Top 5 Ways Telecom Operators Can Take to Monetize Data

by Buana Sari Digital Marketer

Telco data monetization has witnessed considerable growth in recent years, with projections showing further expansion. According to The Business Research Company, data monetization in the telecom market is projected to grow from USD 4.47 billion in 2023 to USD 5.41 billion in 2024, showcasing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0%. Looking ahead, the market is expected to reach USD 13.09 billion by 2029, with a CAGR of 20.20% (Source: The Business Research Company).

The dominance of the North American region in this market is evident, driven by the widespread adoption of advanced solutions and increased investments in data monetization tools and services. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific region is poised for significant growth due to the rapid uptake of cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, moLotus, and cloud computing. The main drivers propelling this market forward include the spike in data generation, technological disruptions, and the imperative for telecom providers to efficiently manage and monetize data.

moLotus, a leading mobile video customer interaction platform and technology, has emerged as a pivotal player in big data management for telcos. It facilitates the enrichment of customer data, provides valuable behavioral insights, and offers avenues for targeted advertising as part of a comprehensive big-data monetization strategy.

In recent times, telecom enterprises have forged robust partnerships with third-party entities to leverage data for crafting innovative customer offerings. With the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI), data quality has markedly improved, resulting in refined customer databases that enable enhanced service personalization.

The telecom sector's embrace of data monetization isn't just a trend but a strategic imperative for maximizing revenue potential. By unlocking the inherent value within their networks' data, telcos can access new revenue streams and gain a competitive edge. Leveraging advanced subscriber data analytics allows for the creation of targeted campaigns, that resonate with customers' preferences and drive engagement.

Collaboration plays a pivotal role in data monetization in the telecom industry. By fostering collaborative initiatives, telcos can share invaluable digital behavior data internally and with external partners, fostering innovation and revenue growth.

Data privacy remains a paramount concern, necessitating stringent policies and frameworks to safeguard customer data. Telcos are uniquely positioned to responsibly leverage anonymized data, adhering to global data privacy regulations while delivering personalized services and maintaining trust.

While telecom data holds immense potential, challenges such as regulatory compliance, legacy infrastructure, and evolving customer expectations persist. Telcos must navigate these hurdles strategically to fully harness the revenue-generating capabilities of their data assets. Here are the top 5 ways telecom operators can monetize their big data assets easily :

1. Leveraging Advanced Analytics for Targeted Campaigns

Telcos are sitting on a goldmine of customer data, and the key to unlocking its value lies in harnessing the power of advanced analytics tools. These tools, such as moLotus, enable telecom businesses to delve deep into vast data assets, showcasing deep insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and market trends. By embracing a data-driven approach, telecom operators can create targeted advertising campaigns that resonate with specific segments, ultimately leading to higher customer response, engagement, and conversions.

One of the key benefits of using advanced big data analytics tools like moLotus is their ability to analyze multiple data sources. Telcos can integrate data from various touch points such as calls, texts, app usage, and website interactions into a centralized platform, providing a comprehensive view of customer interactions across different channels. This holistic view enables telcos to gain a deeper understanding of customer journeys and preferences, paving the way for more effective and personalized campaigns.

moLotus goes ahead by providing unique interaction options, including Call back, USSD, Link Click, SMS, mgram, and more. These response mechanisms not only facilitate seamless customer interactions but also contribute to building robust data assets. Insights derived from these interactions are invaluable for enhancing decision-making processes and refining campaign strategies.

Segmentation is another critical aspect of leveraging customer insights effectively. Advanced data analytics platforms like moLotus allow telecom brands to segment customers based on various advanced criteria including demographics, behavior, and interests. This segmentation enables telcos to customize marketing campaigns and offers to specific customer segments, boosting the likelihood of engagement and conversions.

Furthermore, tools like moLotus leverage telecom subscriber data to craft highly customized campaigns. By analyzing massive telecom subscriber data, operators can identify patterns, trends, and preferences, allowing them to create mobile advertising campaigns that go well with their target audience. This unique approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also boosts key metrics like average revenue per user (ARPU), customer loyalty and retention.

In addition to driving internal improvements, the insights derived from advanced analytics tools like moLotus, Google, Facebook, HubSpot, and InMobi, can also be shared with advertisers. Telcos can provide valuable data insights to advertisers, helping them refine their campaigns and target specific audience segments more effectively via moLotus. Unlocking customer insights through advanced analytics tools like moLotus is crucial for telcos looking to stay competitive in today's dynamic market.

2. Personalized Campaigning

Personalization begins with a deep understanding of customer behavior. Personalization strategies based on customer behavior and preferences involve tailoring marketing efforts and customer experiences to match individual customer needs, preferences, and behaviors.

With customer segments in place, telecom brands can create personalized ads that cater to each segment. Personalization goes beyond addressing customers by name, address, and contact number; it involves crafting relevant content, promotions, and recommendations that align with individual preferences. For example, a customer who frequently uses data services may receive personalized offers for data plans or add-ons.

Personalization extends to the entire customer experience. Telcos leverage data insights to personalize customer interactions at every touchpoint, including customer service, sales processes, marketing communications, and product recommendations.

Advanced analytics tools like moLotus enable telcos to adopt predictive personalization strategies. By leveraging predictive analytics and advanced algorithms, telcos can anticipate customer needs and preferences before customers even express them. For example, based on past behavior, telcos can predict when a customer is likely to upgrade their plan or switch to a new service and proactively offer relevant options.

Personalization strategies are not static; they require continuous optimization based on evolving customer behavior and market trends. Telcos regularly analyze big data, monitor customer interactions, gather feedback, and adjust their personalization efforts accordingly to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

3. Offering Value-added Services

Value-added services in the telecom industry refer to additional offerings that go beyond basic connectivity services, providing added value to customers and generating additional revenue streams for telecom operators. Telcos can introduce premium data services tailored specifically for enterprise clients to meet their unique data needs and add significant value to their operations.

Telecom operators can leverage their data analytics capabilities to offer data analytics as a service (DAaaS) to businesses across different industries. DAaaS involves providing businesses with access to advanced analytics tools, platforms, and expertise to analyze and derive insights from their data.

Telecom operators can offer access to advanced analytics platforms, such as moLotus Big Data Analytics, Google Analytics, Microsoft Power BI, or custom-built analytics solutions, allowing businesses to analyze large datasets, visualize data, and uncover actionable insights. Via moLotus, they can offer industry-specific data analytics services, providing businesses with insights tailored to their particular industry vertical, such as retail, insurance, banking, healthcare, consumer durables, or manufacturing.

Telcos can partner with moLotus to help enterprise clients create interactive data visualizations, dashboards, and customized reports to present data findings effectively and facilitate data-driven decision-making. They can collaborate with Google Analytics to offer DAaaS to businesses, providing them with access to Google Analytics' robust analytics platform, training and support for data analysis, and custom reporting tools to derive actionable insights from their website traffic, user behavior, and marketing campaigns.

4. Strengthening Security and Privacy

Ensuring adherence to data privacy regulations is crucial for telecom companies involved in data monetization endeavors. Compliance guarantees that customer data is handled with explicit consent and as per privacy laws, fostering trust and encouraging customers to share their data for monetization purposes. Compliance measures often necessitate data accuracy, transparency, and security, leading to improved data quality essential for effective data analytics and deriving valuable insights for monetization strategies.

To bolster data security, telecom operators are implementing advanced encryption protocols for data storage and transmission. For instance, moLotus integrates robust encryption algorithms to safeguard customer interactions and data, ensuring confidentiality and protection against unauthorized access. moLotus as a big data management tool holds a lot of credibility being certified by various regulatory bodies like PDP, TRAI, and MSC Status, further enhancing trust and compliance.

In addition to encryption, telecom operators deploy a range of security measures such as firewall protection, intrusion detection systems, and regular security audits to safeguard against data breaches and cyberattacks. Leveraging big data tools like Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark, operators can enhance security with features like role-based access control (RBAC), data encryption, and authentication plugins, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

Telcos that prioritize data privacy compliance gain a competitive edge by demonstrating a commitment to customer protection. This attracts customers who value privacy-conscious service providers and boosts market differentiation. Overall, prioritizing compliance with data privacy regulations is not only a legal necessity but also a strategic imperative that fosters trust, mitigates risks, and unlocks new business opportunities, supporting successful data monetization initiatives.

5. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how telco companies approach data monetization, offering transformative capabilities in analyzing vast datasets. AI algorithms, including machine learning, can sift through immense telco data to unveil hidden patterns, trends, and customer segments. This deep dive enables precise targeting and personalization in marketing campaigns and service offerings, fostering enhanced customer engagement.

Through the analysis of massive telco data, AI can predict customer churn, pinpoint potential upselling and cross-selling opportunities, and proactively address network issues. This proactive stance aids telcos in customer retention, revenue optimization, and network performance enhancement, contributing to sustainable business growth.

AI tools play an important role in ensuring data privacy compliance by anonymizing and pseudonymization customer data, thus safeguarding personally identifiable information (PII). This enables telcos to monetize anonymized data ethically for analytics, targeted advertising, and location-based services, aligning with stringent data privacy regulations.

moLotus' AI brand avatars have emerged as potent assets for telcos in data monetization endeavors. These avatars enhance customer engagement and personalization by engaging in natural language conversations, offering support, and suggesting relevant products and services. This tailored approach elevates customer satisfaction and conversion rates, unlocking greater value from customer data.

The interactions with moLotus AI avatars generate valuable insights into customer preferences and buying behaviors, facilitating the creation of enriched customer profiles for targeted marketing strategies and product development. Additionally, moLotus avatars analyze customer sentiment during conversations, enabling telcos to improve service quality, identify improvement areas, and personalize future interactions, further enhancing customer experience.

Vodafone Italy provides a stellar example of AI-driven data monetization success, achieving a remarkable 50% share of the digital market. This achievement was made possible by personalizing customer interactions across various digital touchpoints, including their app, push notifications, SMS, chatbot, paid media, and more. Vodafone's strategic collaborations with Persado, a renowned AI-generated language platform, and Adobe have been instrumental in deploying personalized messages accurately predicted to yield the best customer response. These partnerships showcase the immense potential of AI and data monetization strategies in telecom, driving significant market share and customer engagement.

Conclusion

Data-driven techniques are integral for telecom operators aspiring to achieve quick and sustainable revenue growth. By leveraging customer data analytics, personalizing services, introducing premium data offerings, and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations, telecom companies can unlock new revenue streams, enhance customer satisfaction, and stay competitive in the dynamic telecom landscape. Embracing big data tools like moLotus not only leads to increased revenues but also fosters innovation, improves operational efficiency, and strengthens customer relationships, paving the way for long-term success in the telecom industry.