The majority of respondents (62%) agreed that competitive pressures from areas such as ISPs, search and software providers are demanding that CSPs improve their subscriber intelligence. Whilst communications businesses are more adept at service delivery and infrastructure, the disconnect comes from the Internet brands who have started encroaching upon the telecommunications market and are more accustomed to nurturing subscriber relationships and customer value in real-time.
The survey found CSPs feel that to effectively compete with newcomers, as well as traditional competitors, they need to unlock the vast amount of subscriber data they hold and utilise it in real-time to create an integrated service and marketing model. The respondents recognised the value created by an informed view of the customer, with 76% stating that customer profiling is one of the most relevant areas where they can use the data, closely followed by identity management (64%). Such information puts the service providers in a privileged position, by being able to provide the user with services that are more useful and relevant to them, rather than the standard one-size-fits-all offering.