Vodafone shows the right way to use big data!

BANGALORE, INDIA: Big data and analytics has been helping companies  to reach out to customers more effectively and Vodafone shows the right way of it with their Big Data implementation project.

Vodafone claims this project has  helped them to analyze the customer behavior and identify customer groups although the project is at a very nascent stage.

Real time triggers on customer’s events have enabled business to target customer with right offer at right time. Big data analytics help in finding out customers sentiments by analyzing social media data and his overall Vodafone experience using self-care channels data. Social media analytics enables business team to monitor various topics discussed on social media.

Anthony Thomas, Chief Information Officer, Vodafone India, shared some more insights of this project and how it is helping the company to strategize their future plans.

CIOL: Big data implementation project, how well is it doing after its implementation?

Anthony Thomas: Having a strong customer focus and predilection towards adoption of new cutting edge technologies, we have implemented multiple high impact projects in this FY14-15. One of these projects was Big Data implementation in one of our major circles.

Implementation of Big Data has taken analytics of structured and unstructured data to the next level for us. . With this we are now able to analyse the data feeds from various channels and get detailed in-depth insights on our customer behaviour. The insights from this are helping us in strategizing more effectively.

We are now able to take more informed decisions based on various capabilities “Big Data” offers us. Because of big data insights we have been able to control churn, and thus save on retention cost. Customers can now be approached with right product at the right time, thus enhancing the user experience and brand perception. Consequently, we are able to generate value from the vast information available with us.

CIOL: How do you plan to grow this project in the next 6 months?

AT: Being committed towards delivering value and managing the dynamic consumer expectations, we are always on a lookout to improve customer experience. Like last year, this year as well we intend to invest heavily in adoption of new technologies and keep up with the momentum built last year to deliver best in class experience to our customers. Having rolled out Big Data in one of our major circles, we have seen the quantum of benefits in brings in. We now intend to rollout out Big Data insights Pan India. We also intend to implement additional use cases to our existing implementation.

CIOL: How big a role you think big data and analytics will play in understanding consumer behaviour? Also, what are the other potential arenas you think it can used for at a mature level?

AT: Analytics traditionally has been synonymous to data warehousing and business intelligence-based reporting. But with business requiring more real time information from structured and unstructured sources to get better equipped to formulate strategies, analytics is witnessing a paradigm shift. Analytics is today fast becoming a major driver while formulating organization level strategies. Today feature like Predictive analytics are increasingly being used to anticipate future events, and needs for achieving better outcomes. Big data analytics is fast becoming backbone of business decisions taken by telcos globally.

It doesn’t stop here. Big data analytics has a long way to go. With the advent of new technologies like “Internet of things”, Big Data will have even a larger role to play in understanding consumer behaviour and formulating strategies in accordance with it.

CIOL: So what is Vodafone's plan in the next quarter in relevance to the spectrum auction where Idea emerged as the largest bidder?

AT: In the recently concluded spectrum auctions we have managed to secure spectrum in all 6 circles due for extension in Dec 2015. We have also significantly expanded our 3G reach. We have thus been able to come out in a stronger competitive position in the market and are future ready. We remain committed to providing seamless connectivity and superior communication services to our customers.