The vast quantities of customer data held by telecoms companies present a largely untapped opportunity for business intelligence, but how can telecoms innovate with data whilst ensuring the privacy of their customers’ sensitive information?

Watch the short video of Privitar Senior Account Director for Telecommunications, James Kenney, in which he talks about the privacy challenges facing telecoms companies today.

[0:10] How are Telecoms companies innovating with data?

Telecoms are innovating with data in a number of ways: technology today allows them to capture a huge amount of information about their customers, who are living increasingly digital lives. In this way, they can optimise their own internal operations, and provide better customer experiences also via the partner network.

[0:40] Which challenges are they faced with when trying to innovate with data?

One of the key challenges Telecoms are facing is the volume of data they collect across the network coming from all the interactions their customers are having. In addition, a lot of this data is siloed: network data is separate from customer or CRM data; therefore, to build a 360 view of the customer across the organisation is very difficult. Also, due to the sensitivity of that data, the approval process to get access to it can be very long and complex.

[1:10] Are telecoms companies inhibited by privacy concerns?

As consumers are getting more aware of privacy issues, and regulation is becoming much tighter, executives are becoming more concerned on how data is being used within their organisation. Specifically, for Telecoms, some of the data that can be analysed, Location data for instance, is very unique to the individual; and therefore, can be very hard to work with that data safely without compromising the customer’s privacy.

[1:40] How can Telecoms companies better manage their data privacy risk?

First of all, they should adopt a Privacy-by-design approach. That means, not only having the processes in place to protect customers’ privacy, but also the tools that allow to automate those processes with a suitable approach for the type of data they need to work with.

[2:00] What does 2018 have in store for Telecoms companies?

Privacy has been discussion topic for some time now, but 2018 is really the time where companies can make a real difference. New regulations are coming in force in May which is causing many of them to take action. Aware of this, this is really the year where many companies need to put in place those processes and those tools to be able to resolve privacy related issues once and for all.

Data Privacy