Vodafone Group partnered with Google Cloud to develop a real-time data analytics platform, in an aim to drive AI and gain insights in a single “ocean of data”.

The operator said its new Neuron platform, built on Google Cloud Platform, “will act as a brain and driver for AI and business intelligence for Vodafone’s global business”.

In a blog post, John Wibergh, Vodafone CTO, noted that Vodafone’s original big data system was built five years ago and comprised 600 servers, but faced “a lot of limitations.” A year ago the company decided to change things and instead create a cloud-based big data system.

“We can [now] much better plan and optimise our network and build that functionality into the My Vodafone app to provide better offers to our customers and also to guide our own staff on how to act in certain situations.”

Neuron currently covers 11 countries, where it has combined data from the 600 servers in a single “data ocean,” in an effort to get insights in the field of 5G network optimisation and smart retail.

Insights from Neuron are already being used in the company’s Gigabit Networks which were “increasingly optimised by AI to push capacity to where customers need it most”, and real-time analytics enabled the operator to push personalised commercial offers to customers when they are most likely to buy.