Mondato has been collecting data about the competitive landscape and consumer behavior since early 2008.  Aside from our own proprietary data, we have connected with multiple sources of data to allow for statistical analysis and insight from data mining. The business intelligence team includes experts in statistical analysis, genetic algorithms, neural networks and other state-of-the-art techniques.  Contact us for custom analysis in conjunction with our standard reports or tailored to your needs.

 

The major concern in our industry today regarding data is that there is little available data and what is there is often incomplete or inconsistent. There are reasons for this situation and ways to work effectively with what is available, appending additional information where sensible and conducting analysis to answer questions to plan or market to key audiences.

 

Lack of data and issues with existing data we have dealt with relate to:

 

 

1.       At the macro level there are several potential problems:

 

a.        Informal Networks – in some remittance corridors a large part of the personal transfers are done via “informal” channels (i.e., a bus driver or a friend carries the money across the border) and those monies are not recorded, and are thus excluded from the official statistics of the Balance of Payments. This makes many remittance statistics incomplete.

 

b.       Comparison issues – there is no common Balance of Payments methodology across countries, nor are there common statistical surveys.  The problem arises when comparing data from different countries because the number under “remittances” (or any other for that matter) might not be measuring the same thing. Remittance data incomparability might arise from the different volumes of informal transfers as well.

 

2.       At the business level (companies’ market shares, prices, cost analyses) – Disaggregated company data can be found from various sources, e.g., 10Ks.  However, how do you compile it into more complete and useful data, that helps respond to your questions, or is comparable across countries or regions, and allows you to make better informed business decisions?

 

B.)     Mobile Value Transfer:  For this new permutation deriving from multiple industries (telecom, finance, IT among others), we are working to create a source for comprehensive data that does not currently exist.

 *Note that there has been talk about referring to remittances as “personal transfers” in the Balance of Payments, to differentiate them, and make clearer reference to transfers from one person to another as opposed to FDI and other funds transfers.