Unleashing power of real-time analytics in 5G era – ETCIO

Saurabh Saxena, Regional Vice President – Sales at OpenText India.

The emergence of 5G is ushering in a new era of connectivity in India.., According to NASSCOM Arthur D Little 5G Report, 5G can contribute up to 2% of India’s GDP by 2030, a~$180 bn impact. The 5G opportunity is expected to be available across consumers and enterprises in different verticals, involving both public and private 5G networks.

In this era of widespread connectivity, Indian enterprises must plan to launch 5G services into the market for improved efficiency. With its enhanced network capacity, throughput, and responsiveness, 5G opens up previously impractical creative business concepts. Network slicing is one such breakthrough that uses virtualized design to divide a single physical network into many levels. Service providers can customize connectivity for specific users and apps with this level of detail. For example, telecom service providers can optimize network resources for diverse use cases, such as ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) for mission-critical industrial applications or high-bandwidth services like streaming media.

An important component of the 5G revolution is real-time analytics. To deliver a superior client experience, it is essential to comprehend how customers use and adjust to 5G services. This calls for the analysis of enormous volumes of data produced by 5G networks. With the spread of 5G in India and increased competition among network operators, real-time analytics will determine which suppliers can use data-driven insights to deliver the greatest possible consumer experience.

The critical role of analytics
While optimizing customer experiences is paramount, navigating technical challenges inherent in the 5G landscape is crucial. Some of the scenarios where analytics plays a crucial role include:

Enhancing Backhaul Capacity: Upgrading backhaul networks to accommodate increased data traffic and low latency demands is essential for ensuring service quality, and analytics can play a crucial role in identifying and prioritizing upgrade areas. For example, by analyzing network traffic data in real-time, operators can pinpoint specific cell towers or geographical areas experiencing congestion. This data can reveal patterns of peak usage times and bandwidth bottlenecks, allowing network engineers to prioritize backhaul upgrades in the most critical areas. Real-time analytics can also help optimize the use of existing backhaul resources. By analyzing traffic patterns and user behavior, operators can identify opportunities to dynamically allocate bandwidth and prioritize mission-critical applications.
Predictive maintenance: 5G’s high bandwidth and low latency make it possible to continuously monitor the health of equipment in real-time. By analysing sensor data, such as temperature and vibration readings, businesses can proactively identify potential equipment failures and schedule maintenance before outages occur. This can significantly reduce downtime costs, improve operational efficiency and ensure service continuity.
Accurately identifying and profiling market segments and provisioning networks accordingly: 5G’s ability to support a massive number of connected devices creates immense opportunities for businesses to gather customer data in real-time. Real-time analytics can be used to analyse this data and gain insights into customer demographics, preferences, and usage patterns. This intelligence allows businesses to accurately identify and profile different market segments. With this knowledge, businesses can tailor their network infrastructure and service offerings to better meet the specific needs of each segment.
Managing network slicing complexity: Network slicing complexities require real-time analytics for monitoring and meeting diverse business and consumer needs effectively. For example, if there is a sudden surge in demand for specific services due to a live streaming event, real-time analytics can detect the increased traffic load and dynamically allocate additional bandwidth and resources to the specific network slice and ensure uninterrupted and high-quality streaming for users.
Addressing security concerns: In the rapidly evolving landscape of 5G networks, the huge number of connected devices and the increased complexity of network architectures have significantly expanded attack surfaces. This makes real-time analytics indispensable for detecting and mitigating cyber threats and safeguarding user data.
Intelligent product or service recommendations: The combination of real-time analytics and 5G paves the way for the development of intelligent recommendation engines. By analysing customer data in real-time, such as browsing behaviour and purchase history, businesses can recommend products and services to customers at the precise moment when they are most likely to make a purchase. This hyper-personalisation can significantly boost sales and conversion rates.
Streamlining data access: An agile analytics platform capable of accessing disparate data sources in real time is extremely important for collaborative decision-making and improving operational efficiencies.

Hence, by integrating real-time analytics into their operations, telecom service providers can make data-driven, strategic decisions based on a holistic view of available data. To do this effectively and deliver exceptional services in the 5G era, telecom service providers must collaborate with trusted leaders in Analytics & AI. These partnerships can enable companies to leverage cutting-edge technologies and capabilities thus empowering them to meet and exceed customer expectations.The author is Saurabh Saxena, Regional Vice President – Sales at OpenText India.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETCIO does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETCIO shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.