The ability to compete in one of the most hotly competitive business environments calls for a transformation underscored by the rapid commercialization of D&A.

Traditional telecommunications players have to step up their game in data and analytics (D&A) if they want a lead in the digitization race. For these pioneers of electronic and digital communication, survival and success over the next 10 years rests, in large part, on their ability to accelerate the commercialization of their D&A — both customer data as well as network and operational data, which comprise a vast and valuable trove of information. Standing in the way, however, are some deeply-rooted challenges that often prevent telecom executives from trusting their D&A and the valuable insights they can gain from them.

D&A key to telecom transformation

Telecom executives are well aware that that their business models are being fundamentally and continuously disrupted. In a recent KPMG survey of 580 telecoms executives, 79 percent worry that they are already seen by customers as just a ‘fat pipe of bits’. The same survey found that 80 percent of telecom executives see D&A as the key to creating real-time change in the way they serve their customers. With these insights in mind, the ability to compete in one of the most hotly competitive business environments calls for a transformation underscored by the rapid commercialization of D&A.

Success will be highly dependent, on determining the best approach to address critical trust gaps across their organizations. In a recent KPMG survey on building trust in analytics, less than half of telecom executives had trust in the usage and deployment of their analytics.

Many of the large players are making huge capital investments in technology and infrastructure but are seeing much of the value of those investments being overthrown by agile over the top (OTT) rivals such as Google, Netflix and Facebook. It could be argued that these capital investments represent a huge risk, given telecom executives’ lack of trust in their data, yet they intuitively understand the value that D&A could deliver to their top line. Most telecom players are already building up strong capabilities in areas such as customer value management and social media monitoring. Many are also keen to explore how they could monetize the data that travels over their networks to deliver new services, not only to their traditional customers but also to new markets.

_{The excerpt was taken from the publication entitled Commercialize to Win: How trusted analytics can drive success for traditional telecommunication players.}