Interview: Razorsight Delivers Analytics Solutions for Communications World

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The communications market is a huge one with a lot of competition that mostly centers around price and service. If a company can–via real-time analytics–identify their customers needs and predilections, they can more likely retain them and give them better service. Razorsight uses a cloud-based solution to address this concern that utilizes streaming data to identify actionable insights into customer behavior. We caught up with Charlie Thomas, CEO of Razorsights, to learn more.

insideBIGDATA: Analytics is a crowded field. What makes Razorsight’s solutions stand out, and how has the market embraced your approach?

Charlie Thomas

Charlie Thomas: A key differentiator: Razorsight is the first and only firm to offer cloud-based predictive analytics expressly designed for communications and media companies.

Another is that we innovate continuously. This year Razorsight introduced a breakthrough product: real-time predictive analytics that leverages live streaming data to provide insights “in the moment” on customers’ probable lifetime value, propensity to churn, and most likely future interests and actions.

Finally I would cite broad market acceptance. Razorsight’s client base includes more than 80 of the world’s best-known brands in communications and media. These companies have experienced the benefits of our solutions first hand: improvement in customer retention, margin improvements via reduced cost of goods sold and operational efficiencies, and the ability to more precisely target and acquire customers by product, market and service type.

insideBIGDATA: Tell us more about Razorsight’s unique cloud-based model. Why did you go this route, and what’s the advantage for customers?

Charlie Thomas: Our decision to offer a 100% cloud-based model was made in response to our earliest customers’ – Verizon, AT&T and Comcast – desire for flexible, scalable and quick-to-deploy analytics solutions without protracted deployments of hardware, software and costly professional services. The advantage to our customers? Quick, accurate and economical access to insights that answer their most pressing business questions –

“What services does the market and our customer base most desire, down to market and customer level? What is the impact of new service launches on operations and network investment? Who are the most valuable customers? What is their Customer Lifetime Value – CLV? Who is most likely to churn? What is the appropriate level of investment to retain customers, by group, region and product?”

insideBIGDATA: What is the biggest challenge your customers face, and how do RazorInsights help?

Charlie Thomas: The challenges facing communications and media companies are varied and complex, but one of the most common is market saturation which has created intense competition, greater commoditization and higher levels of churn.

As a result, communications providers essentially compete on price. Customers are well aware of this situation, and will leverage this for better deals or switch more readily. With RazorInsights, companies can become more proactive in delivering a superior customer experience. Real-time predictive analytics leverages live streaming data sources to put service providers in touch with what their clients are thinking so they can quickly identify customers at risk of leaving – as well as new upsell opportunities. Other insights tell financial and C-level executives the precise level of investment required to retain their most profitable customers.

insideBIGDATA: You’ve said that you see predictive analytics shaping the future of communications and media companies. That’s a bold claim — why do you see this happening?

Charlie Thomas: The amount of information that service providers have at their fingertips to better understand and serve their customers is at an all-time peak and growing daily from smartphones, set-top boxes, WiFi networks and the Internet of Things. This information presents an enormous opportunity to proactively and precisely deliver exceptional experiences based on an individual customer’s or market’s specific needs and desires.

insideBIGDATA: What are the promising new revenue opportunities for your clients that you see emerging — and how does Razorsight position them for success?

Charlie Thomas: An exciting trend gaining ground in the media industry is “addressable advertising” — the ability to target specific promotional content to targeted customers based on proven interests and insights on future buying patterns revealed by predictive analytics.

Cable, Satellite, Mobile Operators and Broadband companies all recognize the enormous potential of addressable advertising – whether delivered via TV, Internet, smartphones or tablets.  Razorsight is working with several enterprises to leverage this significant new revenue opportunity. Our cloud-based Digital Media Analytics platform enables accurate, repeatable, customer level forecasting to ensure that revenue from both addressable and linear ads are maximized. For example, media companies can now inform advertisers which households will watch specific genres each day of the week, how special events impact viewing patterns, how addressable ads alter viewing behaviors, and the degree to which 2nd and 3rd screens contribute to impressions.

Stay tuned. This incredible opportunity may dwarf anything we’ve seen to date in the field of advanced analytics.

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