Getting to the core of the matter

With the amount of investments that go into building out data networks, mobile and telco operators are mindful about not just being dumb pipes. When it comes to voice networks and voice traffic, operators are in full control and usage is chargeable and monetiseable.

This isn’t the case when it comes to data traffic. Operators start to lose control because data users are relatively free to access data content and services without compensating the operator. That’s wasted mobile operator revenue of US$52 billion by 2013 according to Juniper Research.

As of today, mobile data services could be only 20 to 30% of an operator’s business, but it is their fastest growing.

It’s no secret that some of the new challenges operators face nowadays is finding ways to monetise the exponential data traffic growth. It is especially crucial as operators need to recoup investments spent on infrastructure building, which could amount to as much as billions of dollars.

Visibility into the pipe could actually help identify real root cause of problems and help prevent unnecessary infrastructure spending or rather, help channel funds to the areas that can make a significant improvement to the customer’s experience.

What dumb pipes?

The idea behind Compuware’s solution is that there is a wealth of subscriber information in the pipe. Compuware Vantage for Mobile claims to provide real-time visibility into it to gather information, which at last, is actionable. For example: What customers are interested in, what are they spending on, whom they spend it with, and what value they receive for their money?

Compuware’s Global Director for Telecom Solutions, Ian Clarke says: “Compuware has been doing what they are doing for over 36 years and is really focused on supporting mission-critical applications across 23 thousand customers worldwide. And we look at optimising critical mission applications across their entire network.”

According to Clarke, Compuware for Mobile really started to come about three years ago when mobile operators began talking to Compuware about its expertise in applications.

“As a result of listening to our customers, we now have a number of key customers within Europe, operations within major global telecoms players like Telefonica, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and more.”

In fact a validation report done in the March to June time frame last year with 22 global mobile operators, confirmed six key pain points, which Compuware had observed and identified. Basically with challenges in areas to do with churn, declining ARPU (average revenue per user), customer satisfaction and cost efficiencies, the report confirmed that the combination of decreasing ARPU and increasing churn is exacerbated by non-visibility into what subscribers were doing with their mobile data services.

Says Clarke: “These are the foundation of our solutions. We are out to solve these six problems. That is our goal.”

Application view versus Network view

Existing network-centric tools only monitor network performance and give an aggregate view of subscribers. Another common problem that Compuware discovered amongst operators is that they have network performance metrics, but they don’t have individual subscriber metrics.

Clarke says: “We are starting to look at access devices (in the hands of subscribers) and correlate that experience back to the network, as opposed to today, everybody is focused on the network trying to understand the customer. We are doing it the other way around.”

IDC’s Programme Director for Network Software, Elisabeth Rainge says: “Network performance metrics help validate the huge investments made in mobile broadband networks to improve speed and reliability of data services. But unless the network performance is combined with an understanding of the customer experience, the provider fails to serve the subscribers as well as undermines the profitability and trust of the long term customer relationship.”

Compuware addresses that with its applications expertise and Clarke says: “The first thing with Compuware for Mobile is that we start with the customer. We start looking at what device they have, are they connecting, what’s their performance and where are they going? And with that, we start building a profile of every customer, every IP session, 24/7. And this information is collected and we can basically look at the device, the cell tower that they are calling from and even the application and the quality of service that they are getting from one cell tower to the next.”

A problem that a subscriber has with their mobile data service could take up to four times longer to resolve compared to voice and SMS problems. Now that customer call centres have increased visibility, real-time info into where the potential kinks are, they are able to solve customer calls faster. They also have the opportunity to take pre-emptive action against potential mobile data problems.

For example, if the customer service agents can see that wrong device settings are preventing a customer from getting onto the Internet, they can proactively call to inform them of the right settings.

Actionable items

Individual subscriber experience with mobile data services is able to tie in all views of Operation, Call Centre, Sales & Marketing and Executive Management, into one cohesive view.  That common data source can now enable all departments to share common objectives, metrics and functions as a single business unit. It’s one focus? To master their customers’ experience.

“The goal is to give mobile operators more proactive customer intelligence to differentiate themselves, to improve quality of service, to keep customers and most importantly for mobile operators, to drive revenue to improve profitability. That’s where we are coming from,” explains Clarke.