Integration of Professional Skills in the Digital Age: Vodafone Report

This report examines the integration of professional skills in the digital age, focusing on Vodafone as a case study. It begins by comparing the positive and negative impacts of internet usage on businesses and society, highlighting communication improvements and the rise of cybercrimes. The report then delves into the threats faced by organizations and individuals, including phishing and malware, and proposes preventative measures. Furthermore, it analyzes and compares the features, applications, and suitability of two unified communication providers, Vodafone and EE, to determine their effectiveness. The report emphasizes the importance of network security, data protection, and employee training to mitigate risks in the digital landscape.

Integration
Professional Skills
In the Digital Age

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Comparison positive and negative use of internet to businesses and society.........................2
Threats faced by organizations and society while using the internet along with measurement
of security and privacy...........................................................................................................4
Comparison of features, applications and suitability of 2 different unified communication
providers.................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Digital age is also called as technology and information age in which people have ability
to develop new knowledge and other skills like problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.
Integration professional skills includes all those skills that help an individual in developing new
technology and being able to live in digital age area (Mattoon and et.al., 2015). This present
report is based on Vodafone group Plc that is a British multinational telecommunication
company. Headquarter of this company is in London and provide services in the region of
Europe, Asia, Africa etc. This report is about to show some positive and negative impacts of
increasing uses of internet like Web browsing, E-mail, peer to peer services on Vodafone and
users. Vodafone and society faces some privacy and security related threats which have negative
impacts on their operations and lives. For solving privacy related issues, it also shows some
measurement and prevention. Further it will define features and applications of Vodafone and EE
(everything everywhere) telecommunication companies in order to know their suitability.
Comparison positive and negative use of internet to businesses and society
Internet is a global system that consists of interconnected computer networks which use
Internet Protocol Suite to connect the devices across the world. It is called as network of
networks that includes public, private, business & government networks for local to global reach
that is connected through a array of wireless, optical networking & electronic technologies. Their
are pros and cons of Internet for individuals, businesses & society; Internet is used for
communicating anywhere in the world, people are updated about the current feeds happening
around the world and on the other hand it is disastrous as cyber crimes are developing.
According to Bartov Faurel and Mohanram, (2017) internet helps Vodafone in improving
business communications, with the help of communication tools like Emails, social media
platforms, mobile apps such as Whatsapp, and other websites the employers of Vodafone found
it extremely easy to communicate or connect to their employee, customers & business associates
when they have to urgently send any information. With the help of internet and communication
tools the employer can send a message and get replies quickly, this helps in bettering the
operations of businesses and improves communication between members. On the other hand Cho
and Sagynov, (2015) argues that internet has greater risk of impersonation as people don't get a

chance to have a conversation face to face. When the point comes to communication between
subordinate & superior, the lack of one-to-one communication(face to face) sometimes can
make employees feel a less important part of the company and hence reduces their morale. The
author also states that communication on internet can be quick but face to face communication is
more convincing and individuals feel more respected. And for employees of Vodafone to be
productive, their feelings must be taken care of.
As per Smith and et.al., (2016) due to internet it is simple, easy & quick for Vodafone to
market the products and services to the chosen or targeted market. Business has their websites
on which they have feedback forms, reviews & comment from which they can analyse the
customer's needs and desires and where they were wrong and what modification or change they
need to bring to satisfy the customer's. This helps in enhancing the operation's of Vodafone as
the customer's who are using their products, ideas from them helps in boosting business
operations. Through internet, the businesses who are dealing in local market and to limited
customers can now make their products available across the world. On the contrary Verdure and
et.al., (2017) argues that Vodafone is doing online businesses and has faced some issues of
hackers who put the enterprises at stake. Through online websites, the company have given
liberty to the customer's to share their views and experience regarding the product, it could
positive or negative, by simply giving feedback and comments. These causes harm to Vodafone's
reputation as the dissatisfied consumer will share their negative views that will influence even
others for not trying the product. This will also discourage the partners working with the
company and the future partners as well.
Internet does not only have impact on business but also have on society. Businesses like
Vodafone and other E-commerce companies are increasing day by day in order to sell online
products and services and increasing its sales (Banjanin and et.al., 2015). They are increasing
because trends of online shopping is in trends. Nowadays people are becoming more busy as
they do not have enough time to go to store and purchase things, so they prefer online shopping.
Increasing uses of internet, E-mail, Websites have both positive and negative impacts on society
which are being described as follows:
According to the (Chen and Schulz, 2016) said that, uses of internet has improved
communication. Children and people can easily contact to their relatives and parents in any part

of the globe. Most of the people move away from their home town for earning money and higher
education and it can be stressful, but with the help of internet they can communicate and connect
with their relatives anytime. For more supporting this view, (Postigo, 2016) said that internet is
giving great opportunity to female workers to earn while working from home. There are
several females that can not leave their home but also have capabilities to earn money, So
internet is the best way of accomplishing goals. It is stated that more Americans have started
their own home business after economic crash of 2008 (Positive impacts of internet on society,
2018.).
On the other hand, (Nor and Pearson, 2015) argued and said that increasing use of
internet is having several negative impacts on the people and society. Some people do not have
proper knowledge of online shopping and uses of internet and due to this and lack of security,
there are chances to leak credit card and bank details. Some people make fool to other people and
make them believe that criminal own Websites are legitimate that lead to millions of money lost
to misleading business transaction. Young people, children, men, women all are becoming
addicted to social networks that can disrupt their personal and professional life.
Excessive use of internet and addiction distract to students from their study and in the
class. They are also losing their ability to engage themselves for face to face communication. By
sharing personal details on social media as using of internet, criminals can do robbery, murder
and kidnapping easily. Some useless blogs and fraud accounts influences youth and society so
that they become more violent and influence which push them to take inappropriate actions.
Threats faced by organizations and society while using the internet along with measurement of
security and privacy
Advanced technology and excessive uses of internet allows more innovation and
creativity in businesses than ever before including the black market. Wen threats are posing more
risks that includes damaged brand, theft of network resources, erosion of consumer confidence
etc. Along with this, protecting business as well as personal data is becoming more challenging.
In the context of security and privacy some threats which Vodafone and people are facing,
described as follows:
Phishing: Phishing is a type of threat and refers a fake e-mail masquerading as
legitimate. Hackers or third party who is not involved in business activities create phishing E-

mails with the main of stealing confidential information such as bank details, important password
etc. These type of E-mails hackers try to create an urgency to influence users to giving out their
important personal information. These type of E-mails are also appeared to have come from a
well-known organization or Bank. For example, People can receive E-mail which saying that
your account has been credited or ATM card has been disabled, so you require to confirm your
ATM card number along with Aadhaar number. People who do not have proper awareness like
rural people think that this might from a legitimate source but in reality it is from a malicious
hacker. So, they can become victim of this type of threat (Threats faced by organizations and
society while using internet, 2017).
Prevention: For preventing themselves from this type of threats and security issue, people
require looking for grammatical errors and any type of changes in E-mail addresses and Domain
names. Cyber crimes generally alter E-mail addresses and the name of well-known brand and
companies slightly. For instance, hackers may use [e-mail] instead of
[e-mail]. There is a small difference in I in mail. If there is any kind of suspicious
link and mail then need to verify and check it twice. To verify that if URL matches the link that
has been provided by users, they can prevent themselves. It is not good for both Vodafone or
other companies and for people.
Malware: Malware is a malicious software that is being used and created with the main
intention of stealing all business information on the system by compromising the system. These
type of programs and software perform several functions like deleting, stealing data as well as
changing functioning of system for tracking users' activities. There are some factors which can
make victim of this threat to Vodafone or other E-commerce companies like running a pirated
version of operating system which is not updated. Clicking on fake software can also lead to this
problem and malicious programs. It has several types such as: Trojans, Spyware, Virus and Key
logger (Niemelä, Hyppönen and Kangas, 2016).
Prevention and measurements: By using a legitimate anti-virus software and updating
operating system on time to time, companies can prevent themselves from this type of threat. By
not downloading any type of software until having proper information about it. Can also prevent.
To having proper knowledge of pirated software as they contain some kind of malware.

Physical security threat: A physical threat refers any type to an individual's sensitive
information that lead from other people that have direct access to their personal devices. This
type of threats occur when someone or hackers are able to gain physically access to individual's
confidential data. It can happen to anyone like at workplace and at home.
Prevention: By using encrypted computer hard drives like USBs and others, users can protect
their sensitive information from hackers and physical threat. Always make an authenticate
password that no one can use it and by never writing password on notepad, this type of physical
security threat can be prevented.
Measurements: There are three main type of security in terms of defined requirements:
Confidentially: It means to control who gets to read personal and professional
information.
Integrity: It means to assure that important information as well as programs are being
changes in an authorized manner only.
Availability: To assure that specified and authorized users have continued access to
resources.
There is a requirement for people and businesses to use network protection measures by
using several steps such as: Installing a firewall, using network segmentation, using VPN
(Virtual private network), conducting proper maintenance of operating system and by using IPS
in order to track potential pocket floods, users can prevent themselves from all these type of
threats which are being described above.
Most of the threats occur due to lack of awareness and proper knowledge of network
security and data protection. By providing an appropriate training to all employees in order to
identify threats, Vodafone can prevent itself from internal and physical security threat.
Using signals for encrypted messages: By using a strong and authenticate password,
Vodafone and users can boost access control measures. Signal is called the best secure app and
way of preventing information from getting leaked. It allows companies and Vodafone to send
files, voice as well as video messages over a Wi-Fi to other signal users on desktop app, android
and iOS. It keeps data safe as no third party and hackers can access all messages which are in
transit (Fennelly, 2016).

So, it can be said that, Vodafone or other organisations as well as users can prevent themselves
by following above described steps and prevention,
Comparison of features, applications and suitability of 2 different unified communication
providers
Unified communication refers a business as well as marketing concepts that describes the
integration of enterprise communication services including mobility features, messaging, audio,
web and video. It is mainly known for its voice communication and video conferencing system
solutions (Narayanan, Liang and Srinivasan, 2016). There are mainly 2 unified communication
providers which are well-known brand such as Vodafone and EE.
EE that is stand for everything everywhere is a British mobile mobile network operator
and a division of BT group. It is stated that this company is the largest mobile network operator
in UK with having 29.6 million customers. Vodafone is also a telecommunication public limited
company that operates networks in approximate 25 countries. It is stated that there are
approximate 111 companies that re using Vodafone unified communication. Most of the
companies are found in UK and are in telecommunication industry. Those companies who have
10-50 employees and 1M-10M dollars in revenue, prefer to use Vodafone unified
communication. Customers of Vodafone unified communications also like to use Vodafone
Global enterprise and Vodafone cloud and hosting services (Companies use Vodafone unified
communication, 2019).
Basis Vodafone EE
Features Prices: In the context of service and
prices, it is stated that Vodafone
offers wide choice of handsets and
provide voice and video
communication solutions. Customers
require a minimum of £10 a month
on its deals to top up and can
purchase either data bundle or pay
EE offers everything packs that start
from £5. Its cheapest monthly tariffs
start at around £15.
It provides other features also like
home allowances in a few
destinations including Canada,
Australia, New Zealand etc.

for usage (Bass and Boenigk, 2011).
Data speed: Vodafone's download
speed is also good. It also claims of
providing 4G speed up to 6 month
faster than 3G speed. It is one of the
LTE advanced service provider
rather than EE in the UK. This
service is only being provided to
people of London, Birmingham and
Manchester.
Benefits: For a pay as you go
customers with a big value bundle,
Vodafone provides access to Wi-Fi
on the London underground only.
 On the other hand, for on a
pay as you go plan,
customers can also take
opportunity of using the
Vodafone call back features.
 For having Red entertainment
plan of Vodafone, customers
can have access to Now TV
entertainment and Sky sports
In the context of sales it is stated
that the big selling point of EE is all
because of its data speed. Due to
this reason also, it has come up on
the top.
It was the only one and first UK
network who provided 4G and
fastest speed.
In the context of benefits, customers
of EE can get 6 months free of
apple music and have access to a
million of songs. Wi-Fi calling is
also being provided by EE by which
customers can make calls even at
that place where there is no signal
(Tietsch, Klaghofer and Prange,
2017).
 On a pay monthly deals,
customers of EE can get free
event tickets only on certain
handset.

mobile TV.
Suitability Customer services: As compare to
EE, there is no bad feedback's from
customers as like EE. It is stated that
Vodafone is also not much better at
keeping its customers satisfied.
 It was also being charged of
approximate £4.6m because
of mishandled complaints
which are being applied by
pay as you go credit to
customers' accounts.
Network Coverage: As compare to
everything everywhere, Vodafone
covers around 95% of the population
for 4G and 96% for 3G which is less
than EE.
Its mobile network is being used by
other service providers that includes
Talk mobile and Lebara.
In the context of customer services
and suitability it is reported that
customers of EE voted the worst
mobile provider in the UK even
after providing fast 4G service (EE
vs Vodafone, 2019). Customers are
confused about EE's Website, so
they recommended about improving
its services and Website.
 In addition, it is also stated
that EE was fined or charged
approximate £2.7m by
Ofcom in the year of 2017,
January because almost
40,000 customers were
overcharged.
In the context of Network coverage
it is stated that EE beats many
communication service providers of
UK including Vodafone. It covers
around 99% of the population for
4G and around 98% for 3G. For its
network coverage many other
service providers also use EE signal
such as Virgin mobile, BT mobile
etc.

So, it can be said that in the context of data speed that Vodafone does not perform as well
as everything everywhere (EE). On the other hand, in the context of customer services it is
identified from above comparison that Vodafone services are better than EE services. Customers
of EE become more frustrated and confused because of its Website. It overcharged from
customers which decreased its brand image. So, it can be said that Vodafone is somehow better
than EE. 86% of Vodafone users are happy with its mobile reception and solving problems.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that internet or integrated skills played a
vital role in digital age. All integrated skills and knowledge of using internet helps society and
organizations to perform some activities quickly and efficiently. This present individual report
has shows some positive-and-negative-effects-of-the-internet which companies and societies are
mainly using for purchasing products online. It saved their time and well as travelling cost. It has
shown some negative impacts related to personal and professional informations' security, fraud,
loss of finance, decrease brand image and decrease confidence level of people. Further, this
report has discussed all threats related to privacy and security which many organizations and
societies have faced and are facing as well. Different unified communication providers have
different features and application on which basis customers take decisions to purchase services
from them.

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