Importance of a Quality Telecom Billing Service Provider
Telecom
billing requirements go hand-in-hand with the emergence of new technologies in
the telecom industry. Depending on the complexity of the technology, the
complexity of the billing system also rises. This is why; most telcos feel the
need to overhaul or amend their current telecom billing software solution
whenever a new technology is launched. New techs like OTT and IoT have
befuddled telcos with their sheer magnitude and resource requirements. To track
and monetize these services, the traditional telecom billing and payment
software solutions are found to be useless. The need for modern cloud-based
solutions is becoming more pressing than ever before.
The Importance of a Quality Telecom Billing Service Provider
As most
telcos are too busy in performing their core competencies, they have to rely on
a telecom billing service provider for their billing tasks. Therefore, the
selection of a billing provider should be done with great care.
Considering
the current state of affairs in the telecom industry, APIs have become
extremely important. A good API can help you perform a complex task in an
instant without resorting to drastic steps. For example, if you do not have a
particular payment gateway partnership e.g. PayPal is not on your list but your
customers are insisting on using it, you can add it through an API without
changing or purchasing a new telecom billing and payment software solution. But
for this to happen, you need a capable telecom billing service provider.
Key Functions of Telecom Billing and Payment Software
Apart from
APIs, there are many other operations a billing solution has to perform for it
to be effective. 4 vitally important functions of a telecom billing system are
listed below:
1.
Convergence
in billing
– With an increase in the number of services provided by telecom operators, the
complexity in billing has increased considerably. Every customer wants a
fully-itemized bill that has charges of every service they are using reflected
on a single invoice. Therefore, you should always invest in a telecom billing
system that has a centralized charging system like an OCS (Online Charging
System), which can charge all service at the same place. A 3GPP-compliant reliable OCS system can allow for true
convergent billing and prevent revenue losses.
2. Comprehensive financial analysis – Today’s businesses are so
competitive that you simply cannot afford to relax. Even when everything
appears to be going smoothly, you should strive for more. Financial analysis
ability integrated into telecom billing and payment software solutions can help
you gain insights through subscriber behavior, which can ultimately help you
form better future strategies.
3. Safety and security – A cloud-based telecom billing solution
stores subscribers’ billing and charging information at multiple datacenters.
So, when there is a natural disaster or manmade calamity at one particular
location, you can always access the subscriber information from another
location. Apart from safety against disasters, you should also look for
security. Always invest in a billing solution that encrypts the billing data
with strong encryption.
4.
Scalability – The
requirements of a telecom operation can grow manifold in a short span of time.
This could be due to the launch of a new technology or addition of new
subscribers in the database. Hence, you should always employ services from a
vendor that can scale its services according to your ever-evolving
requirements. Scalability is very important for a modern-day telecom operator
as the requirements posed by 5G and emerging IoT platform services are far greater than the ones posed by
traditional services.
To enhance revenue, you need to think out-of-the-box and implement a cutting-edge convergent charging platform like OCS.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this great article! It’s very informative, and you included some great points to the equally great article regarding Telecom Billing System
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