Now is the right time for Indian telcos to adopt Hadoop

These are exciting times in the Indian telecom sector. There is optimism in the air, thanks to an enabling environment and a surge in data adoption by consumers. In fact, in the past couple of years, the rise in data services has outsmarted voice services, and this is where the big opportunity for telecom operators lies. The ambitious bids (well over Rs 1 lakh crores) that we saw for 1800 MHz spectrum prove that companies are bullish on 4G services, and they have their reasons. As PwC’s predictions for Indian Telecom points out, “Indian subscribers will adopt 4G wholeheartedly to satiate their need for mobile data. We expect 4G LTE subscribers to reach 10 million to 15 million by December 2015 driven by competitive pricing, superior network experience and affordable Smartphone’s.”

In addition to the surge in mobile data use, the government is also getting involved in the form of the Digital India initiative, which provides public WiFi in 25 cities. This increase in public WiFi enables users in these cities to do much more with their mobile devices. Smartphone’s are also making significant inroads in non-conventional customer segments such as rural customers and senior citizens. Smartphone’s are now becoming synonymous with convenience—convenience to explore, learn, share and transact. The government has also announced its plans to link 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (self-government village offices) and build broadband highways over a three-year period.

The surge in data use, along with improved WiFi/broadband infrastructure, translates to a huge opportunity for the telecom sector. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the telecom industry needs to be armed with the right technologies to analyse, understand and act on insights from mobile data—and this means exploring the power of big data analytics.

Evolved Customer, Informed Choices

There is no doubt that consumers today are more informed than ever before, and demand more bang for the buck. They have come to expect uninterrupted connectivity, data security, ease of transactions and above all, and round-the-clock responsive customer service. As their usage increases, so do their expectations and they expect customer service operators to intuitively understand their needs and particular requirements?

Since exit barriers are low, given MNP (mobile number portability) and easy access to pre-paid services, customer service professionals face serious customer retention challenges. Churn rates can reach 59% in the prepaid mobile segment, with slightly lesser churn rates in the post-paid mobile market. Mobile operators also have to spend more money on new customer acquisition in order to thrive in such a competitive environment.

In this era of evolved and sophisticated customers, it’s important that telecom service providers learn to exploit big data in order to increase revenue and proactively manage customer experience and churn.

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Analyse, Understand, Act, Win

The terabytes and petabytes of customer data that are generated every minute is wasted if not analysed at the right time. By using a big data and analytics platform, telecom operators are able to capture, manage, process and analyse this mountain of data. The main benefit is that they are much better equipped to analyse subscriber usage and digital behaviour. This enables telecom operators to personalise customers’ experiences, resulting in reduced churn, increased customer loyalty and an increase in overall marketing efficiency.

Globally, analytics adoption is increasing at a steady pace, with Gartner predicting a 65%increase in investment in analytics services and technologies. Indian companies, especially Telco’s, cannot afford to stay behind. Opportunities abound for telecom operators who are able to deploy big data solutions in order to gain business-impacting insights.

As I mentioned earlier, the Indian consumer is a value seeker; he will quickly change his mind if he finds that his current service provider is even slightly falling short of his burgeoning expectations. The trick is not to give him the headroom to manoeuvre, but to be one step ahead of him; to be able to use big data analytics to understand his moods and behaviours and be cognitive of his preferences.

Big Data Analytics Can Deliver Big Results

Currently, many enterprises understand and appreciate the need to invest in big data analytics technology. However, many companies in India hesitate to do so, as they fear high software and training costs.

Fortunately, Apache Hadoop is a tailor-made solution that delivers on both counts, by turning big data insights into actionable business enhancements for long-term success. In order to provide data-driven intelligence across the enterprise, the big data solution must enable interactive, self-service ways of working with historical and near real-time data. Hadoop has already solved many of the fundamental (legacy) Big Data access and availability problems, and with the addition of standalone query engine Apache Drill, data analysts finally can follow their data queries easily across multiple data sources, on demand.

Hadoop gives telcos the advantage of being able to analyse large sets of both structured and unstructured data, and will drive insights that will help them learn the key triggers for certain actions among their customer base. Armed with these insights, telcos can proactively track the tipping point and take corrective actions to retain customers that are in danger of switching to a different operator. By having the right insights at the right time, telcos can build loyalty by rewarding the customers and creating moments that matter. The stronger the connection is with the customer, the more likely you can win his trust and build a strong, long-term relationship.

Many telecom enterprises globally have already adopted Hadoop and are reaping huge dividends. In the changing dynamics of the telecom sector in India, it becomes imperative for the serious players to invest in the right big data technologies. Hadoop is their best bet, as it can be easily customized and adapted to the unique requirements of the telecom industry.