Personalization & analytics in TMT

Up close and personal

There's every-day personalization (when a telecom company suggests the latest services based on a customer's historical usage data and preferences, for example). And then there’s insight-driven personalization (when an entertainment company performs real-time sentiment analysis of social data, uncovering tweets about first dates or engagements, and offering those consumers discounts on 5-star romantic movie titles, for example).

Giving customers what they want, when they want it—even before they know they want it—is the goal of personalization in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industry. And doing so in real time, with analytics-ignited insights can offer competitive advantages that are hard to resist.

A match made in tech heaven

Because of the very nature of the business, TMT companies have long enjoyed an intimate relationship with technology, seeking to reinvent the customer experience with new services, better products, and more personalized offerings.

Enter analytics. From apps to event-driven communications, analytics tools and techniques are capturing and transforming data into insights that can create extremely valuable data and deeply personal experiences for TMT companies and their customers.

Getting real personal in real time

Whether we’re talking about mobile data plans or songs and movies, today’s TMT customers can self-select services, content, and features based on their specific personal interests. These interactions generate new data TMT companies can use to create even more intuitive offerings.

Insights gleaned from real-time analysis of consumer data uncover purchasing patterns that are highly-personal, and drive responses that are ultra-timely. The potential benefits are far-reaching: Customers get exactly what they want, when they want it. Businesses get real-time data that makes future offerings even more targeted. The result is loyal customers who know they are understood and are likely to stay put.

But what other analytics-powered capabilities are at work in TMT?

• Machine learning: What can TMT companies do with instant, automated insights? For one, sales and service teams can be one step ahead of opportunities and issues. Decisions can be made quickly, on the spot, and usually faster than competitors making similar decisions.
• Data management platforms (DMPs): Being able to deliver personalized products and services requires the computing power to do so. DMPs aided by analytics can leverage data from a variety of sources—ERP, mobile, CRM, and more—to create increasingly personalized offerings.
• Event-driven communication: Consumers travel through today’s world amid a series of data-driven and data-generating events. A telecom customer exceeding data usage over several months is a meaningful event. Does the customer prefer a text message letting them know? Should the customer's plan be upgraded for free based on preferences they selected? Aided by analytics, event-driven communications are more meaningful to both TMT companies and customers.

From event-based triggers to intuitive apps, next-generation personalization capabilities depend upon more than data. They require analytics to make sense of data and ignite the insights TMT companies rely on to manage their businesses–and the customer experience—in increasingly effective and personal ways.