Data This, Data That. Why is Everyone Talking About Data?
In a world where actions are observed, collected, and stored as data – it can be overwhelming to consider its impact.
However, data provides value for both individuals and organizations in every industry.
Yes, there are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to data collection – but it is important to keep in mind that properly cleaned and accurately represented data assists with making informed decisions, which will create a better experience for members like you.
Data driven decisions will vary in every industry, but our primary focus for this post will be on the telecommunications sector.
This is data talk, so let us get into some numbers.
- In the last five years global data volume has had an average growth rate of 23% annually resulting in overall growth of 182% from 64.2 ZB in 2020 to 181 ZB current year projection.
*That means that companies will either keep up or be left behind in a world that is becoming progressively more data centered. (181 ZB = 181trillion GB)
Source: Statista, Demandsage
- As of November 2025, an estimated 4,165 data centers were in the United States.
*That is 8.35 times more than United Kingdom coming in second with 499 data centers.
Source: Statista
- Streaming (75.9%) and Social Networking (7.8%) account for 83.7% of all cellular data volume for mobile apps.
*Streaming includes Netflix, Hulu, Paramount, ESPN, YouTube, Spotify, and Pandora
Social Networking includes platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Source: Statista
- Seventy percent of data is user-generated and that includes social media posts, messages, emails, searches, comments, videos, photos, or any other content created by people. Ninety percent of this data is unstructured.
*Structured data is in an organized format like rows and columns like you would see in tables or spreadsheets. Unstructured has no predefined format and usually is harder to store since most of it has no pattern. Businesses primarily use structured data for decision making.
Source: Demandsage, Statista
Now how does this all tie back in with telecommunications?
The telecommunications sector is the driving force behind enabling movement, storage, accessibility, and distribution of data. Without this industry, data would not be able to grow at the rate it has. At low latency and high speeds, fiber-optic networks support significant data transfers.
This provides scalable bandwidth for handling cloud services and AI applications at growing volumes. Telcom networks also enable individuals to access and share data like streaming their favorite series or uploading photos on social media.
What happens after the data is collected?
Within an organization decisions are primarily data driven. Analysts will first collect data from internal databases or external sources.
This data will then be cleaned and transformed for consistency. After the data is usable, visuals including charts, dashboards and reports will be created using applications like Excel, SQL, Tableau and Power BI.
How Does HTC Use Data
Once the visualizations are created employees throughout the company will problem-solve, communicate, and make decisions based on the collected data.
A few examples of the impact of data within HTC include project tracking in engineering, measuring KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) in marketing, setting benchmarks in sales, staffing for peak demand in customer relations, analyzing compensation in HR, planning budgets in finance, and managing product development and spectrum allocation in operations.
Because of data, we are able to anticipate the needs of our members and move forward with projects that will benefit our communities.
