Competitive pricing with a dynamic model in telecom
Context & Objectives
A Belgian company operating in the telecom sector must regularly compare the price of their products and services. However, keeping an up-to-date method to compare product pricing between different operators in different countries was challenging. Done manually with Excel, it took a lot of time and often resulted in human error.
They wanted to optimize the selection of telecom products and the combination of products under predefined constraints. And, they needed a friendly user interface to facilitate the interaction of the algorithm results with the end user, those working to sell telecom and media services.
We set out to develop an algorithm and user interface to automate this process.
Approach
First, we cleaned the raw data in Excel. Next, we created combinations of products and services. The objective was to ensure that even if there is no standalone pack that corresponds to the criteria selected, a combination of packs or sims could meet the constraint.
To make this valuable to business developers, we associated packs with interesting client profiles the client provided. The objective was then to find the cheapest internet, TV, and phone packs corresponding to these characteristics.
We then created Power BI visuals and an executable Python file that runs all the Python scripts to compare prices. With a dynamic model in Power BI, it is also possible to select the desired period, the country, or the type of pack.
Finally, we provided documentation and training about the Power BI software for the client’s team to easily and independently manage the model in the long term.
The main deliverables were Power BI visuals, Python scripts, and an executable file to run the scripts and update the files that Power BI will read.
Results
The model saved a lot of time for the client, making it easy to compare different telecom packages to a series of predefined characteristics, and made it possible to:
Run the necessary scripts in 5 minutes
Load visuals with real-time data in 10 minutes
Change the target profiles easily in Power BI
Have clear visuals to use in their annual report
With quick oversight of offers and packages, the client makes better pricing decisions, helping them stay competitive in the fast-moving telecom sector.
