An integrated approach to artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and the internet of things (IoT) will play a critical role in Cable/Telco strategies for delivering better customer experiences and overcoming the challenges presented by cord-cutting.
Great companies need to understand that digital operations solutions need to be agile and easily adapted to a variety of structured and unstructured data sources.
Even as traditional pay-TV providers form partnerships with former over-the-top (OTT) rivals to retain customers, cord-cutting continues to outpace projections. This can be seen in eMarketer’s latest US pay-TV/OTT forecast.
The number of so-called “cord-cutters” (adults who’ve ever canceled pay-TV service and continue without it) will climb 32.8 percent this year to reach a total of 33 million subscribers. This is forcing network service providers (NSPs) to reevaluate the focus and intent of deploying a new generation of technologies. Instead of focusing on process and performance optimization, the focus needs to be placed squarely on the user experience.
Therefore, NSPs must consider how technologies interact with and enhance three key factors:
- People — the actual experience
- Devices — how people access experiences
- Behavior — the enabling applications that allow people to navigate their desired experiences
- Monitoring, measuring and managing this combination of factors in an integrated manner provide operators with a wealth of information to offer a better experience.
Another layer of intelligence exists in the process as well. Although people, devices, and apps provide information, that information is derived from data, which can be divided into three elements: structured, unstructured and situational.
- Structured data — such as error logs or inventory markers — is most familiar to the community because it has been a staple of technology management by NSPs for the better part of a century.
- Unstructured data — which includes managing video feeds, audio files and free-form text such as social media feeds — represents a newer category of information that needs to be understood and managed by NSPs.
- Situational data — which tracks the telemetry of how people, applications and devices interact — represents the latest, and perhaps most critical category of information that is being driven by the rapid rise of IoT technology. It describes the actual behavior of elements throughout the value chain, often in real-time.
The most successful companies will be the ones that build a transformation strategy that leverages the interplay of people, devices, and applications, along with the data that they generate. That’s why at Vitria, we developed our VIA analytics application to ingest, model and analyze structured, unstructured and situational data in real-time.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To listen in on a comprehensive interview with Chris Menier on the technologies leading to successful digital transformation, visit:
