Oracle, IBM and SAS overall leaders in BI tools for telcos

AUSTRALIA: A holistic view of the telco customer across siloed applications is essential for operators looking to reduce churn, but the majority of BI and analytics solutions on the market today are not up to scratch, says Ovum.

In its latest evaluation of the BI vendor landscape for telcos, Ovum concludes that realising value from BI and analytics will require considerable investment by both vendors and telcos, particularly in interoperability and data integration. Yet, despite their sophisticated databases, advanced analytics and visualisation tools vendors still struggle to address the daunting challenge of integrating IT and network data.

“A key issue is that the best route to an integrated view is still not clear,” explains Shagun Bali, telecoms analyst at Ovum. “Just a handful of vendors have created truly pre-built departmental models; others believe that each telco requires a certain level of customization, so they create a unique model each time.”

While a true 360-degree view may be a distant dream, Ovum identifies Oracle as the only vendor that has integrated elements into a single solution. IBM is recognised for offering the most sophisticated BI and analytics portfolio, while SAS’s differentiation continues to be its lead in advanced analytics and information delivery, areas that are becoming more relevant to telcos.

Tibco is challenging these leading players by offering an easy-to-use platform with a wide variety of sophisticated graphs and dashboards from which to choose, making it easier for non-technical users to access advance analytical models.

“Given the available choice of BI and analytics solutions, telcos are in the envious position of being likely to find a solution well aligned to their specific needs. However, the diversity of the competitive landscape means that telcos must make important strategic decisions early in the selection process about issues such as whether or not they intend to expand their BI and analytics deployments enterprise-wide and how much customisation they require,” concludes Bali.