With help from SevOne, the Canadian operator gained valuable visibility into its network. Now, it's tackling the challenge of internal silos.

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

November 13, 2014

2 Min Read
Bell Mobility's Analytical Makeover

In the past two years, wireless operator Bell Mobility has gone from grossly over-provisioning a network into which it had no visibility to keeping tabs on the entire network from core to the edge.

The operator now has a fully unified view of its 2G, 3G and 4G LTE networks with help from performance monitoring and analytics vendor SevOne Inc. , and its next goal is to achieve that same unification inside its own business.

Zlatko Zahirovic, manager of wireless network connectivity at Bell Mobility Inc. , and Vess Bakalov, founder and CTO of SevOne, recently spoke with Light Reading about how the Canadian operator was able to understand the ebbs and flows of its LTE network, informing where it could re-farm its legacy networks. They also outlined what comes next and could prove to be the even bigger challenge -- unifying a business that still very much operates in silos.

Visit the Prime Reading section of Light Reading to read about how Bell Mobility is using analytics to create a more efficient network and save costs in the process. (See Bell Mobility Tackles Waste With Analytics .)

It's telco analytics month! For more on the subject, visit our dedicated analytics content page here on Light Reading.

Bell Mobility makes for an interesting case study in analytics. Coming off of our Telecom Analytics World where discussions about silos and cultural challenges related to advanced analytics dominated, I was struck by how much the operator has done with analytics without changing its internal processes much. It already has 15 teams and more than 400 users tapping into SevOne's analytics platform, but Zahirovic feels the organization is still divided between the different services it offers. (See Analyze This! Telecom Analytics World in Pics.)

Tearing down those silos is what Bell Mobility is in the midst of doing now. The Canadian operator demonstrates there are two paths to a productive analytics strategy: one, get started then tackle silos to get the most from your strategy, or, two, change the culture, get everyone on board, then get started with analytics. (See AT&T: Big Data Hype Confuses Executives.)

Most operators are doing both at the same time, recognizing that the latter takes a lot longer. Both are certainly important in this fast-changing world of big data, but I think the lesson is that operators can't wait on one to start on the other.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like