Industry Leader in Telecom Data Analytics and Revenue Assurance

Cloud storage has been around since the 1960s, but it’s only in recent years that we’re beginning to understand and deploy the technology to its full potential. For telcos coming to grips with the advantages of having access to big data, the cloud offers a range of benefits.

Cost Benefit

Cloud storage has become cheaper over the years, with giant providers like Google and Amazon able to leverage economies of scale and keep the market competitive. Since data sets are likely to get bigger as time goes by, managing the cost of storage is crucial to enable companies to remain competitive in their target markets. Using the cloud results in lower operating costs, reduced overheads, and lower hardware and maintenance expenses.

In most companies, fraud is identified only after it occurs. Measures are then implemented to prevent it from happening again.  Ideally, businesses want to find ways to prevent fraud from taking place, or, if that’s not possible, to detect it before significant damage is done. In the event that they are unable to prevent it in a timely fashion, however, fraud detection is the best bet for eradicating it from the environment and preventing a recurrence.

Big data is big news in almost every industry, and telecom is no exception. The report “Big Data and Telecom Analytics Market: Business Case, Market Analysis & Forecasts 2014 – 2019” from Mind Commerce forecasts a 50% growth by 2019 in the big-data-driven telco analytics environment, which will deliver annual revenue of $5.4 billion. Apart from opening up a multitude of jobs for telecom data scientists, data will increasingly become a competitive differentiator for telcos.  

The proposed USF Contribution Factor for 4th Quarter 2017 is 18.8%.

The FCC recently announced that the proposed Federal Universal Service Fund ("USF") contribution factor for the 4Q of 2017 will be 18.8%. This is a significant increase from the 3Q rate of 17.1% and the highest contribution factor in the history of the USF.  

What Should You do?

Remember the days when investigating a customer query meant your employees needed to carry out a checklist of manual steps? We do. And in spite of the digitization of the telecom environment, many providers still retain some of these steps as part of their process. It’s not unheard of for an employee to spend between 15 and 20 minutes investigating a single issue, such as whether a client's usage records are accurate or not. When doing so requires accessing one system, gathering the information, and then using it to access another system (or more), it can be a lengthy process. The solution is to automate as many tasks in your workflow as possible, and stitch all of the information together with a workflow manager.

The telecoms industry in the U.S. is expected to continue growing in 2017, according to Deloitte’s latest outlook report. Furthermore, we anticipate providers will work hard to remain competitive in the battle to attract customers and create new revenue streams. With data generated from every customer touch point ranging from calls to text messages, video downloads, mobile commerce and service calls, telcos have access to significant amounts of information. Implementing big data analytics (BDA) is critical to enable them to make use of this intelligence to get ahead.

The most common issue we run into when beginning work with a new customer, whether they are a telecom or cable company, is gaining access to data records.  Call detail records (CDRs) and IP detail record (IPDRs) contain an enormous wealth of information that can be used to drive KPIs and analytics for almost any part of the business including operations, marketing, regulatory, revenue assurance, etc.  Unfortunately, we find that that majority of the time these data records are owned by a specific department and gaining access to them can take weeks, months, or in some cases even longer.  As a solutions provider, this can obviously be frustrating.  But when an internal group has the same issues accessing its own data, it can be downright debilitating and ultimately impact customer experience and revenue.

Advanced Technologies and Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that Bennet Wong has been appointed Director of Sales. Mr. Wong will be responsible for expanding sales in North America and Internationally.  He comes to the organization with a strong technical background and extensive experience in all facets of the communications industry.

Years ago, ‘all you can eat’ plans, the staple of internet service provider’s (ISP) high speed data billing, were great for attracting customers. But today the popularity of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and countless other video outlets have turned the tables on service profitability. Thus, in the U.S. cable internet market, all signs now point to the widespread adoption of usage based billing.  The same kind of tiered, usage based billing plans that are now popular in cellular.