Scientia potentia est – knowledge is power - is the phrase attributed to 16th century English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon. The better informed you are, the more appropriate your behavior in any number of situations, both proactive and reactive. We know that we have a torrent of data generated by today’s hyper-connected world at our fingertips – how can we transform this into knowledge, and unlock its power?
It’s important here to differentiate definitions. Data in itself is not knowledge – it only becomes powerful once organized and analyzed to create actionable insights. The sheer amount of data being generated today makes that task far beyond the capabilities of mere humans. IDC has predicted that by 2025, there will be 79 zettabytes of data created by billions of connected devices across the IoT. In addition to this, Kaleido Intelligence forecasts that data traffic created by international travelers will match pre-COVID-19 levels in 2022, seeing an average annual growth of 40% to exceed 1,600 petabytes in 2025.
It’s difficult to grasp just how much data is being created, but with this inundation comes huge opportunity. The operators who can manipulate this data and transform it into knowledge will harness its power, and the only way to achieve that is through advanced analytics.
There are two key challenges in addressing the data tsunami. The first is identifying what is the source of the data: is it person-to-person, application-to-person, or machine-to-machine? The second is identifying across which networks the data is traveling. Is it a private network, national, or international – is the data roaming? Roaming, after all, is not limited to people. The critical reliance on connectivity during the pandemic has highlighted just how important roaming capability is to IoT-connected sensors. International logistics and delivery companies, for example, are almost wholly reliant on roaming devices to track and monitor cargo and fleet movements. A further Kaleido report that forecasts a massive 300% rise in IoT roaming to 2025.
To add to the complexity of data analysis, as subscriber interactions change, and new use cases appear and evolve, it is possible for human users to appear to be machines on the network, and vice versa. Operators must be able to distinguish between devices being used by people, and devices connected to and/or being controlled by machines. Analysis needs to bring out behavioral nuances, and usage patterns – how the devices interact with the network.
The most sophisticated advanced analytics platforms provide operators with a full 360-degree view of roaming traffic, providing real time, actionable data across the full network stack – 2G, 3G, 4G and IoT. Trends can be identified and monitored, with historical data brought into the mix, and descriptive analytics implemented to identify anomalies. This translates into heightened safety and security, with alerts for unusual or suspicious activity.
These insights give operators the power to improve the service they offer: to create personalized, tailored offerings to subscribers, and attractive data plans for their enterprise IoT customers. They can segment and optimize to deliver consistent quality of experience. And of course, the parallel goal to ensuring the best possible customer satisfaction is achieving the highest possible profitability – all roaming traffic can be tracked to see how the usage patterns impact the operators’ bottom line.
Advanced analytics give operators the knowledge to develop and enhance the monetization strategies that will underpin and drive the growth of their business and create the right value propositions for their customers. Bacon’s words are as valid today as they were more than 400 years ago. Knowledge is certainly power – and in today’s connected world, the depth and accuracy of insights driving that knowledge, are based on the quality of the advanced analytics.For more information on how advanced analytics can not only enhance the telco experience and monetization strategies, but create relevant, meaningful personal experiences too, please visit BICS’ dedicated business intelligence page. By Damion Rose, Senior Product Manager - Mobile Signaling & Roaming Solutions
