2020 CEO Survey: Kevin Russell, Vocus

The pandemic proved fibre is the critical infrastructure of the modern economy, says Vocus chief Kevin Russell.

What are the three enduring lessons or changes to flow from COVID-19?

Firstly, working from home at scale works. People across Australia have proven that they can be productive and engaged working from home. Many have benefited from a better balance between their work responsibilities and home life and from avoiding the cost and time inefficiency of lengthy commutes. At Vocus, our people can now choose to work from home up to three days a week, while coming into the office two days a week to maintain a collaborative and creative company culture. I expect this to be a long-term sustainable change.

Secondly, embedded values and cultural behaviour are critical to teams successfully operating in times of significant change and uncertainty, and to achieving alignment in a virtual working environment. Cross-functional collaboration, combined with real honest conversations, has become ever more critical, and a singular focus on delivering for customers more fundamental. Working from home requires employees to be trusted and empowered and for employers to have a strong performance management culture.

Thirdly, fibre is the critical infrastructure of the modern economy. COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption and bandwidth demand for homes and businesses. Wireless has a role but ultimately fibre is the connectivity foundation, meeting ever increasing demands for capacity and speed. During this period, not all infrastructure has proven to have such a resilient business need.

How would you rate the shape of the Australian economy as we head into the new year?

Encouraging, and well-placed, particularly relative to our global peers. It’s been a very disruptive year and we have uncertainty ahead – but there are positive signs of economic recovery, and an increasingly positive sentiment amongst consumers and business leaders.

What three reforms are needed to sustainably grow the economy?

There is a critical need to encourage private investment in critical telecommunications infrastructure. The government needs to get past its short-term protectionist mindset on the National Broadband Network, and proactively establish settings that encourage the telecom industry to invest with confidence in the infrastructure that is enabling our digital economy.

There is also an increasing trend of regulatory involvement across the industry. In recent months, regulatory and consumer bodies have started to intervene in the market, resulting in a constant increase in reporting. It’s driving costs, it’s driving inefficiencies, and this will ultimately constrain economic renewal.

Finally, we need to increase our focus on and encourage investment in cyber security. If we want to gear our economy for growth, we must ensure it is safe from attack. We saw a spate of cyber attacks from both private and state-based actors during COVID-19, and this risk will grow in the months and years ahead.

What are the three best growth opportunities for your company in 2021?

Ongoing digitisation is driving bandwidth demand, and our fibre infrastructure is perfectly placed to capitalise on that increase in data traffic. The year 2020 proved that fibre is the critical infrastructure of the modern economy, and our fibre network is positioned to deliver strong growth in 2021.

Our ability, as a challenger, to continue winning market share by focusing on customers’ needs and delivering against them both in our fibre business and our retail business. Vocus has market momentum and our reputation for delivering for our customers is growing.

Finally, continuing to grow our network reach to win share in key markets where we have a clear leadership position. Our fibre infrastructure was central to our growth in 2020 and ongoing investment in this network will continue to drive growth in 2021 and beyond.

What impact will digital transformation have on your company?

Digital transformation is driving demand for network bandwidth and consequently a revenue uplift on our nationwide infrastructure.

Vocus is also going through a digital transformation of our own. Digitisation is allowing us to deliver an improved customer experience and strengthening our service offerings in market. It also gives us the ability to simplify processes and improve the efficiency of our operations.

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

Business rating: Mixed. Many businesses have simply had their business models severely hit through COVID-19 ramifications. For others, I believe that business performance through this year has been disproportionately influenced by cultural strengths or weaknesses. Those businesses who passionately care about customers and employees, who collaborate internally rather than compete, and who are comfortable with disruption, rapid change and tough decisions will enter 2021 with stronger market opportunities.

State government rating: I’ve been in Sydney throughout COVID-19 and the NSW government response has been exceptional from April onwards. The professionalism of testing and contact tracing, and the pragmatic daily management of an uncertain health and business crisis has been excellent. Personally, as a citizen, I feel our state government has looked after me and my family.

Federal government rating: They’ve performed very well. In a period of major uncertainty, they’ve demonstrated strong and consistent leadership, and as a result Australia is finishing 2020 in a very enviable position compared to so many global peers.