Are you making the most of your big data?

• MNOs, ISPs, content providers, OTTs and enterprises can better serve their customers
• Challenge is to understand their demands and tailor experience accordingly, using data

CONSUMERS are more diverse and dynamic than they’ve ever been before. They include traditional mobile customers making mostly voice calls, teenagers consuming vast quantities of data, and shoppers craving an omni-channel experience when browsing online.
 
These end-users have a diverse set of likes and dislikes and, increasingly, expect to have a personalised customer experience tailored to their preferences.
 
The challenge for service providers is to understand these demands and tailor experience accordingly, using data to deliver valuable insights.
 
Many service providers, aside from the largest global businesses, will say that they don’t have the capex (capital expenditure), resources or expertise to take advantage of this data, which is where a wholesale partner can help.
 
Customer experience based on insights is not a ‘value added option’ anymore – it’s a matter of survival. Ignoring customer insights will immediately leave a business out of touch with its customers, while competitors draw ever closer to them.
 
The result? Churn and, ultimately, revenue loss.
 
A wholesale partner can help service providers drive brand loyalty and monetise big data in the following ways:
 
Data analytics
 
Structured data like addresses and call data records (CDRs) can be matched with unstructured data around real-time location and social media interactions to determine the appropriate customer interaction and engagement.
 
A differentiated customer experience requires back office systems that can support data mining across communications services, going beyond transport solutions alone.
 
The State of Marketing Leadership research [by Salesforce.com – ED] showed that most marketers haven’t fully integrated customer data across the organisation, but of those that have, 97% said they were now successfully creating a cohesive customer journey.
 
Leveraging the insights
 
A wholesale partner platform can integrate the available data and deliver the relevant information to the end-consumer, providing them with a personalised service.
 
It is key that the customer is informed, but in a way that improves their experience, instead of making them feel that they are ‘on the meter.’
 
Well-developed insights can also be used for tailoring prices, resource allocation optimisation, pre-emptive marketing outreach, brand partnership, network planning and product-market fit.
 
Engaging in a two-way dialogue to innovate

When the service provider understands the preferences of its customers, it can react quickly and adapt to their change in behaviour. For example, it has helped Amazon to develop revolutionary online delivery systems, allowing it to enter new markets.
 
Free or sponsored data access to social networks has also been successful in some emerging markets and has created a differentiator for the service provider.
 
These examples serve to prove that MNOs (mobile network operators), ISPs (Internet service providers), content providers, OTTs (over-the-top players) and enterprises can use communications analytics platforms to better serve their customers.
 
Any organisation that has communications at its core can transform how it interacts with customers with the help of a wholesale partner. It’s about accelerating access to new tools, monetising existing data, and increasing customer satisfaction with the help of new platforms and experts.
 
Christian Michaud is senior vice president, Product & Business Strategy at Tata Communications. He is also a leading member of the Steering Committee of the i3 Forum, a global organisation of 51 carriers and operators with the mandate to foster the transition to an IP environment. Follow Christian on Twitter: @ChristianMich_
 
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