ENT_IM_TELCO

ENTITY WHITE PAPER
LEAD-TO-CASH:
THE VALUE
OF BIG DATA
AND ANALYTICS
FOR TELCO

ENTITY WHITE PAPER
ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
LEAD-TO-CASH: THE VALUE OF BIG
DATA AND ANALYTICS FOR TELCO
THE CHALLENGE OF THE DIGITAL AGE
“The most
meaningful way to
differentiate your
company from the
competition, the best
way to put distance
between you and the
crowd, is to do an
outstanding job with
information. How you
gather, manage and
use information will
determine whether
you win or lose.”
Bill Gates
Life in the Information Age continues to accelerate. The digital world is
changing the rules, and telecommunications service providers are having
to evolve from being process and account-oriented to focusing firmly on
the individual. By combining products and plans, service providers are able
to offer increased flexibility through unique customer journeys to service
an increasingly competitive double, triple and quadruple-play market. But
with this flexibility comes massive complexity and an exponential growth
in data volumes.
Successful operators are the vanguard of the digital world – adapting to meet the demand
for individually tailored packages of services. Each of the component services must continue to
demonstrate innovation – to outclass the competition, and to do so at ever an increasing pace.
While struggling to keeping pace in its fast-moving markets, telcos face a nexus of additional
pressures, including:
• Stringent legal and regulatory requirements
• Increasing costs in developing and maintaining technical infrastructure
(people, equipment and fleets), and
• Demand for a highly resilient ‘always on’ service.
All whilst continuing to increase revenues, reduce operational costs and ensure that VIPs are
treated with the due care and attention they demand and deserve. A lot of challenges in a
highly competitive sector that are compounded by other disruptive technology - by 2018, telco
companies are set to lose a combined US$386 billion to over-the-top (OTT) voice applications such
as Skype and WhatsApp 1 .
For C-Suite Executives, the revenue imperative from investment in Big Data and Analytics is clear.
NS
The promise of Big Data and Advanced Analytics
• Over 7.4 billion mobile devices
• 69% increase in global mobile data traffic in 2014, and
• An expected seven-fold increase in mobile data traffic by 2018 2
For the telco industry, Big Data is already here - real time and near real time analytics on large and
overlapping data sets - and with it comes big opportunity as it continues to grow exponentially.
Telecommunications companies are uniquely positioned to capitalise on this opportunity. They
are at the epicentre of the communications industry, control its underlying infrastructure and are
awash with data on how customers use, interact with and buy their products. The challenge now is
how to unlock the power and potential of these strategic assets.
2
1. http://fortune.com/2014/06/23/telecom-companies-count-386-billion-in-lost-revenue-to-skype-whatsapp-others/
2. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white_paper_c11-520862.html

MANAG
ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
ENTITY WHITE PAPER
Obstacles to implementation
The potential for this technology for telecommunications companies is huge but its adoption will
not come without challenges.
Data Silos
As in many industries, telecommunications companies have suffered from having to respond to
pressures of growth, business and technology change. As a result, data has typically been defined
at the business unit or department level (sales, network engineering, billing etc). Unfortunately,
this approach has led to siloed information strategies, siloed solutions and data that contains gaps,
duplications and errors. To be ready for Big Data, telcos must first put their houses in order.
Enterprise Information Architecture
Service providers need to extract insight from a great variety of data (voice, messages, GPS,
location, field service, change management, customer care, connected devices, social media etc);
data that is operating at different speeds. This information must be leveraged, often in real-time,
to achieve business objectives such as improving the customer experience.
Furthermore, legacy customer and operational information must be aggregated and processed
using new tools, whilst ensuring data quality, accessibility and security across existing solution
ecosystems for regulatory compliance.
Without an effective enterprise architectural vision in place that meets the complexity of these
requirements, telcos cannot capitalise on the competitive advantage that Big Data brings.
Enterprise Thinking
Big Data requires integration of information from different divisions, departments and systems
across the enterprise. This involves each of those divisional and department heads and the system
owners subscribing to a single corporate vision. It is often very difficult for a group of people, each
with their own interests at heart, to agree on a common objective and the roadmap to the wealth
of benefits that can be achieved.
In a sector characterised by a lifecycle of global mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and expansion
into multiple media markets, this challenge cannot be understated.
3

ENTITY WHITE PAPER
ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
Key Business Drivers
Enterprise Information Management provides the bedrock principles for Big Data and
Analytics to succeed. It is the discipline of treating data as an Enterprise Asset - and - enabling
the enterprise to capitalise on that asset.
For each strategic information management initiative, telcos must identify key business
drivers, gain executive sponsorship, and develop a business case that will deliver quantifiable
ROI. Business drivers for telcos can be expressed in numerous ways, and are often
interrelated:
TELECOMMUNICATIONS - BUSINESS DRIVERS
New products and services derived from analysis of customer behaviour
and sentiment.
Enhanced and responsive customer service and package configuration.
Management of the customer experience based on cost-to-serve, value and
relationship status.
Focused targeting of marketing campaigns towards individuals.
Real-time network optimisation for improved routing and for maximising
the quality of service.
Streamlined error diagnosis and problem management.
Effective and efficient deployment of maintenance vehicles and personnel.
Sophisticated detection of fraud and misuse of services.
Revenue generation from new sources, such as selling insights about customers
to third parties.
Realising the benefits
The potential of Big Data and Analytics comes with a profound challenge: Trust.
• Have I the right quality of data to run my organisation efficiently?
• How can I manage and combine the ever-increasing amount of data and have
confidence in the result?
NS
• Can I measure and improve data quality?
Sounds familiar?
Success rests upon true Executive recognition of the importance of data as an organisational
asset. Telcos executives now recognise that in order to succeed, they need to weave
information management strategies, policies, procedures and solutions throughout the fabric
of their operation so that raw data becomes timely, relevant and actionable information.
4

ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
ENTITY WHITE PAPER
Information Management Strategy
The purpose of the Information Management Strategy is to define an Information
Architecture and strategy that meets the needs of your business as it changes.
Once the strategy is understood and agreed, an optimal roadmap is identified for deriving
the most business benefit from your information management projects as they are
implemented incrementally. The objective is to quickly provide recommendations on areas
where possible improvements could be made based on strategic goals/drivers.
ENTITY’S APPROACH
Entity’s approach for Enterprise Information Management (EIM) orchestrates people, process and
technology to deliver outcomes that have a direct correlation to strategic objectives. The following
model represents this approach.
ORGANISATIONAL
STRATEGY
ORGANISATIONAL
GOVERNANCE
DATA
GOVERNANCE
MODELLING, ARCHITECTURE,
METADATA, CATALOGUING
COMPLETENESS, ACCURACY
AND INTEGRITY OF DATA
DATA STORAGE, PRIVACY
AND SECURITY
INTEGRATION, INTEROPERABILITY,
SOCIAL MEDIA AND OPEN DATA
MANAGEMENT OF METADATA, CATALOGUES,
REFERENCE DATA AND MASTER DATA
DOCUMENT AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT, DATA WAREHOUSE, BI AND ANALYTICS,
TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT (ERP, CRM etc), AUDIT DATA, BIG DATA
OWNERSHIP
DESCRIPTION
QUALITY
ACCESS
USAGE & SHARING
CONTROL &
IMPLEMENTATION
BUSINESS
CAPABILITIES
ARCHITECTURAL
CAPABILITIES
TECHNICAL
CAPABILITIES
OPERATIONAL
CAPABILITIES
Figure 1 - Enterprise Information Management Model - ©2015 Entity Group Ltd.
The layers of the triangle represent the ‘principles’ of successful information management along
with their constituent data concerns (shown inside the triangle) and, towards the right, the
capabilities delivered by addressing these data concerns.
The model exposes how to extract value from solutions such as Big Data, BI and Analytics (bottom
layer), by taking into account all of the concerns above.
ANAGEME
Our model allows for a structured approach to data governance and information management
strategy; provides a blueprint for the design of Enterprise Information Architecture into which
each strategic initiative should fit; enables a clear understanding of different data domains
(reference data, customer master data, Big Data etc) and their role in data management; and
allows for a considered process for Information Lifecycle Management across the enterprise as
data is used, creates value, and is discarded.
Along the journey, various types of capability are established, and the business benefits become
realised (as shown on the right of the model).
5

ENTITY WHITE PAPER
ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
Telco specialist knowledge
Entity staff are highly experienced in developing Enterprise Information Management
solutions for the Telco sector. Our teams have worked with a wide range of companies from
large multinational groups to monopolistic national incumbents to start-ups. Entity staff have
covered the breadth of service portfolios including wireline, wireless fixed, wireless mobile,
cable, internet, digital media, converged multi-play solutions and international interconnect.
Companies include:
GROUP CO’s
AT&T, BT, Belgacom, Vodafone,
Cable & Wireless, Qtel
OP CO’s
Vodafone Ireland, Bahamas Telecom,
Maroc Telecom, FastLink (Zaine),
Tunisiana (Ooredoo), Lime
Experience includes:
SOLUTION
Use of analytics to manage customer
experience, balancing cost-to-serve
against revenue generation.
Use of data mining and analytics,
combined with intelligence from
customer interactions, to manage the
complex network of VIP customer
relationships.
Use of Big Data techniques to manage
high volumes of call data records in near
real-time.
BUSINESS OUTCOME
The most lucrative customers received
appropriate customer service
experience.
VIP and VVIP subscribers experienced
significantly shorter waiting times
and more direct routes through the
interactive voice response (IVR) system.
Complex regulatory reporting achieved
for the first time.
SOLUTIONS
Use of Operational Data Store and
Insight in real-time how the customer
Analytics combined with Business
experience was affected by technical
Service Monitoring to provide realtime
end-to-end customer experience systems.
challenges in network, OSS, BSS and VAS
monitoring.
Single-source-of-truth (Master Data Enhanced data quality for improved
Management) and intelligence for a decision making.
large telco group during and following
merger and acquisition of new
operating companies.
Development of data models and
processes based on industry frameworks
such as TMF Frameworx (encompassing
eTOM, SID and TAM) and ITU.
Entity staff have implemented solutions that enable analytics of data in large volumes,
sometimes in real-time. In doing so, we have helped clients to improve customer service,
billing performance, revenue leakage, fraud prevention, operational efficiency and real
cost savings.
6

ENTITY WHITE PAPER
ENTITY GROUP ADVISORY SERVICES
For more information please contact:
Entity House
980 Cornforth Drive
Kent Science Park
Sittingbourne
KENT ME9 8PX
United Kingdom
Entity Group Ltd
info@entity.co.uk
01795 415 800
www.entity.co.uk
www.entity.co.uk