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Moving On The Right Track

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/dq/media/post_attachments/f498f9a9a8e00291d2ca49fead97352ea50f2afc2ba27db44351e7c6b491fc35.jpg (21963 bytes) align="right" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="2">The IT

spending in the telecom and IT seg-ment was above Rs 850 crore with telecom spending at Rs

84 crore. The telecom figure reflects the spending by the basic service providers which is

yet to fully bloom in the Indian market. Presently, this accounts for only the private

cellular and paging service providers in the allotted circles. Numerically, though it is

only 10 percent of the total spending in the telecom and IT segment, its potential is

grand for the appetite that the segment has for technology. It is only the tip of the

iceberg with the full potential to be unleashed when the basic services and Internet

service operators start their commercial offerings as private sector entities. Once that

happens, the segment will vie for one of the top slots like manufacturing and banking.

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alt="https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/dq/media/post_attachments/f268bb82d1ea606747aa7af3e26dab4ddebc756ddbf137885f88635ef573cc5e.jpg (19759 bytes)" border="0" hspace="2" vspace="2" align="left">The IT segment

spending has a disproportionate spread across the size of the companies that invest to

acquire the latest in technology. Further, it is largely need-based and does not follow a

set pattern as the other segments do based on their business imperatives. Business

imperatives do drive IT acquisition in this segment, but not from a competitive

standpoint. It entirely depends on the resources it would require for the kind of

development projects it needs. With almost all the large consulting and services companies

setting up offshore development centers in the country for specific clients, IT

consumption is massive. That explains the huge spending figure.

Deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, and technological

advancements have brought dramatic changes to the telecom providers, who not only face

competitive threats from each other, but also from cable, wireless, satellite, and private

network providers. In response to the ongoing and ensuing competition, telecom companies

are rethinking their models. They are shifting resources, exploring new market

opportunities, re-examining their business processes and reengineering to increase revenue

and decrease costs.

Types

Of Demands From Telcos



Customer acquisition and retention



size="2"> Market segmentation and prospect identification



size="2"> Targeted campaign, promotion, customer schemes, and tariff plans


size="2"> Total customer management facility


size="2"> Churn prediction and prevention


size="2"> Analysis of connections, disconnections, and reconnections


size="2"> Dealer analysis and monitoring


size="2"> Revenue enhancement


size="2"> Profitability analysis


size="2"> Aging analysis of accounts receivable


size="2"> Products sales analysis


size="2"> Bill assurance


size="2"> Economic modeling


size="2"> Network utilization and capacity planning










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In an industry like telecom, the winners will be

those who can adapt quickly to new market opportunities. In this backdrop, telecom

providers need mission-critical informational technology solutions that can combine

performance and scalability with flexibility and modularity.

In the telecom scenario, there is a large amount of data

available in a variety of systems. While these are required for billing and other

operational functions, they do not meet the organizational information needs. A

datawarehouse provides key information required to effect better decisions, such as

call-usage analysis, call-volume analysis, handset-usage analysis, network utilization and

downtime analysis, customer segmentation, billing patterns, customer satisfaction and

dealer analysis, receivable and fraud analysis, and profitability analysis.

In order to succeed in the changing telecom marketplace and

be able to address questions arising out of any of the aforesaid issues, the operator

needs to plunge into his operational databases and come up with information that will

assist management in its decision-support activity.

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The paradoxical thing in the whole scenario is that the

carrier in most cases is generating and sitting on huge volumes of data which he can

barely manage and provide information on. Needless to say, the carrier operates in an

industry where the number of customers is large and the number of transactions even

larger. For example, one of India's metro cellular operators has a base of around 100,000

active customers which generate an average 500,000 Call Data Records (CDRs) per day.

Embracing

Datawarehousing

Modi Telstra Pvt. Ltd, one of the cellular service

providers in Calcutta, is utilizing Informix's database technology for planned

datawarehouse applications. The datawarehouse enables Modi Telstra to better understand

the marketplace, customers and their behavior patterns, and take a leadership position.

Customers are now analyzed and segmented by common values, needs, and their call

behavior-not simply by the product they buy.

The primary datawarehouse applications implemented include

customer profitability, call-behavior analysis, marketing product development, customer

retention, and churn revenue/profitability analysis. In an increasingly competitive

market, in which customers' expectations are also on the rise, businesses will no longer

be able to offer 'one size fits all' products. Datawarehousing underpins Modi Telstra's

strategy of developing products and value-added services that must meet individual

customer needs.

Indian telcos are witnessing stiff competition and

companies have to keep their competitiveness at global levels. As per the current National

Telecom Policy, a rapid acceleration of telecom services is visualized that would require

supplementing the resources allocated to this sector. In its policy document, DoT has

recognized that improving telephone services would be crucial for the development of the

national infrastructure and to lure foreign direct investment. As a sequel, this has

brought in organizations with high-capacity handling capabilities into the Indian scenario

that generate large volumes of data over time.

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