Telco data analytics are like email – without the send button

You’ve crafted the email, the tone is right, the grammar correct. But whoa, no send button? Get the idea – your email is all but useless since i) there’s is no connection to the recipient(s) and ii) no feedback loop. You get the picture.

It’s 2017, and you would have thought that creating evidence-based systems of decision has never been easier. After all aren’t the FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix & Google) doing this day in day out? Aren’t closed loop digital systems all hooked up with continual measurement, and isn’t every vendor under the sun promising you it’s easy? It can’t be that difficult!

SO WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT TELECOM OPERATORS?

Slow to adapt. Skill Shortage. Legacy politics, the weight of past acquisitions? Or maybe they’re only interested in roaming charges and data bundles?

Hmmm, I’m not so sure. I see the margins, but aren’t they necessary to pay down high levels of investment and spectrum licences? I see smart people under pressure – and isn’t that usually a condition needed for innovation?

But most of all, I see that consumer expectations have changed; Operators considered as utilities – strong on brand, always there, but otherwise entirely unexciting. On the other hand, Netflix, now that’s exciting – instant and always ready for my commute. That’s what I really really want!

HUMAN FIRST

If you’ve read this far, you’re undoubtedly thinking what’s all this got to do with Operator analytics? Well, as I hope you can now see it’s all about the person, the human behind the label and more importantly the disconnection from that “person”, your customer. Don’t the Fang know them far better than you? 

Wait, isn’t operator data richer, broader, and far more complete than the FANGs? Isn’t that the magic opportunity to close the loop – to use analytics to change each customer’s perception – anticipating what they want, and helping them get it done?

You see it’s not about analytics for analytics sake. It’s about connecting with each person as a human – using every network event, every customer behaviour, every signal, everything in your power to help that person to do what they want to do.

Which means you’ll stop spamming them with 36 messages a month.

Now there’s a challenge….