Are telcos leveraging data analytics?

MUMBAI, INDIA: Although teclos are increasingly looking at data analytics for improved customer engagement, but data integration challenges persist.

These were the findings of a new survey by Mahindra Comviva and Ovum Consulting titled, Trends and Future Plans for Telcos' Data-Driven Marketing Operations.

The findings:

About 55 percent telcos have invested in data-driven marketing operations.

About 40 percent telcos expect spend for improved customer experience to increase considerably within the next 18 months.

About 11 percent telcos marketing budgets will go to investment in analytics tools.

Over 80 percent of telcos face data integration as a core challenge, owing to the intensive and expensive process of collating data from multiple sources.

Customer retention, churn and campaign management are the most popular use cases.

Trends:

The study predicts that over the next 12 to 18 months, telcos in Africa and Middle East plan to invest about 4 to 15 percent of opex spend to marketing operations while telcos in Latin America will drive investment in analytics.

On average, 11 percent of the marketing budgets are allocated to advanced analytics tools such as data mining and predictive analytics.

Comments:

Amit Sanyal, Head, Consumer Value Solutions, Mahindra Comviva said, "Contextual marketing solutions are gaining importance globally. It is therefore imperative for telcos to deploy analytics tools that enable improved and personalized experience to create customer delight. The study reiterates our belief that adoption of analytics for data driven marketing operations is the name of the game."

Adaora Okeleke, Analyst, Telecoms Operations and IT, Ovum Research, said, "Competitive pressure means that immediate insights and activity are a pre-requisite for effective customer engagements, from both a churn and data monetization perspective. 60 percent telcos identify these as the top drivers for their investment in data analytics tools to support data driven marketing operations. However 80 percent face significant data integration issues to gain the comprehensive view of customer activities they need, in order to respond with a personalized, real-time offers."