Marketing serious telecoms-the explosion of data

Telecommunications is now an essential component of many industries and is becoming core to how businesses are run. Furthermore, telecommunications is vital for a country´s competitiveness, its economic growth and development and its wealth creation. The nature of telecoms has changed, and will continue to change at ever increasing rates. As competition intensifies, the industry is increasingly characterised by a customer focused, marketing approach which is simultaneously driving down costs and driving up the amount of information that is being exchanged. To thrive in this marketplace, telecoms companies (telcos) need to combine market awareness and the technical capability to deliver a profitable, valued service to meet their customers´ needs. To achieve this, it is important that operators keep their customers closely involved throughout the design, development and implementation of their services. This article examines the current state of the telecommunications industry and outlines how customer-driven data services will be the key to success over the coming years.