We live in an age of big data. According to a report by Deloitte, a massive 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day!
Nowhere is this data more prevalent than in the telecoms sector. Living in a connected world means vast amounts of data are generated from social media, search engines, apps, analytics, and more. Big data has the potential to revolutionise telecoms, allowing providers to gain comprehensive insights into the customer experience and how they interact with products. In this article, we look at the role of big data in telecoms and how this could shape the future.
What is big data?
Big data refers to the large volume of data — both structured and unstructured — that businesses accumulate from a variety of sources (such as smart devices, business transactions, and social media) on a daily basis. Businesses can analyse this information to gain insights that enable them to make better, more strategic decisions. The term “big data” first emerged in the early 2000s when it was coined by industry analyst Doug Laney who categorised it in terms of volume, velocity and variety.
Why is big data important?
Big data — when analysed — can be extremely valuable to organisations, allowing them to:
● Understand more about their customers (e.g. where, when and why they buy products or use a service)
● Safeguard their client base through incentives such as loyalty programmes
● Exploit opportunities for cross-selling or upselling
● Target promotional initiatives
● Optimise company planning and operations
● Predict future trends
● Identify new revenue streams
The role of big data in telecoms
The telecoms sector has access to a lot of data! From mobile devices and apps to wearable devices like smart watches and AR glasses, the list is almost endless. In a competitive market, it’s likely to be the companies who use this data to their advantage that survive. Using big data can allow telecoms providers to improve customer service, and evaluate and create new products in line with user needs. It can also help them monitor and optimise their networks (e.g. by better forecasting network capacity and demand).
Although telecoms providers have been using legacy analytics for some time, most have yet to discover the full potential of big data. There are, however, a combination of compelling reasons for telecoms companies to invest in this area. These include intense competition, slow revenue growth, and increasing network costs.
Customer churn is also a significant factor in a saturated market and one of the most difficult challenges for the telecoms sector. With the help of predictive models plus machine algorithms it may be possible for telcos to better identify customers at risk of leaving. When combined with data on usage, transactions, complaints and social media, the chance of identifying these individuals increases further.
Big data also has the potential to allow telcos to create more tailored solutions for their customers. The result of this is likely to be more loyal customers, who stick around!
To sum up
Big data has many benefits and potential uses for the telecoms industry — and we’ve only just scratched the surface here. With benefits for the end-user too, this area is only set to become more important in the future.
At Everyday Communications, we offer a range of advanced telecoms solutions for home and business users. These include broadband, video conferencing, Cloud telephony and more.
To find out more visit our website or contact our expert team!
