How the Big Data Won the Hearts in Telecommunications

The fact that there is a deep connection between the telecommunications and Big Data is very clear – the main task for telecommunications is in exchanging data. Since the amount of data has enormously increased in the modern era, the experts in telecommunication companies needed some help from the specialised experts.
The need for the experts “that appear out of the blue and solve the matter” is not unfamiliar. A good physician would do the thorough check of the patient, collect data through different tests, set up a preliminary diagnosis, prepare everything for the surgery, draw the path to full recovery. But for the surgery itself, he would call an expert in the area, to assist in the procedure. That is the only way to secure that all the collected test results, findings, x-rays – i. e. data – are used in the most efficient way, and the patient should have the greatest use of those. “The specialist” would see in the data even what the experts for the other parts of the process cannot identify. Telecommunications giants Vip Mobile called Things Solver “the specialists” for Big Data and analytics – the task was to get the most out of the data they collect.

Few Months to See First Results

Vip Mobile Software Architect Goran Pavlovic says that the areas where the specialists’ help was the most needed was the analysis of key business operations segment. The task was to make the network capacity analysis, analyse interactions among the employees during incident and complaint solving process, analyse user interactions in the Web Shop.

Vip Mobile Engineer Djordje Begenisic was involved in the network capacity analysis. He remembers that the task was to make a tool that should help predict and keep track of the network performance and user experience. “It was all focused on the timely detection of capacity issues, and also on the identification of the users which are the least satisfied with the services. With that knowledge and proactive approach, we could notably decrease the level of user dissatisfaction”, Begenisic claims.
It did not take long before the first results. “In just a couple of months, we managed to notably increase the precision level in prediction. That also removed all the doubts in the power of Data Scientists”, Begenisic concludes.
Vip Engineer also adds that spending time with the data experts ready to dig deep was the added value of the whole process. At the same time, it was necessary to turn a joint effort into a success story.

The Road from Excitement to the Result

“Our cooperation begins with the opening excitement while you are presenting the problem, and options how to solve it”, Begenisic describes the joint efforts. “Data Scientist is carefully listening, and then makes a conclusion – which you probably do not even understand.”
“Each of the sides has the key knowledge the other needs in order to create a successful product – the telecommunication experts have the knowledge in that domaine, while Data Scientists bring in the knowledge in the areas of data processing, machine learning”, Software Architect Pavlovic says. Djordje Begenisic discovers us an interesting aspect of the story: “It is a great advantage even if Data Scientist is not fully into the domaine knowledge because there’s a chance to fully analyse the problem without any disturbance that can be brought into the process with the incomplete domaine knowledge.

Brainstorming remains the key part of the multidisciplinary process. Joint effort to look for ideas is the key to success. The result is also part of that joint effort – data science “practises” and perfects its own methods on telecommunication’s big data, while the telco experts have a chance to develop new skills in modern technologies through working with Data Scientists. It is a true win-win story.