Test data management in the telecommunications sector

How can Grid-Tools help to provision data for non-production in the telecommunications industry?

Over the past decade, the telecommunications sector has undergone radical changes. The ‘voice market’ is in decline, partly due to the saturation of the global market for mobile (cellular) phones, and the horizons of human communication have broadened. Increased commercial competition, a by-product of mergers, acquisitions and privatization, mean that efficient data management is crucial. However, strict regulatory standards pose several challenges to companies looking to integrate, or market to, large customer databases. This is why many CEO's have recognised the need to start looking for solutions that address their needs for competitiveness and compliance.

Grid-Tools has experience in working with several large government departments and telecoms organizations, such as British Telecom, to increase efficiency and maintain regulatory compliance on large development projects. Using a range of niche, unique solutions, Grid-Tools has been able to help government departments and agencies deliver:

  • Full compliance with national and international data protection standards
  • High quality, re-usable synthetic test data
  • Efficient and easy-to-use data management solutions and software
  • Test data management strategies for increased short and long-term efficiency

Creating usable and compliant test data for the telecoms sector

Customer data in the telecoms sector is held in many different forms, ranging from basic customer information in billing departments to recorded calls. This data is both complex and vulnerable to breaches or hackers, particularly when it is moved into non-production environments for testing and development. Subsequently, current regulations state that it is no longer acceptable to use copies of ‘live’ data in testing. Therefore, telecommunications companies are looking to re-evaluate they way in which they provision test data of suitable quality and compliance for future development projects.

In the past, data masking has been seen as an adequate method for de-identifying production data. However, it fails to sufficiently meet the needs of the industry; there is too much PII (Personally Identifiable Information). Masking such volumes of sensitive data in a non-production environment is not only inefficient but also runs the risk of compromising the relational integrity of the data, making it useless for effective testing. So, how then, do we provision useful and compliant test data?

The answer is synthetic data creation! Grid-Tools offers a range of sophisticated, flexible solutions, including the award-winning Datamaker™, which can create data that models the referential and relational integrity of production environments from scratch!

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