Page 515 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

4-46 CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Second Edition

translated into real business practices. Business intelligence refers not only to the data analysis in itself,
but also to how you relate the results from the data analysis to everyday business decisions and how you
translate the recommended actions stemming from the analysis into live campaigns.
It is therefore important to ensure that the marketing department interacts with the data analysts
constantly throughout the process. That way, when the data analysis is complete, the marketing person-
nel will already be in tune with the issues the organization is facing, and will be able to develop cam-
paigns to capitalize on opportunities and strategies to mend weaknesses quickly and effectively.
Understanding how external market conditions affect your business will enable you to react quickly
to future changes in the market. Finally, understanding customer behavior and the way customers use
products and services will enable the organization to improve its service to its current client base as well
as to target new business more effectively.
True customer intelligence is an elusive goal, but it is becoming a reality for companies tired of the
incomplete and slippery information that tries to pass as corporate truth. For years, companies of all
sizes in every industry have searched for ways to discover the truth about their customers. But more
often than not, businesses face uncertainties about even simple truths, such as how many customers
they really have and which ones are worth keeping.
In fact, the sad truth is that many large enterprises still do not know their customers very well. In
most cases, businesses have amassed wads of customer data. As organizations increasingly standardized
on different data collection methods—CRM, ERP, Data Warehouses (DWs), and the like—customer
data often was replicated in different systems. And each business unit or division may have its own sys-
tems. This viral spread in applications led to a confused and untenable view of the customer.
To maintain, manage, and track these critically important relationships and the associated customer
activity, corporations are investing valuable time and resources into managing customer data with
Customer Data Integration (CDI) systems. As a result, every department has a different piece of the
customer puzzle and the business has no way to fit them all together. Enter customer data integration,
or CDI. CDI will change all this.

4.3.8 Impact of BI and BPM on the Telecommunications Industry

High performance BI tools such as advanced analytics, reports, and executive dashboards are playing a
vital role in the telecommunications industry today. The value for the enterprise lies in the challenge of
aggressively retaining and growing the customer base and extracting more value from each customer
relationship. Those departments receiving the greatest benefit from BI and business process manage-
ment (BPM) include:
• Marketing: To oversee product marketing and product management activities
• Customer care: To improve customer retention and customer satisfaction levels
• Call center: To better manage up-sell, cross-sell, and outbound marketing campaigns
• Network operations: To retain and improve network and service quality management
• Finance: To monitor cost per gross addition, marketing spending, plus the impact of churn
BI and BPS tools enhance core functionalities such as customer care, sales, billing, and service deliv-
ery, as they:
• Provide analysis and visibility into business metrics for decision makers
• Facilitate improvement of operational processes
• Support one integrated view of the customer across all departments, processes, and products
• Give enterprisewide visibility of revenue, cost sources, and allocation
• Increase revenue from greater understanding of business processes and customer segments
With advanced BI tools and BPM, telecommunications companies are today addressing the key areas
of customer insight and revenue growth including the following.