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Stabilizing an Avalanche of Data: Comcast's Journey with Data360 Analyze
Technology Category
- Automation & Control - Human Machine Interface (HMI)
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Equipment & Machinery
- Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Fraud Detection
- Leasing Finance Automation
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Comcast Corporation, the second largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue, was facing significant challenges due to the volume and variety of operational and billing data. With over 20 million customers across 40 states, the company needed to establish standardized processes and automate data flows to overcome a wide range of billing, finance, compliance, supply chain, and marketing challenges. In 2009, the company was dealing with massive amounts of data that were causing major revenue assurance challenges. The customer billing review interface required the processing of a billion records every month, within very tight timeframes. The company’s decentralized accounting and finance operations, with 20 different regions and 30 different accounting practices, further compounded these issues.
The Customer
Comcast Corporation
About The Customer
Comcast Corporation is the second largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue, and the largest U.S. home internet and cable television provider. In the U.S., Comcast provides residential and commercial services to more than 20 million customers across 40 states. The company was facing significant challenges in managing the volume and variety of operational and billing data. With a decentralized accounting and finance operations spread across 20 different regions and 30 different accounting practices, the company was struggling with major revenue assurance challenges.
The Solution
Comcast sought an agile data preparation solution that could natively connect to a wide range of data sources, and join, blend, transform, analyze and publish results into BI visualization tools. They needed a tool that could interface from the billing system to the general ledger, present accurate data while identifying anomalies in a clear and graphic manner, and handle extremely large data volumes. After exploring both internal and external options, Comcast chose Data360 Analyze as an enterprise solution for data preparation and analysis for its scalability, flexibility and ability to quickly handle, control and accurately present revenue information. Data360 Analyze was initially deployed within the accounting and finance areas to automate data flows and streamline revenue assurance in the customer billing revenue interface. The solution was then implemented in diverse areas such as billing assurance, commission payments, fraud detection, supply chain inventory tracking, revenue share accruals and payments, and franchise fee regulatory payments.
Operational Impact
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