Towards Tomorrows Feb 2017 | Page 9

EXAMINING THE " OTHER SIDE " OF BIG DATA

There ' s no doubt about it-telecom is a numbers game , where data is the king . Take note , though , data doesn ' t merely refer to information pertaining to subscribers , average revenue per user , et all . It is , essentially , the entire gamut of numbers generated by the global telecom space on a daily basis . To illustrate , industry analysts have estimated that a copious 2.5 quintillion bytes of data pertaining to individuals , places , locations , processes , et all , is net every day . This data comes from multiple sources , such as sensors used to gather climate-related information , posts on social media sites , digital pictures and videos , purchase transaction records , cell phone GPS signals , the list is endless . That ' s one side . On the other , 7,857,452730 ( and counting ) mobile connections were counted globally ( by GSMA Intelligence for November
2016 ) and telecom operators net revenue of
$ 1.06 trillion in financial year 2015 . In other
words , number crunching ( albeit a run-of-the-mill process ), is equally essential . There is a catch , though . Operators would do well to remember that merely aggregating vast amounts of structured and unstructured data will NOT set the cash registers ringing . What will , though , is a clear-cut plan on how to extract actionable insights from the data pile . This is where ( and why ) big data steps in . Now , without running the risk of repeating myself , ( for blogs on big data and analytics do tend to get repetitive ) let me begin by saying that deploying these tools isn ' t just a necessity for any operator , it is a norm . Here ' s why-careful and thorough analysis of this diverse and unformatted digital data can help operators unearth new revenue streams , as well as gain a mine of insights into a customer ' s behaviour . Going a step further , operators can scrutinize and track conversations on social media to ensure no negative publicity is coming their way . In fact , the possibility of creating and supporting various hypotheses on the business becomes a reality for these players . How ? Well , simply put , it requires operators to deep-dive into this unstructured pool of information to analyze it against existing business warehouse data in an accurate and concise manner .
This is , of course , merely the tip of the iceberg . But , the focus of this blog isn ' t to expound the benefits of big data on an operator ' s business . While that is , of course , a given , it isn ' t the only aspect . What I am alluding to is how big data and analytics can be effectively leveraged by telecom retailers to push contextual , personalized and relevant offerings to customers in a timely manner and at any point in their journey .
08