“Telecom operators take the lead as data activators in Economy of Data”

Atos, an international leader in digital services, today launched a new whitepaper that identifies a new role for telecom operators as data activators – matching consumers with providers. In the economy of data – brought about by the Third Digital Revolution that will see about 4.5 billion smartphones, 2.5 billion users of social networks and more than 25 billion objects connected to the internet by 2018 – telecom operators can play a crucial role thanks to their huge customer base and their ability to process real time information about their customers for their customers. This gives them the capability to create richer customer profiles and claim a central and leading role in the new economy of data. The Atos whitepaper entitled – ‘Telecom operator: activate your gold’ – advises telecom operators to create new business models to be data analytics driven and to optimise their unique position to become data activators.

Data Goldmine

In the economy of data, customer data becomes increasingly valuable. The owners of this data – consumers – are interested in streamlining the (commercial) offers that they receive, to win time and receive better and relevant propositions. Retailers and other parties – the providers – are willing to pay for high quality profiles to communicate directly with the consumers most interested in their offers. According to Atos, telecom operators have a unique opportunity to assume the role of data activator to bring consumers and providers together.

“Telecom operators are best equipped for the role of data activators. Not only are they perceived as a trusted and independent party, consumers are connected to them and can be reached any time. Moreover, they have a proven record of managing enormous amounts of data and serve millions of customers”, says Bruno Fabre, Executive Vice President Telecom & Media at Atos. “Telecom operators can claim a leading role if they develop a new business model around the client as the guardian of his own data. They need to become really customer centric and agile and have to protect and enrich this data goldmine.”

The challenge for telecom operators is to explain to consumers that co-operating with them can work to their advantage. An important aspect of the role of data activator is letting the consumer manage his or her own profile. A profile will be proposed based on automatic algorithms and intelligence, but the consumer himself can manipulate the result. Service providers and retailers can benefit from the rich consumer information and the direct channel to contact the most interesting consumers, communicating the right offer at the right time. This will enable them to increase the conversion rates of their offers. More contacts will lead to better client relations, because offers are based on a complete, precise profile.

A creative and innovative company

Atos predicts that by 2018 telecom operators will enable consumers to control the way they are being addressed with advertisements and offers. By then telecom operators are the best equipped party to connect the consumer, being in possession of the best personalized client data.

Bruno Fabre concludes: “One way for telecom operators to keep ahead of the competition and to explore the possibilities of becoming a Data Activator is to develop an open innovation model that enables more efficient and effective interactions beyond conventional organizational boundaries. Moreover, innovation should be integrated within the whole organization. The first step is to create a task force to develop a business model for the new role as Data Activator and prepare the transfer to this new business model. Start small, but start now.”

Download the complete white paper

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader in digital services with 2014 pro forma annual revenue of circa € 11 billion and 93,000 employees in 72 countries. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, the Group works with clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation. Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, and Worldline.