Dining out on data – operators take their share
Chris Mills, CTO EMEA, Pivotal
The telecoms industry is being transformed overnight as consumers’ insatiable appetite for data and faster, better quality services continues to grow, writes Chris Mills the chief technology officer EMEA of Pivotal.
Small steps towards digital transformation are no longer enough. Despite being worth upwards of $5trn, it’s bending to the pressure of an ever more mobile and tech-savvy customer base; and those that fail to adapt risk being left in the dust.
But it’s not all bad news. Operators have an advantage up their sleeve – data – which can be used to capture new points of value for customers, increase their relevance within world services and ultimately increase their profit margins. How then, can operators maximise the value of the data at their fingertips?
Make data the dish of the day
From connected fridges to smart farms, driverless cars and self-service check-outs, the Internet of Things is now a reality. An average home will contain up to 500 connected devices by 2022, all of which are generating huge volumes of data. With most of these devices dependant on mobile networks or Wi-Fi connections, the telecoms industry must ensure their infrastructure is robust enough to support them.
First in line Though At a time of transition and uncertainty, some operators are already reaping the rewards over rivals. Take for instance Vodafone Spain, which at last year’s Mobile World Congress presented a revolutionary new project harnessed through big data, to create new services for the communities it serves. The big idea was to use its existing – enormous – data sets to track how customers were moving across the network. Generating maps from this data, Vodafone is now able to intelligently predict future problems such as traffic congestion to actively reroute cars, or provide emergency medical services with best route options to get to patients and then to hospital.
This is just one example of how consumer data can be sanitised and used for the greater good. Naturally, big data solutions that pave the way for operators to provide marketing services to their users help reduce customer churn and target advertising to subscribers. It also opens them up to create new revenue streams to sell to cities to help tackle some of the trickiest problems associated with urban sprawl and public events like concerts and festivals – tackling security, ticket sales and identity management. How therefore can the industry take further advantage of the wealth of information in the pockets of billions of consumers?
- Get on top of security regulations
Access to and movement of data has just got a whole lot more complex, with the European Court of Justice recently ruling that the transatlantic Safe Harbour agreement is invalid. The repercussions could be huge, forcing US organisations to transfer their European user data to Europe and follow 20 or more different sets of national data-privacy policies. Operators must get on top of this, and fast, so that they can determine which consumer data sets can be aggregated and moved where.
- Build scalability into the business model
The number of connected devices, and resultant volumes of data, is constantly on the rise, with Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications report recently forecasting that by the end of this year, one billion wireless Internet of Things (IoT) devices will have been shipped. Operators must put provisions in place to enable their business models to be scaled up or down, as consumer demands shift; ensuring hardware and software can be rapidly provisioned to meet data requirements.
- Collaborate with other technologies and services
Many operators still operate in siloes, but in order to gain a holistic view of the organisation and ensure data can be managed and moved securely across different geographies, they need to take a more collaborative approach. A thriving collaborative ecosystem will ensure the technology becomes more stable and offers more capabilities, making it easier to adopt and use, in a shorter amount of time.
Facing such a rapid pace of change, operators must make a fundamental shift in order to survive. Consumer data is there to be taken advantage of and what operators need to concentrate on now is transforming these great swathes of information into tangible revenue. Part of this change requires a move away from outdated, siloed processes and open collaboration with other technologies and services. By embracing innovation in this way, operators will be able to give digital-first consumers what they need, gaining new revenue sources as a result.