updates, repeated queries and additional administration. Employees may be expected to act on information they haven’t received. Managers may assume a message has reached everyone because it has been published. For leaders, the question is whether their investment is creating participation across the workforce. Access should be considered from the outset, alongside the platform itself.

There is a human dimension too. Being able to ask a question, raise a concern or receive an update helps employees participate in the business they help sustain. Connectivity also enables contact with loved ones and the coordination of everyday responsibilities. These needs matter to people working across different roles and environments. A workforce connectivity strategy should recognise that employees are people with responsibilities beyond their jobs, with clear policies governing work and personal use.

At Vodacom Business, this thinking informed our Corporate Liable offering. It brings connectivity, devices, security and analytics together, enabling centralised management of mobile contracts across the workforce.

Its purpose is to make wider access manageable for businesses while giving employees consistent access to communication and digital tools. Delivering that requires attention to how connectivity is provided, supported and governed.

Device and data packages tailored to different employee needs help businesses extend access across large teams. Multilingual support and dedicated account teams across South Africa provide assistance when employees and employers need it. Inclusion depends on whether people can use the connectivity provided to them and get help when difficulties arise.

For finance and operations leaders, centralised contract management and real-time spend visibility provide a clearer view of mobile expenditure. Smart spend management, pooled data and zero-rated business apps offer ways to manage costs as access expands. This helps businesses approach workforce connectivity as a service they can plan and oversee.

Device-as-a-Service addresses the challenge of equipping employees. It simplifies procurement and lifecycle management while removing the need for upfront capital expenditure on equipment. Governance extends from provisioning through to secure decommissioning, helping businesses retain oversight of mobile assets throughout their useful life.

Together, these capabilities support a practical proposition: extending connectivity to more employees while giving the business greater control over how it is managed. Security must be built into an inclusive mobility strategy. As businesses extend access, they need consistent protections for enterprise information and clear policies for mobile usage.

Corporate Liable incorporates mobile threat defence, SIM swap prevention and policy-based access controls, alongside compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA). These capabilities help businesses address the security and governance requirements that accompany wider participation.

Environmental responsibility also forms part of the approach. Support for eSIMs, refurbished device options and recycling programmes enables businesses to consider their environmental footprint as they equip and connect employees.

These requirements belong in the same decision. Employee access, financial oversight, security and responsible device management all contribute to a sustainable enterprise mobility strategy.

As businesses manage cost pressures and changing ways of working, digital inclusion deserves shared attention from executive leadership, operations, human resources, IT and finance.

The starting point is straightforward: do all employees have the means to use the communication channels and digital services intended for them? Where access is inconsistent, what does that mean for the employee and the business?

Our ambition extends across large enterprises, public sector organisations and SMEs throughout South Africa. Through Corporate Liable, we aim to simplify enterprise mobility and help businesses bring more of their people into the digital workplace.

South Africa’s digital future will be shaped by how widely participation is extended. Businesses have a direct role in that progress, starting with the people who contribute to their success every day.

A digital strategy is incomplete if employees are expected to help deliver it without the means to participate. Connecting every employee is a leadership decision that turns the promise of digital inclusion into something people can use. 

vodacombusiness.co.za