IBM Case Studies Bharti Infratel Ltd. Utilizes Business Analytics to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs
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Bharti Infratel Ltd. Utilizes Business Analytics to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Costs

IBM
Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
Cement
Construction & Infrastructure
Maintenance
Sales & Marketing
Construction Management
Infrastructure Inspection
Bharti Infratel Ltd., a leading communications passive infrastructure provider, was facing a significant challenge in managing and maintaining its over 30,000 communication towers across India. The cost of tower infrastructure management and maintenance was consuming 60 to 70 percent of the operating budget for communications service providers. To keep rates low and expand service into more areas, providers sold off their passive infrastructure to third-party companies that now rent tower space back for a much lower rate. However, Bharti Infratel needed to keep their operating costs low as well. The company wanted to apply business analytics to spot inefficiencies, but with 16 TB of data and growing, it needed a solution that could handle high volumes and still run smoothly. Furthermore, the company had no way to identify how many low-tenancy towers it had overall due to business analytics systems being in silos across the business.
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Bharti Infratel Ltd. is one of the world's largest communications passive infrastructure providers. The company was created in July 2007 when it was spun off from Airtel, one of India's largest communications service providers. Airtel decided to stop directly managing towers and other infrastructure, leading to the creation of Bharti Infratel. Today, the company manages more than 30,000 towers across India, in 11 business circles spanning 18 Indian states. The company pioneered the concept of communications tower sharing in India, and it continues to lead in this area.
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Bharti Infratel implemented a company-wide business analytics system, utilizing IBM® Cognos® 10, IBM InfoSphere® DataStage®, IBM DB2® 9, IBM Power® 750 Express, and IBM AIX® 5. This new system provided the company with insight into how many towers overall had room for rent, enabling the sales and marketing team to target specific customers with special marketing pitches. The system also identified current or potential customers who might want to move in. This improved insight into tenancy helped the company raise revenues, lower energy costs, and assist communications service providers in extending or strengthening service in areas that needed it most. Additionally, the system provided first-time insight into market share, including specific areas where Bharti Infratel was leading or lagging behind its competitors.
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The implementation of the business analytics system led to significant operational improvements for Bharti Infratel. The company was able to monitor towers to cut down on low tenancy, reducing the energy cost per tenant and increasing sales and marketing opportunities to fill empty spots. The system also enabled the company to isolate the root causes of bad debts, customer churn, and other operational risks, leading to a reduction in these issues. Furthermore, the system provided the company with first-time insight into its market share, including specific areas where it was leading or lagging behind its competitors. This information has been invaluable in helping the company strategize and make informed business decisions.
Reduced the cost of tower infrastructure management and maintenance from 60-70% of the operating budget
Provided insight into the number of low-tenancy towers, enabling targeted marketing and sales efforts
Reduced the number of bad debts, customer churn and other operational risks
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