INTERVIEW

Networks , IT and digital services make up the company ’ s first three “ platforms ”. Telefónica now describe the fourth as the customer ’ s data and insight , which Telefónica is preparing to put back into the hands of customers . As a business Telefónica has accrued a tremendous amount of data from its 341 million subscribers , but that data has traditionally been used to build and optimise networks . Jordan explains : “ Telcos have access to millions of bits , and historically this was mostly used to build and optimise networks . There ’ s so much richness about a customer ’ s life in that data , so just think what could be achieved by liberating and using the data in partnership with our customers to create the insights and intelligence that will provide a secure but predictive , personalised and context sensitive experience .” To fully realise that vision , the entire world would have to change , though . He worries that political and regulatory change will put the brakes on change . “ We need policy makers to be the most progressive they have ever been and I worry that the political landscape is moving the other way . We seem to be seeing more fragmentation , isolation and protectionism precisely at a time when this digital world needs progressive law making that is not bounded by geographical boundaries . Artificial Intelligence will become mainstream in the next three years . We need to decide ethically and legally what role it will have in thousands of different industries and applications . It makes no sense to do that in isolation . We should be getting together and collaborating on what the role of technology will be as the virtual and ‘ real ’ worlds blur and decision making moves from being rule-based to machine-based .” Jordan worries that the space between the regulatory and digital worlds that exists today will get wider as the potentialities of data , for good or ill , expand . “ It is terrifying that there is such a big gap between the opportunities technology can offer and our ability to lay down a framework for it .” The next phase of what he calls the digital industrial revolution is already upon us . Every sector will have to engage with it , and here he sees a golden opportunity for Telefónica .

22 May 2017