There was a time when one could get into a lot of argument over the
legalistic definition of just what exactly is, or is not Business Intelligence
for Telecommunications Companies. Today, there is so much happening so quickly
it is hard just to keep track of it all. For our purposes we define Telco
Business Intelligence as the term to describe a loosely organized set of
applications, tools, concepts and approaches all of which are focused on the
transformation of "raw input" in the form of data, text, graphics, multi-media
or any other form, into usable information, that helps telecommunications
executives to better understand and more efficiently manage their business. Included in the definition of BI for Telco are:
- Telco Data Warehousing - Which is the warehousing of Telco data in order
to support end user processing
- Telco Data Mining - The process of using statistical analysis and data
mining tools to derive insights into Telecommunications Customer Behavior, and
the prediction of things like Telecommunications Churn (the churn of Telco
Customers to competitive providers), Telecommunications Fraud (predicting who
will or who has perpetuated a fraud), Telecommunications Dunning and
Collections (to predict and better manage collections and late pay/ no pay
management, Telecommunications Forecasting including Telecommunications Budget
Forecasts, Telecommunications Marketing Forecasts, Telecommunications Traffic
Forecasts, Telecommunications Sales Forecasts and overall Telecommunications
Market Sizing and Forecasting)
- Telco Knowledge Management - The utilization of text, graphics, video,
audio and other multi-media management tools (including the use of intranets
and the internet) to enhance and improve operations and telecommunications
executive decision-making.
- Telco Market Research - Making use or market surveys and other techniques
to find out Telecommunications Customer wants and needs, and the get the
"voice of the telecommunications customer" injected into all
telecommunications decision making
As the telecommunications industry continues to evolve, and grow larger, more
complex and more profitable, so too has Telecommunications Business
Intelligence (BI for Telco). We at eXcellence in Telecommunication (TTA) are
focused on staying on the leading edge of Telco BI, working to constantly
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of all of the different types of
Telecommunications Business Intelligence Techniques (Telco Data Warehousing,
Telco Data Mining, Telco Knowledge Management and Telco Market Research) and
working to make these as accessible and flexible as possible.
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Each of the different disciplines employed in the practice of
business intelligence makes use of the same basic discipline, which is:
1. Identify sources of
information of potential value
2. Get the data from
those sources and prepare it for easy storage and reference
3. Store the
information in a shared, easy to access location
4. Provide specialized
tools and services to support the organization in their accessing and
understanding of that information.
We refer to these 3
major phases as:
1. Acquisition
2. Storage
3. Access
While Business
Intelligence disciplines use the same basic approach there are many physical and
operational differences between them, based upon the physical characteristics of
the media they work with and the nature of the work that you use them to
accomplish.
To help you to
understand these differences, the following tables have been provided.
The first shows a
comparison of the 4 disciplines associated with business intelligence for
telecommunications (Telco Data Warehousing, Telco Data Mining, Telco Knowledge
Management and Telco Market Research) based upon:
-
the different sources
of information each uses as inputs
-
the different ways
that the information is stored and managed
-
the different ways
that the information is disseminated to users
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Sources
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Storage
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Dissemination
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Data Warehousing
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CDR
Billing
Switching
CRM
Order Mgmt
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Database / Data Warehouse
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Query , OLAP, Reporting, Adhoc
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Data Mining
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Data Mining Platform
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Statistical or Data Mining Specialty Tool
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Knowledge Management
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Documents
Web Pages
Multi-media files
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Web Site
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Search Engines
Knowledge Mgmt Systems - Portals
Information "Push" and "Pull" systems
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Market Research
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Market Surveys Manual input
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Files on PC
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Written Reports or Spreadsheets
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Also included here is a comparison of these disciplines based upon the
business problems and areas they are typically used to address:
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Functional Delivery Best Fit
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Data Warehousing
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Operational Monitoring and Control , Exception Reporting
and Warning, Master File Management and Reporting (Customer Master,
Product Master etc.), Informational Synchronization , Data Surfing
(scanning large files for insights)
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Data Mining
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Prediction, Forecast, In depth Diagnosis
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Knowledge Management
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Knowledge Sharing, Reference Libraries, Coordination of
Documentation and other Objects, Customer and Corporate User Self Service
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Market Research
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Prediction, Forecast, In Depth Diagnosis of customer wants,
needs, attitudes and reactions to products, approaches and prices
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Reasons behind the formation of excellence in
Telecommunication (TTA) |
Excellence in Telecommunication or TTA was founded in response to the
ever increasing demand for business intelligence expertise that is
telecommunications industry specific. As the Telecommunications industry has
matured, so has the demand for sophisticated, focused assistance in the
application of advanced Telecommunications Business Intelligence techniques to
the many needs that executives have. No facet of the modern telecommunications
firm can afford to continue to operate without the benefit that a
Telecommunications Data Warehousing, Telecommunications Data Mining,
Telecommunications Knowledge Management and Telecommunications Market Research
have to offer.
Learn from your consultants, instead of teaching them
How many times have you brought in a team of "expert consultants" to work in
your environment, only to find that you are spending all of your time teaching
them about how the Telecommunications Industry works, instead of having them
teach you how to get things done more efficiently? Surely, far too many times.
With and the TTA team, you won't have to deal with that problem.
The core to our approach is that "we provide you" with best practices expertise
in the the way you do things. Since we specialize only in Telco Business
Intelligence, and since we do this kind of work for Telco's from every continent
and major market, we are in a position to provide you with exceptional value
added service
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