Looking to capitalize on the needs of retailers looking for footfall, Telefónica Digital has set up Telefónica Dynamic Insights, a global business unit dedicated to identifying and unlocking the potential opportunities for creating value from ‘big data’.
Telefónica Dynamic Insights will provide companies and public sector organisations around the world with analytical insights that enable them to become more effective. It will develop a range of products and services using different data sets, including machine to machine data, and anonymised and aggregated mobile network data.
The first product, ‘Smart Steps’, will use fully anonymised and aggregated mobile network data to enable companies and public sector organisations to measure, compare, and understand what factors influence the number of people visiting a location at any time.
These insights will help retailers tailor local offerings for existing stores and determine the best locations and most appropriate formats for new stores. A number of retailers are already helping with product development by providing user feedback. Smart Steps will also be able to help town councils measure how many more people visit their high street after the introduction of free car parking, farmers markets, or late night shopping.
To expand its capability and extend its market reach Telefónica has also entered into a global strategic partnership with GfK, one of the world’s leading market research companies. GfK will work closely with Telefónica Dynamic Insights on product development – initially in Germany, UK and Brazil – bringing marketing science expertise and a proven track record of providing business critical research and analytics services to a broad range of clients across multiple industry sectors.
“Big data is one of the key building blocks of the digital economy. Approached in a smart and responsible way it has the potential to transform every part of business and society – providing economic growth and improving people’s lives,” said Stephen Shurrock, Chief Commercial Officer at Telefónica Digital. “Smart Steps will help retailers better understand and meet their customers’ needs, reduce costs through improved efficiency, and make better informed decisions. It will help retailers to determine the best locations and formats for new stores and tailor product promotions in existing stores. We are delighted to be partnering with GfK, a global leader in market research, on product development.”
“GfK is very excited to be partnering with Telefónica Dynamic Insights in this important area of strategic investment for both our businesses,” said Dr. Gerhard Hausruckinger, Chief Operating Officer of GfK’s Consumer Choices sector. “We are constantly working to help our clients understand the impact of technology on changing consumer behaviour, and particularly the unique challenges and opportunities presented by mobile. Together with Telefónica we will develop a portfolio of market-leading products and services.”
In addition to retail footfall measurement Telefónica Dynamic Insights is also developing analytics products to help companies in a wide range of different industries. Initial product focus areas include fraud protection, and ‘Smart City’ technology, including traffic management.
Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving innovation in over the top communications services under a new umbrella brand called Tu.
Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to Telefónica’s 311 million customers as well as leveraging the power of the internet to enter new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, Terra, Media Networks Latin America, 48 and giffgaff are all managed under the Telefónica Digital umbrella.
