Login to access
Want to subscribe?
This article is part of: Executive Briefing Service
To find out more about how to join or access this report please contact us
Big data analytics could help telcos improve performance, rebuild revenues and regain relevance with consumers, but it is not a quick fix. This report looks at what telcos have done in this area so far and what they need to do next.
Introduction
Recent years have seen an explosion in the amount of data being generated by people and devices, thanks to more advanced network infrastructure, widespread adoption of smartphones and related applications, and digital consumer services. With the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), the amount of data being captured, stored, searched and analysed will only continue to increase. Such is the volume and variety of the data that it is beyond traditional processing software and is therefore referred to as ‘big data’.
Big data is of a greater magnitude and variety than traditional data, it comes from multiple sources and can be comprised of various formats, generated, stored and utilised in batches and/or in real-time. There is much talk and discussion around big data and analytics and its potential in many sectors, including telecommunications. As Figure 1 shows, analysis of big data can give an improved basis upon which to base human-led and automated decisions by providing better insight and allowing greater understanding of the situation being addressed.
Figure 1: Using Big Data can result in richer data insights
Source: STL Partners
This report analyses how telcos are pursuing big data analytics, and how to be successful in this regard. This report seeks to answer the following questions:
- When does data become ‘big’ and why is it an important issue for telcos?
- What is the current state of telco big data implementations?
- Who is doing what in terms of intelligent use of data and analytics?
- How can big data analytics improve internal operational efficiencies?
- How can big data be used to improve the relationship between telcos and their customers?
- Where are the greatest revenue opportunities for telcos to employ big data, e.g. B2B, B2C?
- Which companies are leading the way in enabling telcos to successfully realise big data strategies?
- What is required in terms of infrastructure, dedicated teams and partners for successful implementation?
This report discusses implementations of big data and examines how the market will develop as telco awareness, understanding and readiness to make use of big data improves. It provides an overview of the opportunities and use cases that can be realised and recommends what telcos need to do to achieve these.
Contents:
- Executive Summary
- Big data analytics is important
- …but it’s not a quick win
- …it’s a strategic play that takes commitment
- How is ‘big data analytics’ different from ‘analytics’?
- Opportunities for telcos: typically internal then external
- Market development and trends
- Challenges and restrictions in practice
- What makes a successful big data strategy?
- Next steps
- Introduction
- Methodology
- An overview of big data analytics
- Volume, variety and velocity – plus veracity and value
- The significance of big data for telcos and their future strategies
- Market development and trends
- Challenges and restrictions
- Optimisation and efficiency versus data monetisation
- Telcos’ big data ecosystem
- Case studies and results
- Early results
- Big data analytics use cases
- Examples of internal use-cases
- Examples of external use cases
- Findings, conclusions and recommendations
Figures:
- Figure 1: Using Big Data can result in richer data insights
- Figure 2: The data-centric telco: infusing data to improve efficiency across functions
- Figure 3: Options for telcos’ big data implementations
- Figure 4: Telco’s big data partner ecosystem
- Figure 5: The components of a telco-oriented big data
