Saudi Telecom Company Excels with Information Visualization Supplying Internet and mobile services to over data center finally transforming from reactive to pro160 million customers across the Middle East, active. Figure 4.9 shows a sample dashboard for call Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is one of the larg- center management. est providers in the region, extending as far as Africa and South Asia. With millions of customers The Benefits contacting STC daily for billing, payment, network "Dundas' information visualization tools allowed usage, and support, all of this information has to be "Dundas' information visualization tools allowed monitored somewhere. Located in the headquarters became problems," said Mr. Eshaiwy. He added, of STC is a data center that features a soccer field- "We decreased the amount of service tickets regarding network statistics, service analytics, and by 55 percent the year that we started using the customer calls. The Problem meant customer satisfaction levels increased, which When you have acres of information in front of led to an increased customer base, which of course you, prioritizing and contextualizing the data are KPIs becoming visually available to the STC team, paramount in understanding it. STC needed to iden- Dundas' dashboards currently occupy nearly a tify the relevant metrics, properly visualize them, quarter of the soccer field-sized monitor wall. and provide them to the right people, often with "Everything is on my screen, and I can drill down time-sensitive information. "The executives didn't and find whatever I need to know," explained have the ability to see key performance indicators" Waleed. He added, "Because of the design and said Waleed Al Eshaiwy, manager of the data center structure of the dashboards, we can very quickly at STC. "They would have to contact the technical recognize the root cause of the problems and take teams to get status reports. By that time, it would appropriate action." According to Mr. Eshaiwy, often be too late and we would be reacting to prob- Dundas is a success: "The adoption rates are lems rather than preventing them." excellent, it's easy to use, and it's one of the most TheSolutionEvenvisitorswhostopbymyofficearegrabbedsuccessfulprojectsthatwehaveimplemented. After carefully evaluating several vendors, STC made the decision to go with Dundas because of its rich data visualization alternatives. Dundas business QuESTIONS FOR Discussion intelligence consultants worked on-site in STC's 1. Why do you think telecommunications compaheadquarters in Riyadh to refine the telecommu- nies are among the prime users of information nication dashboards so they functioned properly. "Even if someone were to show you what was in "Even if someone were to show you what was in 2. How did Saudi Telecom use information would be difficult to know what was going on," visualization? said Waleed, who worked closely with Dundas con- 3. What were their challenges, the proposed solusultants. The success that STC experienced led to tion, and the obtained results? engagement on an enterprise-wide, mission-critical project to transform their data center and create a Source: Dundas, Customer Success Story, "Saudi Telecom Company Used Dundas' Information Visualization Solution," more proactive monitoring environment. This project dundas.com/wp-content/uploads/Saudi-Telecom-Companyculminated with the monitoring systems in STC's Case-Study1.pdf (accessed February 2013)