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With more than 50% of all American adults carrying a smartphone and tablet ownership doubling over the past year, it is clear consumers are more commonly researching and making decisions on their mobile devices. At the same time, telecom networks are becoming more complex, with customers craving new services and applications to compliment their on-the-go lifestyles.
As customer demands change and the telecom industry becomes increasingly competitive, providers need to stay ahead of supply and demand issues, and proactively manage their networks. Luckily, consumers carry a GPS with each mobile device, creating opportunities for telecommunication companies to use geo-coding technology to meld real-time location intelligence with customer data to assess existing service areas and make informed network planning decisions that satisfy customer needs.
Ensure accurate address data first
Telecommunication organizations collect vast amounts of customer location data through smartphone, wireless and cable accounts. As a result, geo-location intelligence has rapidly become a critical aspect of the telecommunications infrastructure. It is necessary for solving rapid growth and spatial related issues as telecommunication companies look to roll out next generation infrastructures and enhance existing networks. With major business decisions riding on accurate insights, it is essential to ensure that underlying address data is of the highest quality.
Telecommunication organizations need to adhere to a three-step process, known as global address verification, in order to ensure that underlying data can be used efficiently and with confidence. This process starts by identifying and assigning an ISO code for the country. It breaks down the address, identifies and converts known synonyms, expands common abbreviations and strips out duplicate components wherever possible.
Once address data is standardized, it needs to be validated. This step compares the records with country-specific reference data so duplicates can be removed, and missing components can be identified, sought out and incorporated. After corrections are made, a validation level, match score and address correction results code is assigned. This provides perspective on the quality of the updated address. Finally, the newly formatted address should follow its country-specific format as recommended by the relevant postal authority or can be customized to other needs.
Use geo-coding technology for real-time insights
Once customer location data is standardized, validated and formatted, telecommunication organizations can use geo-coding technology to gain insight into geographic data in real-time. In its simplest terms, geo-coding assigns latitude and longitude coordinates to addresses, making it easy for enterprises to integrate location information with other business data to identify coverage inefficiencies and high density areas for informed network planning. Geo-coding of cell tower locations, for instance, can help companies visualize coverage, service gaps and best sites for additional towers, and even pinpoint right-of-way and call-before-you-dig requirements. Additionally, geo-coding along with mapping technology can even help telecommunication companies view their entire networks at any moment, instantly see developing problems and proactively deploy resources.
Once address data is verified, the benefits of geo-location intelligence are endless, making it a critical aspect of the telecommunications infrastructure. Organizations are able to quickly visualize results, instead of writing up reams of documentation, which enables decision-makers to understand a business case with a simple map or picture. By using location analysis and integrating sophisticated mapping directly into their data, telecom providers can intelligently move beyond the “build it and they will come” deployment strategy, streamline operations, reduce costs and increase their potential for success.
