Nokia and Starhub join analytics force, hopeful in creating 'effective advertising'

Nokia and Singapore telco StarHub have partnered for a push into mobility analytics in a bid to help operators create value from data and insights.While the push targets mainly city planners, city authorities, transport agencies and travel agencies, marketers too stand to gain from the partnership, said Adam Marczell, marketing manager, network planning and optimisation, global services, Nokia.In an interview with Marketing, he explained that business owners and marketers will be able to benefit from more effective advertising. This is because the insights allow them to target consumers in the vicinity based on their travel patterns, activities and personal interests. “For example, marketers want to know where and how often their customers visit for shopping and leisure activities, allowing them to plan their locations and target promotions at the right people,” Marczell explained.For business owners, the insights drawn can help when it comes to planning a new business location. This allows business owners to decide where to place their stores based on the density of that area and the number of visits to competitors’ stores.As mobile operators possess immense amounts of data about how their subscribers move around the city, coupling the information with a consumer’s age, gender and other habits will be a “gold mine” for marketers in developing more effective marketing strategies. Marczell added that the solution "will ultimately result in greater customer experience."In a press statement detailing the move, mobility analytics looks to offer operators collaboration opportunities to create new services and revenue streams. This is with network data which looks to provide insightful reports on customer movements, behaviours and habits. For example, it analyses and measures commuting patterns to enable authorities to plan more efficient roads and public transport networks. City authorities will also be able to identify the movement patterns of people to help decide where to build parks, shopping malls, recreational buildings and offices.According to Chong Yoke Sin, StarHub’s chief, enterprise business group, the company has a strong team of data analytics experts with a diversity of capabilities. This allowed the company to introduce several successful mobility analytics use cases in Singapore for strategic and operational urban planning and decision making.By integrating the use cases into the Nokia AVA platform and using Nokia’s analytics capabilities, StarHub will be developing the use cases further and creating new ones that we can offer even to other telcos as white label solutions, he explained.“Our partnership with Nokia allows us to develop innovative solutions at the deep research level for the market. We are extremely pleased that this collaboration permits both partners to innovate for our clients,” Chong added.Also weighing in on the partnership was Dennis Lorenzin, head of network planning and optimisation at Nokia. He said while the potential in network data and mobility analytics is huge, it is complex, requiring big data platforms and algorithms to mine vast datasets and create value and insight.“Working with a progressive operator like StarHub has been beneficial in co-developing our pioneering mobility analytics services that offer operators easy access to use cases that benefit transportation, city planning and the travel industry,” Lorenzin said.This is not the first time Nokia has partnered with StarHub for a digital push. In November last year, both companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly drive the IoT momentum in Singapore. This included the development of new IoT use cases and applications in the areas of connected living, connected vehicles and connected buildings. This was with plans to offer commercial services to customers the first quarter of 2018.This alliance between Nokia and StarHub also looked to enable easier and more rapid development of IoT services, and help enterprises discover and capitalise on Smart Nation opportunities and capabilities to propel their business.Through the partnership, Nokia will support StarHub and its partners in the development of use cases, such as for smart parking, environmental sensors and video analytics. It will also help StarHub promote the benefits of IoT technology through various activities, including developer outreach programmes and participation in IoT-related events. In addition, Nokia Bell Labs will provide added consultancy services to StarHub and its enterprise customers to accelerate Singapore’s IoT market momentum.