Blog Post

With the rise in popularity of ‘cloud computing’, it is often assumed that internet connectivity is happening in the skies above us. It is commonly believed that internet data is largely transmitted by satellites, but this is not the case. Believe it or not, the majority of internet data transmission actually happens deep undersea. Deep at the bottom of the world’s oceans lies a hidden but vast system of fibre-optic submarine cables that connect the world’s internet.

The Secret World of Submarine Cables

The network is colossal, with almost 350 cables that collectively span nearly 550,000 miles and connect every continent other than Antarctica. Cables are buried along the seabed, traversing oceans and following coastlines. Some lay as deep underwater as Mount Everest rises above the ground. The system is also more effective than you’d imagine: 99% of international data is transmitted using the submarine cables. That means that every time you log on to Facebook, stream the latest TV show on Netflix or send an international email, it is likely that your connection started deep under the sea.

Today’s submarine internet network originated from the first international telegraph cables. Aiming to speed transatlantic communications, the first submarine communications cable was laid in 1858 between Ireland and Newfoundland. The first non-test message was sent by Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan – and it took 17 hours and 40 minutes (although that was still faster than using a ship to send a letter). Although the cable was built over 4 years and was initially successful, it lasted less than a month. However, it was proof that the concept could work, and so the British began building a web of cables that spread across the oceans and linked the British Empire.

An early map of the first submarine telegraph system

Within years the telegraph system had given way to a submarine telephone network, and eventually these cables were replaced by fibre optic cables to connect the internet. Today the submarine cables are laid by dozens of countries, connecting locations all over the world. The cables are laid by dedicated ships that have been specialised to lay cables across ocean floors, following very specific routes that have been mapped to choose the smoothest sections of seabed, avoiding coral reefs, trenches and shipwrecks. The complicated process is extremely expensive – often costing hundreds of millions of dollars for a single cable.

Up to Date Submarine Cable Map

Despite the care taken to build and lay the cables, they only have lifespans of approximately 25 years. The high pressure and high levels of hydrogen at the depths they are buried in degrade the optical fibres in the cables over time. As well as this, the cables are very vulnerable to damage by human error, for example anchors, and – for some as yet unknown reason – they are also frequently the victims of shark bites.

The reason why sharks are attracted to the submarine cables remains a mystery, but the phenomenon is certainly real. Google have even decided to intervene, by designing cables with an outer layer of kevlar to provide protection from shark bites.

The Future of the Cables

Microsoft, Google and other internet giants are becoming increasingly involved in the planning and investment of the submarine cable network. Google have recently backed the world’s highest capacity undersea connection – a 5,600 mile link between the US and Japan. It is expected to be an important boost to transpacific internet speeds, transporting data at 60 terabits per second. Facebook and Microsoft have also recently announced plans for a transatlantic cable between Virginia Beach in the US and Bilbao in Spain. The new cables answer increasing demand for faster internet speeds and higher capacity for browsing, in a time where internet use and cloud based services are constantly rising. In doing so, they have found new sources of revenue to fuel their growth.

The constantly growing use of internet worldwide is placing strain on the submarine cables, and may even reduce their lifespan. To rise to the demands of today’s highly connected world, more advanced cables or more frequent upgrades are an absolute necessity. Investment and backing from internet giants such as Google may ultimately be the solution to preserve the world’s submarine internet network.

Let’s be honest; 2016 was a bit of a strange one wasn’t it? Who could have predicted that by the end of the year, Britain would have voted to leave the EU and America would be in the hands of the first ever president-elect with absolutely no political background and cameos in Sex and the City, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Pizza Hut commercials under his belt. Following in the wake of 2016, it is certainly set to be an interesting year, but what changes can we expect for the telecoms industry in 2017?

With movements such as the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G and Big Data picking up speed and rapidly working their way into everyday life, 2016 was a year of evolution for telecommunications and technology, bringing the much discussed ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ ever closer. The third revolution began in the late 1960’s with the rise of electronics and IT in manufacturing and now, as the IoT and Big Data are developing smart cities, the fourth revolution of ‘smart’ technology is imminent.

2016 saw the initiation of Big Data, IoT and 5G into everyday life, as well as a continued decline of traditional communication solutions (such as voice calls and text messaging) as end users migrate towards OTT and WiFi services. With such radical changes in end user communications, telcos are becoming increasingly threatened. Yet, the fourth revolution presents many new revenue opportunities. On that note, and without any further ado – here are our top 10 predictions for the telecoms industry in 2017:

1. Continued rise of OTT services
   OTT services will continue to rise in popularity, reducing telco profits from messaging, voice calls and even data use. This will continue until telcos have little choice but to find other sources of revenue or to merge with these content companies. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Such acquisitions began in 2016, including Verizon’s $4.8 billion deal with Yahoo. Data from l
2. 5G
   Development of 5G will continue. Promising speeds fast enough to download all 6 seasons of Game of Thrones in under 20 seconds, 5G has the potential to revolutionise communications and facilitate large-scale development of the IoT. 2016 saw service providers begin development and testing of the technology, so it is highly possible that the telecoms industry in 2017 will release the first waves of commercial 5G offerings.
3. The IoT
   Once 5G is up and running, development of the IoT will accelerate until IoT applications such as smart cars and smart home appliances are a part of everyday life. The increase in internet traffic will require constant connectivity, efficient management systems and an architecture that is able to handle the number of devices. Telcos will need to prepare for this in 2017, and be aware of any security concerns.
4. Network Function Virtualisation (NFV)
   NFV will become more than a concept. The movement to remove dedicated network appliances – such as routers and firewalls – and virtualise networks entirely will transform the way service providers build and deploy network services. 2016 has seen certain telcos take steps towards NFV, and we predict that the telecoms industry in 2017 (and other companies such as cloud computing services) will begin to plan for world virtualisation.
5. Saturation
   As virtualisation becomes a reality and the IoT moves into daily life, more and more communities and services will be forced to adopt cloud solutions and virtual technologies. For example, retirement homes may become digitised living facilities, and the populations of these will need to adopt digital methods of communication. Ultimately this may lead to digital saturation.
6. Mobility
   As networks all over the world become virtualised and cloud communication methods are adopted, there will be a global migration towards wireless technologies. Ultimately, this will increase the mobility of work life, social activities and many other areas of everyday life.
7. Security
   As previously mentioned, the explosion of connected devices with the IoT will make networks increasingly vulnerable to hacking. Additional security concerns will form as NFV forces the total abandonment of hardware. Customers will begin to demand higher levels of security, and telcos will need to be proactive in developing protective technology.
8. Smart cities
   OK, we’re not saying smart cities will be fully functioning by the next new year – but we are saying that the world will be a lot closer. Believe it or not, Disney World is among the first examples of a smart city, having developed a rubber band system that unlocks hotel rooms, serves as an entry ticket for the parks, assists the purchase of food and drinks and links photographs to individual phones. The seamless system is an example of the aims of smart cities worldwide – and more and more global cities are developing initiatives to make their operations more ‘smart’. 2017 will see further advances in the planning of smart cities – and finally give us answers for what they will actually involve, how they will affect everyday life and how they will be supported by technology.
9. Trump
   …Need we say more? The world is waiting to see what Trump’s presidency will bring, and telecommunications companies are among those nervously awaiting his new policies. Trump has yet to declare any intentions on telecom issues, other than to state that he is against net neutrality. Until his policies are declared, telcos can only wait.
10. Brexit
    What will be the effect of the other political shock of 2016? The telecoms industry in 2017 could begin to take steps towards protecting themselves once Article 50 is triggered, and we may also witness relocations and changes to roaming, international calling and spectrums.

The Wall Street Journa

With the turbulence of 2016 behind us, 2017 will be a period of change – and this is no more true anywhere than it is for telcos. As we move closer to the fourth industrial revolution, it may come down to survival of the fittest. With declining data revenue, telcos must source profit from new sources (such as the IoT and Big Data), but they must do so with caution and preparation. 2017 is the time to rethink, adapt to the coming changes – and join the revolution of communications.

The Telecoms Industry is currently experiencing a time of drastic change, as traditional communications solutions decrease and data revenues grow. As a consequence, many companies within the industry are witnessing a decline in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) – usually an accurate indicator of business growth and profits. To reverse this, telcos and other companies in the industry must begin to monitor customer spending, and consider altering their services to cater to the changes.

It is commonly stated that 90% of start-up businesses fail within the first 10 years – although Software as a Service (SaaS) business models are generally more likely to succeed. SaaS models offer subscription plans that are often more appealing to customers because they are more affordable, and so are also more available to users with smaller budgets. Other business models often have large upfront costs and struggle to offer the latest updates to customers because upgrading is more time consuming, expensive and difficult. Ultimately, the ability to offer the newest solutions at more affordable prices will attract more customers and give a head start on revenue for SaaS businesses.

Yet, the 90% failure rate does still apply to many SaaS businesses, and taking steps to protect the longevity of your business is therefore vital. Perhaps the most important step for businesses providing a service, is improving customer satisfaction. The importance of customer service is clear, and is something we have discussed at length in other blog posts. The ability to satisfy customers is a true business advantage, often separating the winners from the losers, and the first step to satisfied customers is getting to know their needs. There are many ways to go about this, but paying attention to your ARPU is perhaps the most important.

Some call ARPU a “vanity metric”, and whilst it is true that it is far from the be all and end all for businesses, it can indeed provide significant insight that helps to identify customer trends – if correctly managed and analysed. Vitally, this insight can then be used to design smart business solutions. The business advantages of tracking your ARPU include:

• Deducing the financial health of your business
• Validating any investment in products
• Validating any investment in marketing

The most important benefit is the insight it can provide into both the short-term and long-term projected health of a business. ARPU insights can be used to generate business solutions that accelerate Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) growth, but can also generate smart solutions to maximise business success in the long term.

The telecom industry is experiencing a period of drastic change, as technology advances and communications move away from traditional solutions. The challenge to the industry is causing a decline in ARPU for many telcos, meaning that it is more important than ever for telcos to find additional revenue sources. Building strong customer relationships is vital, but so is becoming more flexible and adapting to the advances in communications technology. Deploying innovative new services as add-on solutions, either for contracts or as part of a bundled price, is the best way to survive the changing industry.

Graphs from Service Providers and the Cloud OTT Surge Infographic

According to a new report from industry analyst Analysys, creating bundle options for customers is an effective way to encourage users to adopt new data services. Data services are a key source of profit for the telecom industry, as the numbers using voice based communication services decline. Including data services in catered bundles increases the chance of users spending on data.

With this in mind, Dubber’s new call and communication capture service is a perfect example of a data service for telcos. Playback is a service aimed at the individual that allows users to save, replay, search, tag and share their kept calls. Users can interact with their calls like never before. Ultimately, Playback can improve the daily personal and professional life of anyone who makes phone calls frequently. Playback is provided through service operators, and is available as an app on iOS, Web and Android. Deploying Playback as the data service to be part of a bundle will attract customers with its unique product offering, and encourage them to spend more on data services than they would with traditional pricing plans.

The rise of cloud computing has given birth to an entire industry of cloud-based services, as companies from all sectors move their products and services to the cloud to offer their customers an improved product. Cloud services offer a myriad of benefits, including reduced costs and unlimited scalability, all of which stem from their liberation from hardware. Cloud solutions soon evolved to include a wide range of services. New native cloud solutions were built on engineered platforms and deployed on cloud infrastructure, and from this Platforms as a Service (PaaS) – and eventually a variety of related dedicated services (such as CPaaS) – were born. PaaS provide fully managed platforms on which companies can build applications quickly and easily, without the complexity of building or maintaining the infrastructure beneath, and at a fraction of the cost. This may all sound like something out of Matrix, but it’s actually not that complicated – and the result is beneficial for all users.

The Cloud Computing Stack

Cloud services allow companies to outsource a part of their infrastructure or software service, ultimately opening up a plethora of applications for both business and personal users. The most common services form what is known as the ‘cloud computing stack’:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – a series of virtualized servers that complete a company’s network infrastructure

Platform as a Service (PaaS) – a provider manages a platform where companies can build their own software, deploy existing services or run off-the-shelf products

Software as a Service (SaaS) – a provider hosts cloud based software on behalf of a company, often eliminating the need for any upfront costs or investment in hardware and software license

Screen-Shot-2016-12-09-at-12.36.16

Diagram from Rackspace

The interaction between the 3 services is best described using the following analogy from Rackspace:

If the cloud stack was a road system: the roads are the infrastructure, vehicles are the platform that sits on top of the infrastructure and transport the people and goods, and the people and goods are the software and data.

The PaaS market in particular has seen significant growth in recent years; it was valued at $1.60 billion USD in 2013 and has been forecast to grow by 25.7% annually between 2014 and 2020. Forbes estimate that the PaaS market will reach $7.5 billion USD by 2020. This growth is partly due to investment from internet giants such as Google and Amazon, as well as pioneering firms like Rackspace and OVH.

Screen-Shot-2016-12-05-at-17.25.08

Graph from Transparency Market Research

PaaS solutions offer end user organisations and service providers an alternative to the complex infrastructure and high costs of legacy software building solutions, and appeal to various sized enterprises because they are flexible, fully scalable and have no capital expenditure.

CPaaS – The Communication Solution

As the popularity and revenue from the PaaS market rises, platform solutions that cater to smaller, more specific requirements, are created. A key example is the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) market. The platform which CPaaS solutions provide, enables the integration of real-time communications, such as instant messaging and voice calls, into existing business applications. This is an innovative solution for enterprises of all sizes, as previously real-time communications have only been accessible from purpose-built applications, which require expensive hardware and software installations.

CPaaS solutions are a natural progression in the previously stagnant telecommunications industry, because they uniquely offer high availability and accessibility, affordable Pay-as-you-go pricing models, high security, multi-tenancy and no CapEx. Ultimately, CPaaS platforms enable the creation of application bundles, opening up exciting opportunities for the telecoms industry. The past year has been a dynamic growth year for CPaaS; Dr. Natasha Tamaskar from GENBAND estimates that the value of the CPaaS market will reach $40 billion US by 2019.

Dubber’s core offering is a CPaaS solution. From the bottom up, Dubber has been built as a communication platform where new and innovative products can be designed and deployed as product offerings.

True_cloud_platform-02-1024×572

For service providers, CPaaS facilitates the embedding of communication solutions, ultimately bringing innovative new offerings to customers. Using Dubber’s RESTful API, service providers can build communication bundles that offer call recording and communication capture services on top of their own products, in a way that matches the needs of their customers and fits the company branding. In this way, CPaaS and APIs collaborate well, with the former even making the latter more valuable.

Using CPaaS to build applications opens up a myriad of benefits for end users. Ultimately, CPaaS helps both business and personal users to increase their organisation, productivity and efficiency, streamlining their communications and gaining deep insight into the content.

Dubber is a CPaaS that brings the benefits of communication capture and voice intelligence to everyday communications. Ultimately, this organises communication forms onto a single platform and increases their accessibility, whilst maximising their value by bringing the insight of intelligent voice diagnostics to all recorded conversations.

The CPaaS market brings the benefits of cloud computing to communications, allowing service providers to innovate and deploy new solutions faster – making them more affordable, accessible and relevant to end users than ever before. The rise of cloud services as an industry, together with the Internet of Things and Big Data, mark the continuing power of the internet in everyday life, and soon 92% of everything we do will be in the cloud.

Experts say we are now in the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ – a new age of technology that has the potential to entirely reshape the way we live our lives. Cloud computing is on the rise – tech experts agree that the question is now not if cloud computing is the best option but how best to implement it – and with it, a complete revolution of communications technology. Also pushing the Fourth Revolution forwards is 5G. The release will facilitate the Internet of Things to gather momentum and exist on a greater scale that unites limitless items through one network.

Technology has always played a central role in reshaping industries; developments have pushed boundaries and redefined business strategies, ultimately forcing new business models. This is no different within the communications industry, where the smartphone redefined mobile communications, and social media redefined online communications. The latest innovative developments, including big data and unified communications, have once more revolutionised the communications industry. Sectors within the industry must again adapt and fight to keep up, whilst businesses outside of the industry should look to utilising and benefiting from these advances. Telcos must adapt to the developments of cloud call recording, UC and big voice analytics, if they are to remain on top of the communications industry.

A recent survey conducted by Dubber found some interesting data that provides insight. The data corresponds with the suggested need for companies to adopt new solutions in the communications industry. The survey questioned over 100 small to medium businesses in the USA, and found that even though 93% use the telephone to conduct business frequently, 81% do not use a call recording solution. In the increasingly modernised and mobile workplace, voice analytics and call recording have proved themselves to be a very useful tool. More and more companies are using the solutions to gain insight into customer interactions, and to improve their customer service. In this sense, the survey respondents are missing out on beneficial solutions for business communications.

The respondents in the survey were from the legal, sales, finance, health or leisure, food or retail and freelance sectors, and all could benefit their business by deploying call recording and voice analytics. Firstly, the legal and financial sectors are actually required by law to deploy call recording, in order to comply with regulations. The sales sector must maintain high standards in sales performance to be successful, and those working in food or retail, health or leisure and sales must ensure they provide incredibly high standards of customer service. Call recording, therefore, plays vital roles in optimising business processes, increasing productivity and ultimately increasing the success of a business. Traditionally, call recording requires varying amounts of hardware, which is accompanied by substantial costs and hardware’s associated flaws. However, recent developments in cloud computing have seen call recording transformed to native cloud platforms, and freed of all hardware requirements and restraints. Call recording as a service is now available, and a cloud-based platform ensures that it is both accessible and affordable to companies of all sizes, with all size budgets.

Research by the Aberdeen Group investigated the benefits of using multi-channel call recording and analytics, and the statistics simply speak for themselves:

Average retention of customers is 89%, 70% for those without the solutions

First-contact resolution at 87%, 59% for those without the solutions

Annual reduced costs at 12%, 2% for those without the solutions

Businesses in every industry sector are increasingly adopting cloud computing and unified communications for their business telephony processes to experience the benefits highlighted by the Aberdeen Group’s research. Firstly, there are obvious financial benefits of subscribing to a communications solution “as a service” as opposed to purchasing and installing on-site hardware solutions. The business benefits are not limited to cost; there are also many strategic advantages in terms of scale, consistency across a network and the ease of adding future solutions and innovations when technology next advances.

The respondents to Dubber’s survey also indicated that they would also be interested in call analytics and intelligent data from their calls. The most popular feature, which approximately half of the respondents from the finance, health or leisure and freelance sectors choose, is an intelligent search feature that allows keywords to be located within a call. Deducing the mood of the customer and automating actions based on a specific spoken phrase were also popular options. The Aberdeen Group’s research provides a clear evidence base for the business benefits of investing in UC, analytics and call recording. There is, therefore, a strong case for the survey respondents, and all small businesses, to make the move to cloud computing and benefit from the associated business communication solutions, such as UC, call recording, big data and voice analytics. With this in mind, there is an equally strong case for telcos to deploy these cloud communications solutions to small businesses, similar to those surveyed.

Time for Telcos to seize the day

As the move towards cloud computing gains momentum, 5G and the IoT draw closer and the demand for big data and analytics grows, telcos are in a unique position to benefit from the current revolution of the communications industry. Cloud call recording, unified communications and big voice analytics have all increased the relevance and usefulness of business communications solutions for companies of all sizes, bringing new revenue streams to any telco that deploys these revolutionary solutions to SMEs globally. With their unrivalled knowledge of the industry, telcos are in a position of power to profit from the revolution of communications, as long as they are able to reshape their business models and adapt to keep up with the changes.

This post is part of a series on Big Data and Big Voice:

1. Big Data – What is it?
2. How Big Data will Change Contact Centres Forever
3. Big Voice – a Case Study on Tackling Autism

The power of Big Data, specifically in contact centres, has been examined in the previous posts in this series. This post focuses on the potential of Big Voice – the result of managing Big Data through voice analytics and Unified Communications solutions. Big Voice can use intelligent diagnostic solutions to effectively manage Big Data and increase the value of business communications for all companies.

Big Voice is a new and largely unexplored territory of data which, if utilised by businesses, can enable them to provide a new range of services and increase their appeal to customers. Amazon Echo and other rival products are among the first glimpses into the potential of Big Voice that has been integrated into everyday life. Amazon Echo is a voice assistant and speaker system that was highly successful in the US and has only recently become successful in the UK, after a 2 year process of analysing and integrating the British accent into the solution. The business value of Big Voice is extensive, and yet it currently remains largely untapped. One of the many capabilities of Big Voice is an ability to analyse the sentiment of a speaker, which can be used by companies to provide assistance in employing adults with certain disabilities, specifically autism.

According to the National Autistic Society, there are around 700,000 people with autism in the UK alone and shockingly, around 85% of these are unemployed. Employing people with autism is obviously important for their well being, but is actually also beneficial to a company; adults with autism commonly make excellent employees, and a national survey of consumer attitudes found that 87% of Americans would prefer to give their business to a company that hires adults with disabilities. Additional surveys have found that employees with disabilities have excellent attendance records, and are just as productive as their peers.

“The idea that people who formally have a disability can produce and sometimes even outperform non-disabled people in the workspace is quite a disruptive thought for employers,”

– Thorkil Sonne, founder of Specialisterne

Infographic from graphs.net

However, autistic men and women often struggle to find employment and when they do find a role they often struggle with the social aspect of working in an office. The key difficulties that employers often find with autistic employees are social communication and interaction, lack of understanding from peers, and sensory issues. Employers must bare these in mind, but advances in Big Data are providing an increasing number of innovative solutions to tackle these difficulties.

Thomas Madar is an example. When employed in a role, he struggled with the social aspects of a working environment, and was often dismissed as having poor communication. When searching for employment, he struggled in interviews and found it difficult to convey himself as a likeable person who could fit perfectly into a team. Eventually he found Specialisterne, a company who specialise in helping those with autism to find a job by matching them to a role where skills such as attention to detail, that are characteristic of the autism spectrum, are valued. Through them, Thomas Madar found a role that suited him.

Specialisterne’s solution helps individuals to secure a suitable job, however it does not take any steps to make the actual employment easier for either the employee or the employer. This is where Big Data, voice analytics and UC solutions come in: Big Voice. Utilising Big Voice, voice analytics solutions can monitor the stress levels and emotions of an autistic employee by deducing their mood. This is done by analysing the speed of speech, tone of voice, vocabulary and more, in phone communications.

With the advances in voice analytics and intelligence solutions, the content of calls are becoming an increasingly valuable business asset. Now solutions can analyse not just what was said but how it was said. When combined with UC solutions, the emotions of autistic employees can be potentially monitored by an AI and the analysis can be saved and shared with employers, all through a single business communication solution. Autistic employees would be able to work from home, or in any environment they are comfortable in, and still take part in conferences and meetings via VoIP calls. Analysis of their emotions could be conducted during the conferences, and if at any point analysis indicates that the employee is becoming stressed, the employer can be notified and deal with the situation accordingly.

Dubber’s Sentiment is an innovative voice intelligence solution that is able to analyse mood through a long list of metrics. Sentiment operates like a Shazam for human emotions, and could therefore be used to aid employers with managing autism, by monitoring emotional responses it will hypothetically be able to ensure that the employees are happy and comfortable in their business communications at all times. This intelligent analysis would be offered as part of a UC and call recording package, streamlining business communications, Big Voice and call recording into one single solution, ultimately opening up a myriad of applications and benefits for employers. Dubber’s Sentiment could potentially assist individuals with autism in finding and striving in their employment, which increases their quality of life and ensures they are given similar opportunities to everyone else.

This post is part of a series on Big Data:

1. Big Data – What Does Big Data Mean for Telcos?
2. How Big Data will Change Contact Centres Forever
3. Big Voice – a Case Study on Tackling Autism

As internet use increases each year, the volume of data created every year also significantly increases. The rate of data creation has actually increased so much that 90% of data in the world today was created in the last two years alone.

Contact centres are among the companies at the front line of the big data phenomenon, and so they must develop methods to manage the data volumes they are inundated with every day, whilst maintaining high standards of customer service. To be truly successful, call centres in the modern age must figure out how to not only manage big data, but to analyse it and gain useful business insights. Using call recording and voice analytics solutions, call centres can extract useful data from every customer call, thus maximising the value of all customer – agent communication.

The importance of customer service to a call centre speaks for itself, but is highlighted by these statistics:

• 60% of customers prefer to pay extra for a better customer experience
• 86% of customers have left a company’s service because of a bad experience
• Resolving disputes is more important than guaranteeing no mistakes in the first place, as 56-70% of customers will remain with a service if their complaint is adequately resolved

For call centres, as companies whose customer service is entirely presented over the telephone, the need to monitor, manage and enhance their customer service is indisputable. This is where Big Voice comes in.

Infographic from Business2Community

A significant advance for call centres is the progression of Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies, which have increased the ability of technology to understand unstructured data, such as voice recordings. Call centres can now gain important data every time a customer call is recorded. Combined with call analytics tools, these big data sets can gain valuable insights into customer interactions. These are the ways big data can revolutionise call centres:

• Speech analysis – NLP is not exactly new – it has long been used by contact centres to prompt callers for information to direct their call, although these are not known for being particularly accurate! Now however, with the progression of NLP accuracy has improved and systems can interpret and correctly direct calls from whole sentences, such as “I have a strange charge on my bill that I would like to discuss.”

• In depth speech analysis – NLP systems can now interpret not only what you say, but the way it was said. Speech analysis can examine tone of voice, vocabulary, mood and more to deduce the emotions, age, gender and requirements of a caller.

• Training – Speech analysis can be used to identify gaps in an agent’s knowledge, the types of calls they are best at handling, and can then provide prompts.

• Predictive analysis – mood analytics can detect a caller’s emotions and deduce when they are on the verge of frustration, and advise the agent accordingly. Mood analytics is also capable of lie detecting.

• Social media – Combining big data with social media can provide companies with an insight into current trends or problems that may affect their call volumes, and prepare accordingly.

• HR – companies can put applicants through an automated application process and use data analytics to find the best person for the job.

With the advances in NLP and analytics solutions, call centres are finally able to convert their recorded data into useful information, from which they can gain valuable business insights. The true potential of big data lies in its correct management. For call centres, combining big data with recent developments in analytical technology will begin to turn big data from just a large volume of data into valuable understanding of customer interactions. Ultimately, correct management and analysis of big data is the key to achieving excellent customer service, and improving the success of a call centre.

This post is part of a three-part series on Big Data:

1. What does Big Data mean for Telcos?
2. How Big Data will Change Contact Centres Forever
3. Big Voice – a Case Study on Tackling Autism

Big Data is a subject currently receiving substantial attention within the communications and technology sectors. With its potential role in the development of the Internet of Things and smart cities, two of the most talked about topics in the industry, the buzz is not surprising. But what actually is Big Data, and what does it mean for technology? Most importantly, what role will it play as technology drives us towards the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’? Here, we strip Big Data down to the basics and explore its potential.

As is always the case with industry trends and buzzwords, ‘Big Data’ is a very vague term, often utilised to aid sales without honouring the true meaning. Put simply, it is exactly what it says on the tin – large volumes of data, or more specifically, the large volumes of data that flood businesses on a daily basis.

But what does this actually mean? Big Data cannot be simplified by defining it as large volumes of data; the true value lies in what is done with the data, and what value businesses can draw from it. Properly used, Big Data can be a gold mine of business insights. However, the volume of data that is collected every day is enormous, and to be able to discern any insight from it, appropriate management strategies are a necessity.

Infographic from Business2Community

The concept of Big Data first gained attention in the early 2000’s, when industry analyst Doug Laney defined Big Data in terms of the three V’s – a definition that is still in use today:

1. Volume – large amounts of data are collected daily from a variety of sources, all of which must be processed
2. Velocity – data streams flow into businesses at incredibly high speeds that must be matched in their processing.
3. Variety – data is collected in a wide range of formats, including structured – numeric data in databases, and unstructured – email, video, financial transactions and more.

In today’s increasingly digital world, at the beginnings of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, the volume of data that is created and stored worldwide on a daily basis is inconceivable. Business data has increased in volume, velocity and variety, and it is this increase that is the true meaning and relevance of Big Data.

Image from Soft Computing and Intelligent Information Systems

Big Data is capable of providing indispensable business insights as long as it is efficiently managed. Smart analysis of the data can assist enterprises in making businesses decisions that could ultimately result in cost reductions, time reductions, new and optimised product development and streamlined business processes. Furthering its potential are companies who are combining Big Data with high-tech analytical solutions, to discover information that is even more powerful and insightful. The use cases are limitless, including:

1. Diagnosing the cause of system failures quickly and efficiently
2. Generating recommendations at the point of sale, based on the customer’s buying habits
3. Detecting fraudulent behaviour fast and resolving the issue before your business is affected
4. Many more

An example of a company that is a Big Data success story is Uber. Monitoring use of its application by both drivers and users, Uber has mapped a real-time logistics flow of human transportation. This use of Big Data has enabled Uber to enter new markets and continually regenerate the company and their revenue streams. Uber are the perfect example of how the potential lies not in the volume of data, but in its management, and they used it for a very simple purpose – to dispatch cars to the right users. With this simple yet powerful use of Big Data, Uber have grown into a company that is currently dominating the consumer transportation sector.

The final question is how to build solutions that enable enterprise users to utilise Big Data and maximise business productivity. Maximising its potential could open telcos up to new revenue streams, and provide them a gateway to smart cities and the Internet of Things, which will further their growth trajectory infinitely.

Only 0.5% of business data is currently being analysed; providing significant opportunity for telcos to deploy Big Data solutions that assist enterprises in business decisions. Telcos need only tap into the potential to gain access to unlimited numbers of new clients and profit opportunities. Even more significant for telcos is Big Voice, a solution that provides deep insights into customer communications, going beyond simple statistics. Big Voice enables telcos to deduce a customer’s communication pattern by analysing their call times, locations and more. This information helps telcos to gain an understanding of individual customer activity, and to then cater solutions to fit these requirements. Organisations can also use recorded data to analyse the sentiment of their customers and internal communications and keep a catalogue of smart, searchable call recordings. Ultimately, Big Voice turns audio and call recordings into rich business assets, enabling companies to streamline and improve business processes, ultimately increasing the likelihood of retaining customers.

The role that telcos must play in Big Data management, what it will mean for call centres and similar businesses, and the future of communications once Big Data and analytics solutions are partnered, will be addressed in the second post in the series.

Simetric aim to converge service providers and provide users with a unified solution for their individual correspondence. They have utilised multiple mobile networks across the UK to develop a standardised network, enabling users to bene t from a single telephone number for both their mobile and fixed phones. To expand their UC solutions for business customers, Simetric chose Dubber.

“The Dubber platform and SaaS business model perfectly complement Simetric’s technologies. Simetric and Dubber share the same desire to continually work to develop and engineer innovative new products that revolutionise the telecoms industry. Through the partnership, we can now deliver a seamless integration of uni ed communications and call recording into both fixed and mobile services.

Dubber’s Playback service changes the face of mobile telephony in our view. It is the type of feature that highlights the value of our UC strategy and opens up significant opportunities to engage with all users in every market segment.”

John Murray, Director of Simetric Telecom (Tango Networks)

We surveyed a sample of SMBs across the US with questions related to SMB call recording, and found some rather revealing results. After analysing the survey, it became clear that many businesses who could benefit from call recording do not use it, and often they have chosen not to because of concerns that only apply to legacy call recording solutions who rely on hardware. The survey results indicated a large target market for call recording that is yet to be tapped. Based on the results of the survey, this is where we think telcos are missing a trick.

Previous research from Harris Interactive indicates the importance of customer service – up to 60% of customers would prefer to pay more for better customer experience, and most significantly, 86% of customers left a company because of a bad experience. These statistics prove that providing excellent customer service is still high priority for all companies and, as call recording is widely used for quality assurance purposes, these statistics also demonstrate the importance of taking measures such as call recording to improve customer experience.

Yet the results of our survey demonstrate that, although 93% of SMBs conduct business over the telephone, a staggering 81% do not use call recording solutions from telcos for their business. When asked why, the survey (in which it was possible to select multiple answers to the question) found that 41% worried it would not be useful, which indicates a lack of education or efficient product marketing by telcos. Majority at 43% said cost was a factor. A further 39% worried about losing time to maintenance, and 35% were concerned about the security of call recording. A staggering 84% were concerned about all of the above.

However, 90% of those who don’t use call recording have concerns that actually only apply to legacy call recording solutions. Dubber has transformed call recording and communications capture to a cloud based platform, thereby eliminating the problems that relate to traditional call recording solution. These concerns are over security, implementation costs, usefulness and management.

The survey also revealed industry insights into what companies would use call recording for, and therefore provides interesting insight for telcos into the market for additional call recording functions. The survey, where it was again possible to select multiple answers to the question, found that the majority (58%) of SMBs indicated they would use call recording to improve their business’ customer service, whilst 43% would use it for dispute resolution, and the same again would use it for staff training. Interestingly, of the 43% who would use call recording for dispute resolution, 44% would be interested in smart search as an additional feature. Smart search features allow users to conduct advanced searches of their captured conversations and locate calls by various metrics that include date, location and keywords. They are a valuable tool for dispute resolution, as this relies on efficiently locating the correct information. For a survey that provided no additional information about call recording additional features, this percentage is high and demonstrates a significant target market. With some education on the benefits, this number could only increase.

Additionally, of those who would use call recording to improve their customer service, 28% would be interested in voice analytics as an additional function, which essentially act as a Shazam for human emotion. Voice analytics tools would serve a significant purpose in customer service, by providing insight into customer communications. Support and sales teams using voice analytics therefore gain an advantage in the provision of good customer service. Again, this is an encouraging start point for a target market, and will only increase as the true value of voice analytics becomes better understood by clients.

The results of the survey show that there is a large and untapped target market for call recording, with over 22.5 million SMBs in the US frequently conducting business over the phone, but not using a call recording service. The survey also demonstrates that this shocking number is in fact a result of concerns that only relate to legacy call recording solutions. As we have seen, over 22.5 million SMBs in the US are not currently using call recording, even though it could improve their productivity and increase their revenue. With Dubber, these SMBs have access for the first time to a call recording solution that has unlimited scalability, high security, rapid deployment, no upfront costs and increased relevance and functionality for everyone. Call recording is therefore an opportunity for a brand new client base for telcos: with a large target market and innovative new technology to offer them. Survey says… it’s a no-brainer.

Since the first mobile generation was released in 1982, a new generation of mobile has followed approximately every decade, the most recent being 4G in 2012. As soon as the dust settled on the release of 4G however, talk became focussed on the next generation. Only 3 years later, 5G is among the hottest topics in the industry. With Telstra recently completing successful trials in Australia, expectations for the capabilities of 5G are high. Set to become available to the public in 2020, the potential of 5G is drawing closer – and it is not just telcos who are excited.

The Possibilities

The 5G upgrade will be achieved in one of two ways: either as a complete redesign of the radio spectrum that previous generations have built on, or as a more simple extension of the current 4G technology. 5G is aiming to improve not just speed, but capacity and latency as well – allowing users to experience browsing with less delay and unlimited connections. This crucial difference will ensure that 5G speeds are not just a slight upgrade, but light years ahead of the current technology.

Recent testing by Telstra shows 5G is capable of speeds greater than 20 Gbps, as well as a latency that is up to half of that of 4G networks. Dr Magnus Ewerbring, Ericsson’s chief technology officer in Asia Pacific and a partner of Telstra, said of the tests: “these early 5G trials will help drive the global standards that will ultimately cover 5G.” Hypothetically, these speeds would be fast enough to download 600 movies a minute, or the entire 6 seasons of Game of Thrones in less than 20 seconds.

These tests seemingly indicate that 5G will bring vastly improved speed, latency and capacity, as well as assisting the growth of the Internet of Things from present day figures of 6.4 billion connected devices, to a projected 21 billion by 2020. Use of the IoT is on the rise, as a number of companies have begun to experiment with its potential. Coca Cola for example, currently use microchips to track their bottles, and Amazon have introduced ‘Dash Buttons’ – which allow users to restock their favourite household products, such as Andrex and Ariel, at the touch of a button. The true potential however, is yet to be tapped. Ultimately, 5G could revolutionise the industry, bringing not only fast and highly accessible cellular browsing, but also bringing the full functionality of the IoT into our everyday lives. Ultimately, 5G will aid the creation of a digital society and economy that could connect limitless numbers of devices through one network.

For telcos, 5G represents a future revenue channel with abundant possibilities. Recently, smartphone users have been taking advantage of improved wifi capabilities, which has decreased data usage and resulted in some lost revenue for telcos. 5G represents a way to interest smartphone users in cellular browsing once more, and hence replace this lost revenue. However, the rise of the Internet of Things could result in a massively compressed telco infrastructure, as all industry sectors join together. For telcos and other companies in the technology sector, this makes staying ahead of the curve more important than ever… Cue a host of organisations throwing their hat into the ring.

So what’s the downside?

It is not just the telecoms industry who are excited by 5G, but various others who could capitalise from it as well. The result is numerous industries wanting a slice of the action, and so 5G must now fulfil multiple agendas and requirements. Media companies will want prioritised bandwidth, so that their movies can be streamed in higher resolutions. Gaming companies will expect low latency for optimum player experience. Technology companies such as Apple and Samsung are perhaps the biggest investors: Smartphones are an obvious motive, but they are also keen to involve themselves in the IoT, which is tipped to become their next big source of revenue. The development of 5G will therefore be a product of the involvement of various industries. It could be a case of too many cooks spoil the broth, or it could in fact signify the beginning of the next generation of telecommunications technology – a compressed infrastructure that joins together media companies, technology firms, transport organisations and more.

5G therefore represents the chance for telcos, governments and technology companies to unify and create new world standards of living in a digital age. Exciting advancements such as self-driving cars, remote-controlled surgery and self-ordering fridges are all possible with its release. It represents a time of growth for many companies: telecoms have the opportunity to reverse their declining revenue and rejuvenate the industry, whilst technology companies have the chance to broaden their field. A technology revolution is ahead, and the potential is exciting for companies from all industries.

However, as the infrastructure compresses, telecommunications companies invest in the IoT and technology companies begin to offer their own communications options (such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger), companies must adapt to the shifting market to stay afloat. The fate of companies such as Dell and HP, who struggled to keep up with advances in IT after the rise of cloud computing, demonstrates the necessity for companies to keep up with the technological revolution that 5G represents. Telcos, technology firms, media companies, automotive organisations and many more, all have the opportunity to profit from 5G and the IoT, as long as they are able to convert to a concentrated and interconnected digital economy. The race to 5G is officially on, and no one wants to be last.

Since the game-changing release of the first generation iPhone back in 2007, the annual reveal of the newest model is an event that has gathered a following that is borderline fanatical. Since then, Apple has continued to dominate the smartphone industry, raking in a staggering 94% of smartphone industry profits, and their popularity shows little sign of slowing down. In fact today, 395 iPhones are sold in the world every minute. The release of the iPhone 7 was as eagerly awaited as ever, however its reception has already been mixed. A poll from Fortune found that fewer people than ever are actually interested in purchasing the new iPhone. The decision to eliminate the headphone jack has proved controversial, and various techies have claimed it is too similar to the previous generation. Among the displeased are telcos. One particular new feature of the iPhone 7 and iOS 10 could potentially cause trouble for the telecommunications industry.

With the increasing popularity of online communications, VoIP services are constantly growing in demand. WhatsApp recently passed the milestone of 100 million voice calls per day, and Skype now has over 300 million monthly users. The transition away from traditional methods of communication is sure to spell trouble in the future for telcos: and this trouble moves ever-closer upon the release of the iPhone 7. A new feature allows users to answer VoIP calls from the lock screen – a feature that was previously reserved for voice calls only.

Now that Apple has increased the accessibility of VoIP calls for those who invest in the new iPhone, the opportunity for VoIP growth will only increase if this feature is adopted in future evolutions of smartphones. For telcos, an increased popularity of VoIP calls will cause a decrease in their customer usage of voice call minutes. Ultimately, this could drastically affect telco revenues, as customers who make use of this new VoIP accessibility will largely only pay for their used data. This could drastically reduce profits because voice calls are currently responsible for approximately 80% of telco revenue.

The iPhone 7 has also created another problem for telcos. The iPhone 7 has been upgraded to be capable of “lightning fast” speeds, with an LTE-A of up to 450 mbps. The problem is, there are actually very few telcos in the world who can support such speeds. This could create the problem that either iPhone 7 users will be displeased with their telco because they are unable to take advantage of the faster speeds, or telcos will need to work towards expensive upgrading. Either way, the higher speeds of the iPhone 7 could put telcos under pressure, even though they’ve already invested billions of dollars upgrading their networks to provide 4G.

The silver lining

With Apple declaring the latest iPhone as more expensive than its predecessors, telcos can cash in and offer more expensive contracts. Several UK telcos have already announced their pricing options, and EE, Vodafone and O2 have confirmed their higher price plans, forcing consumers to bear the brunt.

Various telecoms have previously voiced their displeasure with VoIP apps, stating that they are in breach of licensing conditions that telecoms themselves have to abide by. With the release of the new iPhone 7 and iOS 10, increased accessibility of VoIP calls is certain to cause further problems for telecoms worldwide.

What’s the solution?

The future success of telecoms may soon depend on their ability to adapt to the shift away from traditional communications, and alter their businesses to fit the unpredictable and ever-changing market. Accepting the increased use of internet based communications, and creating price plans for customers that offer fewer minutes and increased data, is perhaps a logical start point.

Additionally, by deploying new and disruptive services such as Dubber’s Playback, telcos can tap into brand new revenue streams to compensate for the loss of revenue in call minutes. They can even do this whilst maintaining attractive price plans, instead of irritating customers by hiking up the prices of subscriptions and bundles as they have done previously, year after year. Ultimately, innovative and agile service providers will catch the worm.