• Conciseness
• Connectivity of information
• Materiality
• Reliability and completeness
• Stakeholder relationships
• Strategic focus and future orientation

Key observations:

This Report represents Vodacom’s third Integrated Report and signifies an evolution in their reporting. Using a logical structure which lends itself to being highly accessible, Vodacom use a variety of icons and graphics to bring the Report to life. Overall this is a concise Report which effectively articulates Vodacom’s strategic story.

In the opening pages, a clear contents page is provided which is supplemented with a site map which clearly demonstrates where information can be found online providing the reader with multi- channel options for their reporting journey. The opening page also features icons which are used throughout the Report to provide a visual ‘at-a-glance’ key.

The ensuing pages titled ‘about this report’ outlines the scope of the Report and how the Integrated Reporting processes supports 'integrated thinking' in Vodacom, which in turn provides the basis for the Integrated Report. Interestingly, the narrative discusses the external acknowledgement which the Report has received and how the feedback has been used to develop the Report further this year. There is also a transparent discussion of assurance, acknowledging the journey which the business is taking towards full assurance. This sets the scene for the Report, while the opposite page provides a summary of performance in numbers, covering financial, economic, social – employees, social – communities and environment.

The overview section provides the reader with a very informative insight into the business and how it operates. The first spread outlines the five material issues ‘which stakeholders want to know about’ providing a succinct overview of what the key areas of focus the Report will have this year. The following spread then provides a summary of the ‘value we’ve created’ to demonstrate how Vodacom is ‘keeping customers happy’ which covers investment in Vodacom, their people, the countries in which they operate and the providers of capital. The opposite page identifies the five strategic priorities – which Vodacom then uses to structure the bulk of the Report around – clearly signposting the reader to where more detail can be found on customers, growth, operations, people and reputation.

Management are then featured – Chairman, CEO and CFO – and through their personal narratives they tell the company’s story, and in particular provide the context for the year’s performance. The CEO uses a Q&A format to delve into the future strategic direction of the business which is particularly insightful.

The following spread reviews what is happening in the industry focusing on both key regulatory changes as well as customer trends which provides the reader with the context for Vodacom’s strategy and performance. Vodacom takes this one step further and provides a five year outlook which helps readers gauge the long-term environment of the business.

Page 16 follows and this page, titled 'what we live for’, provides an overview of Vodacom’s purpose, vision, approach and strategies. This is supplemented by the next nine pages which use the informative titles of, 'what we do', 'where we operate' and 'how we're managed' to provide an insight into the scope of operations, the scale of the business and how the business is led.