Telco billing systems must constantly adapt to deal with the impact of technological advances in telecommunication services, new approaches to marketing and changes to the way the industry operates. Yet the economic downturn of the last few years has resulted in investment in billing systems being neglected – and that underinvestment now threatens the long-term viability of many Telcos.
There are some factors which Telcos must respond to if they are to survive. For instance, the move to business models based around revenue sharing within the value chain means telcos need billing systems which can handle revenue sharing billing more effectively. Telcos must also press vendors of billing systems to develop and help them deploy solutions which can cope with significant increases in the volumes of data they must process as a result of several factors: the move to packetbasedtechnologies; the wider range of products now being offered; and the need to store and process more data on customers to allow ever more sophisticated marketing strategies to be pursued.
In addition, Telcos will find that mediation and rating engines will have to operate in near real time to be able to notify customers of charges for more advanced services such as downloads before they access them. On top of that, billing systems will have to be adapted to deal with the fact that “prepaid” and “postpaid” are no longer products in their own right but simply different ways of paying for a range of services – and that customers may want to take advantage of both modes.
However, if Telcos want to do more than merely survive, they need to deploy billing systems that can give them competitive advantage. Flexibility to support the rapid launch of new services dreamt up by marketers will be essential. So will improvements to the layout and design of bills: support for electronic bill presentation and payment; true multi-service billing; and the ability to partner with other brands.
Telcos have a number of options for creating the billing systems they need to tackle future requirements: upgrade, rip and replace, integrate, or turn to an application service provider or business process outsourcer. Each option has its advantagesand disadvantages and it is impossible to be prescriptive. Based on a customer’s specific business requirements, existing systems, available budget and timescales, Atos Origin is committed to helping each customer draft the right strategy, implement appropriate solutions and operate effectively over the long term. Our extensive experience in designing, building and operating a range of Telco systems and, in particular billing systems, means we are well placed to contribute to the success ofany Telco’s billing strategy.
Download Full White Paper