Virgin Media O2: Business Movers Index

Virgin Media O2 Business engaged GHD Advisory to collaborate in the creation of a new quarterly index. The purpose of this index is to demonstrate how people are moving around the UK and what it means for business to have accessible, high-quality data in the hands of decision makers. To accomplish this, we were furnished with anonymised and aggregated origin and destination trip matrices, which tracked journeys between any two locations in the country broken down by travel mode and traveller demographic.

GHD Advisory contributed through:

• Detailed analysis and identification of a series of focus points for the index from access to unique industry knowledge.
• Expedited progress, providing context, and capturing purpose, requirements, guidance and recommendations.
• Working closely with the team behind O2 Motion, Virgin Media O2 Business’ anonymised and aggregated data service, to provide transparency on our technical approach and seek their feedback along the way.
• Testing and analysing datasets with input from our mobility professionals.
• Delivering a final report with findings with confidence markers, suggested headlines and explained methodology.
  
  

GHD Advisory conducted an analysis focused on trips to significant retail hubs across the country to better understand the influence of the cost-of-living crisis on retail activity. Our analysis of commuting and travel patterns provided insights into the differences in behaviour between cities and age groups.

Towards the close of 2022 and the start of 2023, notable rail disruptions significantly affected travel on the West Coast Main Line. In response, we proposed evaluating the line's mobility recovery by tracking journeys originating and terminating at key stations. The analysis revealed a substantial increase during the first quarter, especially in certain northern locations. These findings served as the basis for a news release: "New Virgin Media O2 Business Movers Index reveals Coronation confidence from businesses and a bigger return to offices."

Virgin Media O2 Business collated GHD Advisory's insights together with opinion polls and published a report on their website.

We will collaborate on a quarterly basis to expand upon the current analysis, track evolving trends, and devise innovative methods to promote awareness of Virgin Media O2 Business's Big Data products. This work is providing journalists with hot-off-the-press insights and highlighting the value of mobile phone data for retailers, transport planners, and train operators to name just a few.