Big data is currently very trendy. All companies are working in one way or another with this technology. Nevertheless, beyond the hype, how does a great consolidated company, a market leader, revolutionize data and artificial intelligence? How do you extract the maximum potential of data to achieve a real impact on your clients and the business?

In a context of containment within the sector and decreasing revenues, Telefónica España, a telecommunications incumbent and leader in its market, decides to consolidate its leadership by opting to transform its business.

In this case study, Telefónica España faces the challenge of designing and building a model with structural and transversal data serving the whole company. As it does so it must attend to its daily business needs, assess the technological possibilities of big data and manage an important cultural change.

Part 1 sketches the profound changes in Spain’s telecommunications sector in the last several years en route to a position of international prominence. It then details the 2012 launch of Movistar Fusión and how Telefónica embraced big data, consolidated into one data warehouse, wrought internal cultural change and maintained strong operational performance all at once.