Mobile operators who are not able to respond to subscribers changing needs in real-time run the risk of losing market share to those who can, according to a new Informa Telecoms & Media Whitepaper: Now-time marketing: Unlocking customer loyalty. The white paper, commissioned by Business Logic Systems, highlights the need for mobile operators to adapt their data structures to accommodate real-time marketing capabilities, and suggests that Western operators are in fact lagging behind their Eastern counterparts in this respect. 
The report available to download here – describes Customer 2.0 as impatient and hungry for information, actively performing a vast array of connected activities beyond voice. As a result, expectations of Customer 2.0 are likely to alter from moment to moment as their context and lifecycle changes, the report says, placing greater importance on communicating with this group in real-time.
According to the report, mobile operators have not yet harnessed the true power of the data they hold and are missing out on vital opportunities to interact with their subscribers in real-time in order to build long-term loyalty. Most telcos, Informa says, still run aggregated marketing campaigns which make use of historic information, so customers are not receiving communication at the point when it is most relevant. 
The report notes that while real-time activities in developed markets have not yet progressed beyond the billing system, where airtime updates and balances can be viewed, operators in emerging markets seem to be a step ahead. The report highlights a number of operators who have already deployed real-time solutions, including Sunrise, Optus, True AIS, Vodafone New Zealand, Hong Kong CSL, O2, Nawras and Geocell.
According to Informa Telecoms & Media Analyst Partner Sue Uglow:
There is a huge opportunity for operators to maximise their assets and improve their ability to deliver to Customer 2.0s underlying satisfaction drivers. For this to happen, real-time marketing needs a mindset change. There needs to be a shift towards responding in now-time to customer initiated triggers via an automated response. This will massively reduce time-to-market, improve relevance to customers and delivering to their satisfaction drivers at the moment of opportunity.
Stewart Goldberg, Executive Chairman of Business Logic Systems, believes that, in order to meet the needs of an ever-changing customer base, operators need to switch their focus from maintaining short-term revenue to generating long-term profits. He says:
Business Logic Systems Real-time Campaign Management solution is helping mobile operator customers identify relevant events and respond to customer needs in real-time. It is operators like these, who prioritise real-time capabilities, that will be well placed to meet customers needs, building long-term loyalty and ultimately driving up revenues.