Optus has stood up a unified data platform that brings together data from across a number of repositories into an Azure-based ‘lakehouse’ environment running on Databricks.
Speaking to the iTnews Podcast, CIO Mark Potter said the unified data platform or UDP will contain some but not all of the telco’s data.
Certain data will remain in source systems and be brought into the UDP only on an as-needed basis.
“Our target is for the unified data platform to be the Optus data lakehouse for the organisation: not to centralise everything into that single repository, but to use a data fabric to reach into very specific data stores that still make sense to have federated,” Potter said.
“We’re driving a high degree of data consolidation, but we’re not executing a strategy of one data mart for the entire organisation.”
Potter said that a single data repository approach would have risked being “a bit of a blocker to the dynamism and agility of the business” and not made economic sense for a company the size of Optus.
“A single repository tends to take you past the point of diminishing returns and beyond being cost effective,” Potter said.
“We’re very conscious of cost and CapEx, so we’re adopting a fit-for-purpose architecture that our business colleagues are able to support.”
The UDP was built by Optus and a consortium of Microsoft, Databricks and Tech Mahindra, and is being deployed in two phases.
Phase one involved a “lift-and-shift” away from an existing data warehouse that was approaching end-of-life.
A second phase – still underway and anticipated to conclude in 2026 – will see “two other very substantial data marts” consolidated onto the unified data platform”.
Strategic alignment
Optus’ IT strategy has three overarching priorities: to “solidify the technology foundation for the organisation and win back customer trust, to enable Optus’ businesses to outcompete others in a very challenging market, and to position the organisation for the future.
The UDP aligns to all three of these priorities, according to Potter.
“It really helps with establishing foundational controls around the data platform, for instance, the level of user access, which can be defined at [an individual] cell level, and with rebuilding trust by encrypting and protecting ours and our customers’ data.
“There’s also an element of the platform that lends itself to outcompeting in the marketplace through being able to make much better decisions in a more timely way with better data, and to be able to surface a greater degree of personalisation that’s fit-for-purpose for our customers.”
Optus said in a statement that the UDP will allow it to “provide a more personalised experience through relevant offers, faster issue resolution and tailored service recommendations.”
“With better and more timely data accessible, we can execute personalisation and other data use cases such as decisions on campaigns, churn reduction, [customer] attrition [rates] etc to a higher degree of accuracy, sophistication and timeliness,” Potter said.
The telco also sees the UDP as “a future proof-platform” that can evolve with its data needs.
“The fact that it’s sitting on Azure means that it’s evergreen from a lifecycle management perspective, and it’s also providing a foundational capability for AI and other leading technologies,” Potter said.
Partnership approach
Optus has worked with both Microsoft and Tech Mahindra (referred to in the podcast as ‘TechM’) for some years, and that relationship supports the telco’s preferred way of working and engagement.
“The relationship, certainly while I’ve been at Optus, has been founded upon brutal honesty both ways,” Potter said.
“Sometimes that can be pretty confronting, but it has really resulted in a ‘roll one’s sleeve up and go after the agreed outcome’ approach and not let business cards and organisations fracture what we’re trying to achieve.
“The bipartisan commitment has been exceptional. It has not been an easy program [of work].”
Databricks is new to Optus, but the fact it has an Azure flavour streamlined its pathway into the telco.
Potter said that the telco and consortium partners operated in a “one team” structure, with staff co-located primarily out of the Optus campus in Sydney’s northwest.
He added that leaders from across the participating organisations “were very engaged in challenging the delivery teams trying to surface issues, identifying things that may derail us later and resolving other issues.”
“The leadership was engaged in the delivery of the program, not just opining on the delivery of the program,” he said.
The involvement of partners was seen as necessary in part due to the newness of Databricks but also Azure to Optus.
“If you wind the clock back a little, our use of Azure was still pretty emergent early on, so ensuring that we were establishing that Azure capability in a really fit-for-purpose and future-proof way was really critical for us,” Potter said.
The UDP transformation also remains “a really large program of work”, and so part of the challenge was to have the resources on-hand to scale up to meet the program’s demands.
“The fact we were dealing with some emergent technologies, at least for Optus at the time, along with the scale of the program resulted in us wanting to partner with the consortium.”
