The main long term driver for Big Data adoption will be the generation of new business models, while the short term drivers will be more focused on solving internal challenges such as improving data warehousing, increasing loyalty and customer experience management.

These are the findings from new research carried out by Informa Telecoms & Media based on interviews with 120 operators in June 2013.

The study found that operators are in a good position to generate new opportunities with the data collected daily through their different customer touch-points, with 58 per cent of the operators interviewed agreeing that the main driver for Big Data will be generating new business models. However, the short-term drivers are believed to focus more on solving internal challenges, such as improving data warehousing, increasing loyalty and customer experience management.

“It makes sense for operators to use Big Data to understand the key challenges and improve the customer experience. By using big data to optimize processes and improve quality of services, operators will already be building a platform to explore new business opportunities”, said Julio Puschel, Informa analyst and research co-author.

Around 72 per cent of current Big Data implementations are focused on specific business applications rather than on an end-to-end solutions, Puschel found.”Business applications with a tangible and defined benefit will help secure budget for Big Data projects, but, even if the initiatives are focused on specific applications, operators still need to optimize their investment by building a platform that will also support future business models,” he said.

In terms of investment, operators said that Big Data currently represents ten per cent of their total IT budget on average, a share expected to increase to approximately 23 per cent in five years time.

Big data will be a key topic at the Broadband World Forum, taking place on the 22nd – 24th October 2013 at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre, Amsterdam. Click here to download a brochure for the event.