Companies across every industry are striving to make better use of data – to improve the efficiency of processes and gain a deeper understanding their customers, writes Ravi Palepu, the global head of Telco Solutions, Virtusa. Communication service providers (CSPs) have many terabytes of data crossing their networks every day, so are in a prime position to take advantage.
For CSPs, effective use of data goes beyond streamlining certain functions – it’s a golden opportunity to improve revenues through the delivery of more targeted and personalised services to customers.
Smashing through the status quo
Despite the fact that customers freely share with their providers, research has shown that CSPs have faced a struggle in providing a good customer experience. CSPs have access to a level of detailed, valuable customer data that other companies rightly envy – on everything from browsing habits and social media content, to geolocation and transaction patterns. What if CSPs used this insight to improve the understanding they have of their customers in order to create personalised services? Or used it to partner with others to create new products and services? In the face of increased competition and few points on which to differentiate from rivals, CSPs that are able to use data in this manner will win.
However, for CSPs to do this successfully, there are two obstacles they need to navigate around. First, they need to have the tools in place that allow them to collect and analyse huge volumes of structured and unstructured data – created by the consumption of services by customers and fuelled by new innovations like the Internet of Things (IoT) – and derive insights from it in real-time. Secondly, they must package this in a way that is easy for their partners to use; while still ensuring the integrity of the data is protected.
The platform approach
Even for CSPs with millions invested in improving customer service, these requirements aren’t easy to meet. Amid increasing pressure from challenger brands, OTT apps and regulators, many CSPs are beginning to look toward a platform-based solution to sell data services to customers and dramatically reduce the time to market. This kind of monetisation platform will help CSPs unlock value from their customer data and open up new streams of revenue. While there’s no one-size-fits-all silver bullet for monetising data, CSPs have a few requirements in common:
- Customisation – CSPs benefit most from an easily customisable platform, which allows them to mine the data and draw conclusions in a manner that works best for them. Not only do these insights allow for improved network optimisation and utilisation, they also provide other opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell to existing enterprise customers, while also attracting new business.
- Security – Given current sensitivities around data protection, customers demand that their information is safeguarded. CSPs therefore need a monetisation solution that allows them to build services with customer data, without the need to actually share that data with third parties.
- Collaboration – Without compromising the integrity of the data, monetisation tools also need to allow for brands and other partner companies to log onto the platform to segment customers into groups, allowing for more accurate targeting of customers with offers that matter more to them.
Brands and partner companies can log on to the platform to configure the customer segment, campaigns and notification type to push offers to the targeted customers. The CSPs will get real-time information on the campaigns against a brand or a set of brands to measure the effectiveness and revenue opportunities against the campaigns. This kind of insight is invaluable to brands, and CSPs have a unique opportunity to package it in a way that third-party brands can easily access and use.
The beauty of such a solution, is that CSPs already have all of this data available to them – this approach simply allows them to bring it together in one platform. Through the use of a user-friendly monetisation tool, CSPs will be able to provide brands with easily accessible information, so they in turn can build more personalised communications with their customers. In this data-driven economy, such a capability is more valuable than ever.
