The mobile telecom industry continues to grow through restructuring and consolidation throughout the globe. Increasing competition and corresponding drop in average revenues per users (Arpus) mean that operators are under pressure to adopt cost-saving measures and face corresponding delayed sales cycles.

The onset of high-end network generates inherent complexities for billing systems, in terms of decisions related to installation, pricing, replacement, upgrades, integration and scope of the deals. As IP-based services such as data, video, graphics and location-based services evolve, the focus on content increases. Thus, it is imperative to adopt a system ensuring flexibility and optimum functionality.

Convergent billing
Investing in a new off-the-shelf billing system every time, for each new service introduced, is an expensive and sub-optimal proposition for operators. Convergent billing, which enables multi-service packaging and pricing, entices a service provider’s existing customers to subscribe to new services, and attracts new customers through innovative service bundling.

In a highly competitive market, service providers must seek new services that differentiate them from the rest. Unified customer account records enable multi-service providers to get a 360-degree view of customers.

Traditional rating for service providers provides a set of hard-coded programs into the core software of the billing system. A rules-based rating engine would enable service-providers to bring new services to market quickly, to increase profitability and improve customer satisfaction by managing services in real time. The number of call detail records (CDRs) rated per day would be more meaningful, if CDRs are rated and billed online. This would help service providers to keep track of subscriber usage and outstation payments, and spot fraud patterns.

Organizations across the world are increasingly adopting a "self-care" approach to their business. Using this approach, employees and customers are empowered to fulfill their requirements by self-service. This approach reduces incremental operational costs for organizations, hastens internal processes and reduces the cost of acquisition of new customers, through Internet based self-provisioning. In addition, a Web-enabled, self-care solution, acting as an electronic channel, would give customers the ability to manage their own accounts and would support one-to-one marketing, online shopping and ordering, account management and electronic bill presentation and payment.

The growing adaptation of telecom business processes requires a sophisticated and robust "Electronic Bill Presentation and Payment" system. This system would go beyond ordinary bill "presentation" and would include "analysis" and personalization as well. The 21st century billing system would need to be far more than just a machine chruning out basic receipts and papers—it would need to incorporate out-of-the-box functionalities that help capture new markets, provide end-to-end solutions for point of sales to churn management. This would be coupled with the benefits of providing a significant cost advantage and an easy of deployment of the solutions. In addition, billing systems would also provide other functionalities, apart from being quickly customizable. Therefore, it is imperative for service providers to optimize their billing solutions to suit to the need of the hour.

The author is chief executive officer of Lifetree Convergence. The full column can be accessed at www.dqindia.com