Mobile data intelligence

Mobile Data Intelligence (or MDI) is a strategy that enables mobile operators to understand mobile subscriber data usage patterns across multiple services and devices. As an advanced business intelligence tool, it provides a sophisticated analysis of network, applications and content usage patterns to deliver critical business insights. These are used by mobile operators to optimize their marketing initiatives and increase subscribers, revenues and profitability.
Whereas mobile operators were once able to control the customer experience via a dedicated portal, the advent of “vendor agnostic” application stores and readily-available navigation tools means that fewer customers are using mobile operator portals as their gateway to information and services. This has made it increasingly difficult to understand subscriber buying and usage habits. Standard Web analytics cannot provide a complete picture, and the information gathered through dedicated operator portals is less representative of behavior and therefore of less value. What operators are left with is a general understanding of the data traveling back and forth on their network, without the context needed to that drive smarter marketing decisions.
Mobile Data Intelligence helps mobile operators to link usage information in order to understand which variables have the greatest impact on service adoption and subscriber packages. Armed with this knowledge, they tailor applications, services and device mixes at the right price to increase revenues and reduce costs.
Market Drivers
With increasingly intense competition in the telecommunications arena and declining voice-driven average revenues per user (ARPU) operators are seeking alternative ways to improve revenue. The growth of the Mobile Internet is becoming an area of focus for operators to compensate for declining voice revenues. Data usage however presents additional challenges, since data traffic volume growth is outstripping data revenue growth.
Yankee Group forecasts that the data volumes will increase 29-fold by 2015; while ABI Research forecasts that the data revenue will only grow by a factor of 1.6 times by 2014 (compound annual growth rate equal to 12% until 2014). This is the result of a technology landscape that has evolved and matured very rapidly, while the revenue model and associated marketing methods have barely changed since voice was the only service available. As a result, operators are facing rapidly diminishing returns for their network and capacity investments.
This gap between data volume and data revenue can be closed with the use of MDI to develop more targeted marketing initiatives. With the information provided through MDI, marketers can build more accurate segmentation, refine their marketing mix (product, price, placement and promotion) to match the needs of those market segments, and track their performance. The result is a smart pricing model that enables multi-tiered device, voice and data plans that are optimized for specific types of users’ needs.
Examples in Telecom Industry
In June 2010, “As Thailand’s leader in mobile high-speed Internet and the only operator to offer three smartphone platforms (iPhone, Blackberry and Android), TrueMove’s convergence network enhances subscribers’ experience with various content and applications via our Wi-Fi and future 3G networks. With the exponential increase in data volumes from Android and iPhone devices, it is critical for mobile operators like us to understand subscriber usage patterns down to the device and application level. With the capabilities Neuralitic provides, we are confident that TrueMove will find new and innovative ways to build our subscriber base, extend into new markets, and increase revenues.” says Suphakit Vuntanadit, Chief Commercial Officer for True Move Company Limited.
In June 2010, AT&T launched three new types of subscriber packages to replace unlimited packages: DataPlus, DataPro and Tethering. For Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, the main objective is “To give more people the opportunity to experience these benefits, we’re breaking free from the traditional ‘one-size-fits-all’ pricing model and making the mobile Internet more affordable to a greater number of people.”
In June 2010, launched new Smartphone tariffs according to usage to replace unlimited data access. “By doing this, we are laying the foundation for a sustainable data experience for all customers and the huge possibilities that technology will create over the coming years" according to Ronan Dunne, O2 CEO.
To build more precise segmentation and create a greater variety of marketing mixes, marketing professionals need to improve their knowledge of user profiles and behaviors. That’s where Mobile Data Intelligence comes in (Business Intelligence focused on mobile data).
Mobile Data Intelligence versus Mobile Web Analytics
Many businesses confuse Mobile Data Intelligence with Mobile Web Analytics.These two types of solutions are very different in terms of customers, content, players or data-gathering.
Standard Web analytics cannot provide a complete picture of subscriber usage. As such, operators are left with only a general understanding of the data traveling back and forth on their network, without the context needed to drive smarter marketing decisions.
Mobile Data Intelligence however allows marketers to collect and link device, subscriber and service usage information through a single point of capture, without interfering with network performance. By capturing and linking disparate information, marketing professionals can gain a deeper insight into how subscribers are using mobile devices; build more relevant messaging; and target more strategically-defined groups at the right moment in time.
Mobile Data Intelligence versus Customer Experience Management
Mobile Data Intelligence is also confused with Customer Experience Management (CEM). However, these two types of solutions have very different end users, processes and objectives. While each targets the same customers (telecom operators), CEM customers are network teams, while MDI is targeted at marketers.
CEM solutions also tend to focus on automation, synchronization and monitoring of network processes based on a customer-centric view that includes:
* Improvement of the customer experience
* The control of customer errors
* Reduction of customer support costs
Since Mobile Data Intelligence is designed for marketers, it provides a 360 degree of user behaviour, from devices and applications, to demographics and location, to enable the development of price plans, handset subsidies, promotions, direct marketing campaigns, etc.

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