The introduction of big data and analytics enables savvy business leaders to identify market opportunities with the most upside potential and ensure that marketing investment is directed at the most profitable customer segments.
The return on investment (ROI) can be significant. As an example, the continued deployment of analytics platforms is expected to deliver combined savings and incremental revenues to mobile network operators (MNOs) totaling more than $9 billion by 2018, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research.
Greatest savings are expected to result from reduced customer churn and more efficient capex allocation, with MNOs also able to derive significant revenues through the licensing of opted-in subscriber data to third parties.
According to Juniper, the introduction of an analytics platform is of critical importance to players across the mobile value chain as a means of gaining insight into customer behavior and matching investment with the most profitable customer segments.
Strategies for Managing Big Data
Juniper found that while many network operators were seeking to partner with third party analytics platform providers in a bid to monetize and manage the big data deluge, alternative strategies were emerging.
Some mobile network operators -- such as Telefonica and Verizon -- have established in-house business units to offer aggregated subscriber data to enterprise customers, while in the UK, Everything Everywhere, Telefonica O2 and Vodafone have founded the advertising joint venture Weve.
Meanwhile, Juniper's study findings highlighted a sharp increase in analytics platform investment amongst OTT providers, citing Facebook’s purchase of the Atlas platform from Microsoft to enable the provision of highly targeted advertising as a key development in this regard.
However, Juniper also cautioned that all users of these new analytics platforms need to be aware of customer and regulatory privacy concerns.
"It is imperative for players to ensure that they -- and their partners -- have a robust policy in place for customer data usage, so that data can be aggregated and analysed without compromising subscriber privacy, said Keith Breed, associate analyst at Juniper Research.
