London, UK, 1st October 2015 – Research conducted by Analysys Mason for AsiaInfo – China’s largest telecoms IT software and services company – highlights the gap between mobile operators and Large Internet Players (LIP) in their capabilities to monetize their customer insights.

The research covered 50 operator respondents drawn from across the world and focused on the challenges facing operators looking to successfully monetize customer data in a similar way to LIPs such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (GAFA).   
Although two-thirds of the operators surveyed placed high importance on personalized, contextual marketing based on customer insights, almost as many, 62 per cent, felt that they were currently at least two years behind the GAFA group.  Among European operators, nearly 60 per cent also saw regulation as the main barrier to their ability to compete successfully.

Commenting of the results, Justin van der Lande, who led the research for Analysys Mason said: “This survey has laid bare the chasm that exists between the operators’ new business ambitions and their readiness to compete.

“Operators want to make the most of the abundant customer data they have, but in technical terms they still have a long way to go,” he added.

The operators’ responses were analysed to assess both their vision and their readiness to compete with the LIPs and the GAFA group in particular.   Based on the analysis, operators were categorized into four distinct groups:

Transformers: those displaying both the vision and developing the IT tools required to create new business models based on their customer insights.  Ten operators were placed clearly in this group.

Head-downers: those who have the tools but are focusing their capabilities on maximizing their existing business, rather than applying them to new business models.  Six operators met this description.

Worriers: those with the vision but without the tools and data.  Fifteen operators fell into this category.

Unbelievers: those lacking both the vision and the required tools.  This was the largest group containing nineteen operators.

Perhaps surprisingly, the survey also revealed that fear of losing customer trust and loyalty is perceived as a relatively minor barrier for operators seeking to monetize their customer data, with lack of access to data and the technology to process it ranking as much higher concerns.

Dr Andy Tiller, VP Product Marketing for AsiaInfo, felt that score was influenced by the success that the LIPs have already had in the marketplace and by the fact that operators have already earned a position of trust with consumers and partner companies.   

“Operators are currently very concerned by regulation, especially in Europe where they perceive an uneven playing field compared to the LIPs.  Of course, customer privacy is also taken very seriously, but it’s within the operators’ control to use data sensibly in a way which provides value to their customers,” he said.

The results also showed that operators need to make changes to some of their established business processes if they are to generate more value from their customer insights.

“In many cases the data they need to access and analyse is siloed in different departments, and that makes it more difficult to share and use the information,” explained Dr Tiller.

“One thing is clear from the survey though,” he said. “There is widespread and growing recognition among operators worldwide that they are some way behind the GAFA group in their use of customer data, and that they are placing a higher priority on the need to improve that capability both for themselves and for their partners.”

Ends

Note to editors:
The full white paper: “Monetizing Customer Insights – Are Telcos ready and motivated?” is available to download from the AsiaInfo website.

About AsiaInfo:
Founded in 1993, AsiaInfo, Inc. is a leading provider of internet-based systems and software to the telecommunications industry. Headquartered in Beijing, we employ more than 14,000 professionals worldwide.

AsiaInfo provides a full suite of business and operations support systems and professional services to solve the business challenges of the future. Through its innovative BSS/OSS, Big Data, and security software products, AsiaInfo is driving the transformation of the telecoms industry into the new Business Internet era.

Our core Veris™ product suite includes billing and customer care systems that serve over a billion subscribers globally, plus business intelligence, network management, network security, and OTT and cross-vertical collaboration solutions. Veris is the cornerstone of our growing ecosystem to support the transformation to the Business Internet.

Our customers work with us to converge large-scale pre-and post-paid mobile operations; improve time to market for new products and services; and develop cost-effective new business models. In China we have more than 50% market share in Billing, CRM and Business Intelligence through our longstanding partnerships with China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

Our BSS solutions are used by leading operators throughout Southeast Asia, Europe and the Indian subcontinent. For more information please visit: https://www.asiainfo.com/ProductsSolutions/VerisRTI/OperatorSurvey.aspx

For further information please contact:
Kevin Taylor or Nicky Denovan
Email: Kevin(dot)taylor(at)standingtallcomms(dot)com or nicky(dot)denovan(at)standingtallcomms(dot)com
Mob: +447 850 858 291
Distributed on behalf of Standing Tall by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)