MVNO Billing Solutions, AT&T MVNO, Billing solution Telgoo5 Contributor MVNO Billing Solutions, AT&T MVNO, Billing solution Telgoo5 Contributor

Enhancing Customer Experience through Personalized MVNO Billing Solutions

In the competitive telecommunications industry, personalized billing solutions have emerged as a key strategy for MVNOs to significantly enhance customer satisfaction. This blog post explores various strategies to implement these solutions, leveraging technology, customer data, customizable plans, and real-time usage monitoring. Dive into the world of personalized billing with us to boost your customer engagement, foster long-term relationships, and achieve business growth.

MVNO Billing Solutions

In the highly competitive telecommunications industry, providing an exceptional customer experience is crucial for the success of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). One area where MVNOs can significantly impact customer satisfaction is through personalized billing solutions. By offering tailored billing experiences that align with individual customer preferences and needs, MVNOs can enhance customer engagement, improve loyalty, and drive business growth. This article explores the importance of personalized billing solutions for MVNOs and provides insights into how to effectively implement them to enhance the overall customer experience.

  1. The Significance of Personalized Billing Solutions for MVNOs:

Billing is a fundamental aspect of the customer journey and has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Personalized billing solutions address the unique needs and preferences of individual customers, creating a positive and tailored experience. Here are the key reasons why personalized billing solutions are essential for MVNOs:

a. Improved Customer Engagement:  Personalized billing solutions allow MVNOs to engage customers on a deeper level. By providing customized billing options and presenting relevant usage information, MVNOs can encourage customers to actively participate in managing their accounts. This increased engagement strengthens the bond between the MVNO and its customers.

b. Enhanced Transparency and Control: Personalized billing solutions empower customers by providing clear and transparent billing information. Customers can easily understand their charges, usage patterns, and available services, resulting in greater control over their telecommunications expenses. This transparency builds trust and fosters long-term customer relationships.

c. Customized Pricing Plans: Personalized billing solutions enable MVNOs to offer flexible and customized pricing plans. By analyzing customer usage patterns, preferences, and requirements, MVNOs can create pricing structures that match individual needs. This customization ensures that customers only pay for the services they use, leading to cost optimization and increased customer satisfaction.

d. Streamlined Payment Processes: Personalized billing solutions streamline the payment processes for customers. By offering multiple payment options, such as online payment portals, automatic bill payments, and mobile payment integration, MVNOs can make it convenient for customers to settle their bills. This reduces friction in the payment process and enhances the overall customer experience.

e. Upselling and Cross-selling Opportunities: Personalized billing solutions provide MVNOs with opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. By analyzing customer usage data, MVNOs can identify additional services or features that align with customer preferences. Tailored offers and recommendations can be presented during the billing process, increasing the likelihood of customers availing themselves of new services and generating additional revenue.

  1. Implementing Personalized Billing Solutions:

To effectively implement personalized billing solutions, MVNOs should consider the following strategies:

a. Data-driven Customer Segmentation: MVNOs should leverage customer data to segment their customer base effectively. By analyzing usage patterns, demographics, and preferences, MVNOs can categorize customers into segments with distinct needs and behaviors. This segmentation forms the foundation for developing personalized billing solutions tailored to each segment.

b. Customizable Billing Plans: MVNOs should offer customizable billing plans that cater to the specific requirements of each customer segment. These plans may include options for pay-as-you-go, unlimited usage, family plans, or data-only plans. By giving customers the ability to select the services and features that best suit their needs, MVNOs enhance the customer experience and promote customer satisfaction.

c. Usage-based Billing and Real-time Monitoring: Implementing usage-based billing enables MVNOs to offer personalized billing experiences. By providing real-time usage monitoring, customers can track their usage and associated costs, ensuring they stay within their budget. Usage alerts and notifications can be sent to customers when they approach their usage limits, helping them manage their consumption effectively.

d. Self-service Account Management: MVNOs should invest in self-service account management portals or mobile applications that allow customers to have full control over their accounts. These platforms enable customers to view and modify their billing preferences, select service add-ons or upgrades, and access billing information at their convenience. Self-service options empower customers and reduce reliance on customer support for routine billing inquiries.

e. Personalized Billing Communication: MVNOs should personalize billing communications to ensure relevancy and clarity. Billing statements, invoices, and notifications should be customized to reflect each customer's preferred communication channels, language, and format. Providing easily understandable billing information, accompanied by detailed explanations of charges, helps customers make informed decisions and minimizes confusion.

f. Proactive Customer Support: Personalized billing solutions should be supported by proactive customer support. MVNOs should establish dedicated support channels to address billing inquiries, disputes, and payment issues promptly. Offering multiple support options, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, ensures customers can easily reach out for assistance when needed.

g. Continuous Improvement and Feedback: MVNOs should actively seek customer feedback to identify areas for improvement in their personalized billing solutions. Surveys, feedback forms, and customer reviews can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and satisfaction levels. Regularly evaluating customer feedback and incorporating suggested enhancements helps MVNOs refine their billing strategies and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

  1. Leveraging Technology for Personalized Billing Solutions:

To effectively implement personalized billing solutions, MVNOs should leverage technology tools and platforms:

a. Billing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: MVNOs should invest in robust billing and CRM systems that enable the collection and analysis of customer data. These systems should support flexible pricing structures, usage tracking, customer segmentation, and billing automation. Integration between billing and CRM systems ensures seamless data flow and enables personalized customer interactions.

b. Data Analytics and Machine Learning: Data analytics and machine learning technologies can help MVNOs extract valuable insights from customer data. By analyzing usage patterns, customer behaviors, and preferences, MVNOs can identify opportunities for personalization and targeted marketing. These technologies can also enable dynamic pricing, where billing rates are adjusted in real-time based on usage patterns and demand.

c. Mobile Apps and Self-service Portals: Developing user-friendly mobile apps and self-service portals allows customers to access their billing information and manage their accounts easily. These platforms can provide personalized recommendations, usage analytics, and billing details in real-time, creating a seamless and convenient billing experience for customers.

d. Payment Integration Solutions: Integration with various payment gateways and mobile payment platforms enables MVNOs to offer flexible and secure payment options. Customers should be able to choose from multiple payment methods, including credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, and automated bank transfers. Seamless payment integration reduces friction in the billing process and enhances customer satisfaction.

e. Customer Feedback and Surveys: Implementing customer feedback mechanisms through surveys and feedback forms enables MVNOs to gather insights into customer preferences, satisfaction levels, and pain points. Feedback can be collected through online surveys, in-app feedback mechanisms, or customer satisfaction ratings. Analyzing customer feedback helps MVNOs make data-driven decisions and continually improve their personalized billing solutions.

Conclusion:

Personalized billing solutions play a vital role in enhancing the customer experience for MVNOs. By providing tailored billing experiences, MVNOs can increase customer engagement, improve transparency and control, and foster loyalty. Implementing personalized billing solutions requires leveraging customer data, offering customizable plans, providing real-time usage monitoring, and integrating technology tools. By prioritizing the customer journey and continuously refining their billing strategies, MVNOs can differentiate themselves in a competitive market and build long-term customer relationships that drive business growth.

Read More

Stay Covered on Every Front with an Evolving AI-Powered Billing Software

the challenge is only going to become tougher, unless you have a billing software and B/OSS solution that fulfills new requirements.

Billing Software

The billing requirements faced by telecom operators keep on rising with each passing day. There is so much to do and so little time to waste. With 5G and IoT added to the catalog of services, the challenge is only going to become tougher, unless you have a billing software and B/OSS solution that fulfills new requirements.

Stay One-Step Ahead with AI-Integration

Considering the rapid changes in billing and delivery processes, a telecom operator needs to stay proactive with his subscription plans, business operations and order management. It is impossible to pre-plan and deliver services via a monolithic platform that is reactive in nature.

At Telgoo5, you get access to an AI-powered platform that anticipates your needs before they become an urgent requirement. As a result, you can create custom flows to manage customers’ demands. The ability to make sense of the vast amount of data ingested by the billing systems and BSS solution that you have employed plays a key role in driving your telecom operation towards success.

Evolve as Per Evolving OSS BSS Architecture

OSS BSS architecture constantly evolves as per the technical specifications conceptualized by 3GPP. On top of that, a telecom operator needs to stay vigilant of the changes recommended by regulatory bodies e.g., FCC in the USA.

Taking this burden on as an everyday responsibility can take your focus away from strategic tasks. What if you can manage all these responsibilities with a platform that adapts as per these changes? Telgoo5 does exactly that. It allows you to stay free and focus on what you do best. Responsibilities like staying compliant, upgrading/customizing software etc., are managed well by Telgoo5.

Powered by a Real-Time Online Charging System

Regardless of the scale of your telecom operation and subscriber base, Telgoo5 provides you real-time charging platform with its revolutionary Online Charging System (OCS). It is a convergent charging platform that is capable of managing millions and millions of transactions every day. The OCS can charge both event-based and session-based transactions. It enforces credit limits accurately and provides timely reminders to your customers when they are about to exceed their allotted quota. Telgoo5 is intuitive, easy-to-use and comes with 24x7 tech support.

With Telgoo5 as your partner, you get access to APIs, CRM and a dependable point of sale for selling your telecom offerings. We are integrated with all the major carriers and can immediately provide you high-speed and secure connectivity. It is a holistic telecom services platform that lets you stay covered on all fronts, ready to meet the challenges of the future.

Read More

Telgoo5: The MVNE You Never Knew Your MVNO / MNO Needed

With 15 years in the industry, (v)WeCare is very well aware of the ever-changing landscape the telecommunications industry is facing today. That’s a decade-and-a-half of providing BSS, online charging, MVNE, Diameter and other expert technical and sales support, and as you’ll see, much more.

With 15 years in the industry, (v)WeCare is very well aware of the ever-changing landscape the telecommunications industry is facing today. That’s a decade-and-a-half of providing BSS, online charging, MVNE, Diameter and other expert technical and sales support, and as you’ll see, much more.

We’ve partnered with countless telecom organizations to transform their MVNO/MVNE by optimizing operations, expanding their reach, and growing their subscriber base overall. Furthermore, (v)WeCare has empowered companies just like yours to globally launch their MVNO/MVNE in a matter of weeks instead of months, and we even provide dedicated account managers as well as 24/7 NOC Support.

However, these partnerships actually evolved into a bit of symbiotic relationship as well. As our clients learned from us, we learned a lot more about their operation’s deeper needs.

That’s where Telgoo5 comes in. An end-to-end billing support system (BSS) and Online charging system (OCS) that is tailored to fit the specific needs of telecom companies.

The Telgoo5 Difference

There’s no denying that the ever-changing environment of the telecommunications industry can make proper management more than a bit of a challenge. With Telgoo5, that becomes a whole lot easier.

Imagine having the ability to provision and activate features on the fly, monitor service performance, track customer usage, bill for content, ensure revenue capture, and so much more. And we really, really mean so much more.

With Telgoo5’s BSS, you get a subscriber management system that is efficient, quick, responsive, and provides subscribers with excellent customer service. You also gain the ability to setup custom sales chain based on your business needs with sales chain management that supports 3 levels and has the ability to be customized for more.

Furthermore, with Telgoo5 and the BSS features, you have access to the following:

  • A config and admin panel that facilitates effective user management and enables you to define permissions, create plans, and gain greater control overall.

  • Reporting and analytics that provide in-depth subscriber data, giving you further insight and helping you manage and monitor your sales more easily and efficiently.

  • Expanded abilities to manage inventory status, reassignment, and reconciliation, spawning more efficient management and distribution of inventory units.

Even if that was the end of the list of benefits of Telgoo5 it would be rather impressive, but as we said above, there’s much more.

The key features of the BSS side of Telgoo5 are not only impressive, they can actually be critical in helping you meet the demands of today’s industry. Efficient billing is key to the survival of any organization but this can be evermore so true for telecom organizations.

Telgoo5’s Postpaid Billing System has a slew of impressive tools that are destined to transform your operations, including:

  • Payment gateway integration.

  • Real-time or manual invoice generation.

  • Postpaid tariff plans.

  • CDR rated bills sent in XML.

  • CDR mediation process.

  • Call barring services.

  • Call exception services.

  • And More!

Need a wholesale billing system? Telgoo5’s Online charging system has that covered too with additional key features for MNOs/MVNAs:

  • API controls.

  • Ability to create ‘n’ number of MVNOs.

  • Separate logins for MNOs/MVNAs and MVNOs.

  • Built-in online user guides that provide instant assistance whenever needed.

  • And once again, much more.

Have a little better understanding for why we said that your MVNO/MNO needs Telgoo5? If you’re ready to move forward with transforming your telecom into an entity ready for both today and tomorrow, give us a call at 206-384-4669.

If you still have questions about Telgoo5, you can visit our website or contact us directly and we’ll reply as quickly as possible.

Put years of experience and expertise to work for you with Telgoo5 augmenting your telecom business.

Read More

Customer Experience – A Key MVNO Differentiator

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) are on a rise across the globe. According to the GSMA Intelligence report are a total of 1017 MVNOs in the world. Today MVNOs outnumber the total number of mobile network providers across the globe. In 2015 alone 210 MVNOs either shut down their business or merged with some other business. Start, peak, filtering, and stabilization is perhaps the expected business curve for MVNOs. Here to reach the point of stabilization and to sustain once stable MVNOs need to be smart and innovative.

Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) are on a rise across the globe. According to the GSMA Intelligence report are a total of 1017 MVNOs in the world. Today MVNOs outnumber the total number of mobile network providers across the globe. In 2015 alone 210 MVNOs either shut down their business or merged with some other business. Start, peak, filtering, and stabilization is perhaps the expected business curve for MVNOs. Here to reach the point of stabilization and to sustain once stable MVNOs need to be smart and innovative.

Superior customer retention rate and ability to add new customers is now than ever before directly linked to ‘Experience’, which will help MVNOs stand out and receive higher ARPU. Many studies suggest operators differentiating themselves based on customer experience are likely to stay in business in the long run. According to Telesperience’s recent research into the MVNO market differentiator, better customer service has been cited by almost 67% of MVNOs.

Below are few innovative touchpoints with which MVNOs can differentiate themselves from the competition and delight their customers.

  • Loyalty Programme: For a long time, loyalty programs have been used as differentiators by service providers across industries. They are a great way to award loyal customers and inspire loyalty amongst new customers.

  • Customization: This is when an MVNO provides its users the flexibility to design their plans which will best suit their requirement.

  • Control: Offer control to customers by providing them access to customer care portal and Mobile application through which they can get real-time data about their usage, talk time, subscription plan, etc.

  • Localization and Personalization:

    • Target demographic segments by designing an offer for various demographic groups

    • Segmentation: design and develop segment-specific plans for corporates, schools, etc.

    • Design plans for expats, students, etc. with specialized features like unlimited talk time to selected numbers, free message service to their homeland, etc.

This is where a highly sophisticated billing system will play a key role in enabling MVNOs in creating customized plans with configurable product catalogs, visibility of usage to customers, allowing the customer to subscribe for services real-time and empowering them to discontinue services as and when they wish to. Telgoo5’s solutions will allow you to take absolute control of crucial area like billing and will allow you to create new services, bundle promotions and provide real-time data.

Companies using Telgoo5’s billing services have a competitive edge over others as Telgoo5’s billing system allows MVNOs to efficiently manage their billing and revenues. Our billing services will satisfy both the MNO and the customers. Billing services must be able to spot any instances of fraud and revenue leakage. Telgoo5’s Billing Services are apt to do this and will protect the MNO from any revenue loss due to frauds. Telgoo5’s billing system supports prepaid-postpaid integration method of billing. This feature makes the billing system all the more efficient and reliable. More and more MVNOs’ are showing an inclination towards billing systems that are powered by analytics which will empower them to get accurate reports on subscription, revenues, customer retention, and churn. Telgoo5’s billing system is equipped with all these special features, to know more please visit www.telgoo5.com

Read More

Is Your Billing On Point

Billing is one of those things that businesses sometimes don’t give a lot of thought to, but smart companies in the telecom industry know that consistent and accurate customer billing is one of the cornerstones of a successful MNVO.

Billing is one of those things that businesses sometimes don’t give a lot of thought to, but smart companies in the telecom industry know that consistent and accurate customer billing is one of the cornerstones of a successful MVNO.

Some MVNOs handle billing in-house, tasking one or two staff members with what should realistically be the job of an entire department. The truth is, your if your billing is not on-point, your customers will suffer and look for other MVNO’s to get their service from. Since telecom billing is notoriously tricky, smart companies trust their billing to expert MNVEs.

Look For Flexibility

The telecom industry is always shifting and changing, which puts MVNOs in a challenging situation when it comes to billing, especially if they are poised to start scaling. As you get more end customers, your billing needs are going to adapt to different business situations. You need an MVNE that can adapt with you and offer real-time solutions to your customer’s needs. Smaller organizations simply don’t have the bandwidth to be able to support the level of growth that most MVNOs will experience, leading to customer frustration and annoyance on the part of the MNO.

At Telgoo5, we understand the importance of flexibility and ability to scale. Our sophisticated infrastructure was built to withstand shifting company demands and rapid scaling. What’s more, we can offer all of our MVNO partners CRM and BSS as well as a real-time view of business performance and trends!. Many of our long-term MVNO partners are US based companies that love working with us because they know that they will be able to scale with us and, we will be there to support their needs in a prompt and outstanding manner!

Look For Added Value

If you have an in-house billing department, or if you contract out to a smaller or less flexible MVNE, you won’t necessarily get bare-bones service, but you also won’t get all of the perks that come alongside working with a company that can address all of your needs on multiple fronts. Distribution and inventory management goes hand-in-hand with billing, and if your chosen MVNE doesn’t have the capacity to handle all three, you’ll have to find another one to attend to these services. Anyone who runs a business knows that dealing with multiple vendors can be costly and time-consuming.

Telgoo5 offers distribution and inventory as value added services to their billing plan, so you won’t need to be hopscotching between different vendors to get your customers the services that they need. With us, you can rest easy that it will all be handled in one secure, professional place!

Support Is Key

It’s hard to over-emphasize the importance of quality customer and tech support. You and your chosen MVNE are a team, and it should feel like a partnership. This is especially true if you’re scaling, taking on new customers or dealing with additional products. Customers depend on detailed, accurate and itemized bills for their telecom service, so you need to know that your MVNE has your back. That’s why you should be in regular contact with your MVNE about billing and other areas of your business.

At Telgoo5 we pride ourselves on taking our relationship with all of our MVNOs very seriously. You have an account manager who is responsible for handling your needs, and weekly calls to handle any concerns that might crop up. Additionally, we have an escalation procedure that is specifically designed to get to the root of any problem as efficiently and effectively as possible. We prioritize consistency and organization because we know that they are the cornerstones of a successful MVNO/MVNE relationship.

Anyone in the telecom industry knows that billing can be the trickiest part of the business. When you’re dealing with multiple customers and a host of different services, getting billing down perfectly poses something of a challenge. That’s why it is imperative to make sure that your billing is on point. The best way that you can do that is linking up with a smart MVNE that has your best interests at heart. Let an MVNE like Telgoo5 take billing off your plate so that you can focus on growing your business!

Read More

Why CDR Meditation Is an Essential Part of Telecom Billing?

Telecom billing is probably the most confusing and scrutinized task in the telecom industry. The scrutiny comes from customers who are more often than not dissatisfied with their bills. This leads to confusion amongst the telecom vendors who start looking everywhere for new telecom billing solutions. Mostly, this problem arises because the telecom billing software used by them are subpar and do not meet the high requirements of modern-day businesses.

Telecom billing is probably the most confusing and scrutinized task in the telecom industry. The scrutiny comes from customers who are more often than not dissatisfied with their bills. This leads to confusion amongst the telecom vendors who start looking everywhere for new telecom billing solutions. Mostly, this problem arises because the telecom billing software used by them are subpar and do not meet the high requirements of modern-day businesses.

Why Telecom Billing Solutions Are Important?

All the efforts made by telecom service providers in setting up a network will amount to nothing if telecom billing is not up to standards. This is why, telecom billing solutions become important as they play a crucial role in accounting for those services. Not only is the revenue generated by a telecom provider dependent on billing, customers’ trust is also directly connected with the quality of the billing services. For instance, if a customer starts receiving wrong bills, his trust in the services nosedives from that moment onwards. On the other hand, if the billing services are sound, the customer stays faithful and brings in new customers.

CDRs: The Fundamental Unit of Telecom Billing Process

CDR (Call Data Record) is the fundamental unit of telecom billing process. All interactions between the user and telecom networking elements are captured by CDRs. A CDR has the following attributes:

  1. Date and starting time of the call

  2. Duration of the call

  3. Calling party

  4. Called party

  5. Type of call e.g. voice, SMS, data etc.

  6. Unique record sequence number that is used for identification

The captured CDRs are vitally important for the proper operation of a billing system. However, these CDRs are raw in nature, which means they cannot be interpreted by a billing system.

CDR Meditation System: The Unsung Hero of Telecom Billing Solutions

To ensure the captured CDRs are converted into a format that is understood by the billing system, a CDR meditation system is employed. The meditation system receives the unformatted CDRs, converts them into the necessary format and sends them to the billing system. Besides conversion, it also performs the operation of filtering out calls that do not meet set criterion by the telecom vendor. For example, if a call with duration less than 10 second needs to be filtered out, it is done by CDR meditation system. Moreover, if some extra information needs to be provided that is crucial for billing procedure, the meditation system gathers that information based on certain attributes and then sends it to the billing system via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is required for transfer of this information as both billing software and meditation modules are installed on different systems.

After the billing system receives the formatted CDR, it is able to interpret the information and rate the services utilized by customers.

Summary

Billing system in telecom is quite complex and requires processing of data at different levels for accomplishment of billing-related tasks. Although the user is not aware of what goes on behind the scenes, the role of systems like meditation system that converts raw CDRs into formatted CDRs is extremely important. All telecom billing solutions require correct formatting of CDR for reliable and accurate completion of billing tasks.

Read More

Don’t Let Your Customers Suffer Anymore, Switch to OSS Telecom Billing Software

Technology does not always change for the best. But, that does not mean it does not try to make things better. When we look from the perspective of telecom industry, BSS and OSS have been two pillars of technology that have transformed the way business takes place. And the good news, everything has changed for the best. Compared with platforms used in the other industries, these two solutions have been in the market for a long time and have garnered trust from most telecom vendors. So, if you are still clinging onto the telecom systems of old, it is probably time to let go and switch to OSS telecom billing software.

Technology does not always change for the best. But, that does not mean it does not try to make things better. When we look from the perspective of telecom industry, BSS and OSS have been two pillars of technology that have transformed the way business takes place. And the good news, everything has changed for the best. Compared with platforms used in the other industries, these two solutions have been in the market for a long time and have garnered trust from most telecom vendors. So, if you are still clinging onto the telecom systems of old, it is probably time to let go and switch to OSS telecom billing software.

Why Change Is Important for All Industries?

When we look at industries of today, hotel industry stands out as the one that has probably seen the biggest transformation in terms of its operations due to technology. In the past, it was tough for hotel chains to manage their properties spread over different parts of the globe. But, with the coming of PMS and cloud-based technologies, almost all hotel chains are using it or planning to use it in the future. A study has revealed that in the next 4-5 years hotel companies will invest up to 8% more in cloud-based technologies.

Compared to hotel industry, operations in telecom industry are much more complex. Monitoring of customer, interactions, provisioning, billing, meditation systems, and the list goes on and on! A telecom operator requires all the help he can get. So, when the solution is staring at you in your face in the form of OSS telecom billing solutions, why not upgrade?

Drawbacks of Legacy Systems

Legacy systems are much more cumbersome and require manual intervention for smooth operation. This may lead to recurring errors that can diminish the customer’s faith in you. Let’s say a customer wants to upgrade his plan and calls up customer support. Upon receiving a request, the agent sends it forward for execution. Now, the system employed by the service provider lacks the service assurance feature normally found in OSS applications. In this case, there is a high probability that the request may be completed but not up to the service level agreement between the provider and the customer. This may reduce the trust of the customer in the system and he may opt for a different provider.

Now, compare this situation with an OSS-backed operation. The OSS telecom billing software has service assurance as one of its primary feature. Unless, there is a terrible malfunctioning of the system (which is very rare), it is highly unlikely that the request will be mismanaged or delivered incorrectly. All the more reason to employ, quality OSS telecom billing solutions, don’t you think so?

Read More

The One Thing You Did Not Know About Telecom Billing Software

Telecom billing is a thankless task. You can be right 99 times out of 100, but if you make a single error, all the good work you have done previously goes down the drain. Just like politics, customers have short memories when it comes to the telecom services they use. Politicians have the advantage of evoking the right emotions at the time of elections but telecom operators do not enjoy such a luxury. They have to be right all the time and then some.

Telecom billing is a thankless task. You can be right 99 times out of 100, but if you make a single error, all the good work you have done previously goes down the drain. Just like politics, customers have short memories when it comes to the telecom services they use. Politicians have the advantage of evoking the right emotions at the time of elections but telecom operators do not enjoy such a luxury. They have to be right all the time and then some.

Not so long ago, when telecom billing systems were not as evolved as today, it was even harder to provide accurate bills to the customers. But at that time, the competition in the telecom industry was relatively low. At the sight of a wrong bill, customers used to think twice before crossing over to another provider. Not anymore! In this age of information and evolving telecom market, the playing field is a lot more competitive. Every year we see new entrants who try to lure away customers with flashy schemes and minimum tariff plans. This trend makes life difficult for established players in the market, especially for those who are still using outdated OSS telecom billing software.

“Hello! Have You Heard About Our New and Improved Telecom Billing Software?”

Do you know what most telecom operators do after hearing this line from a sales representative? They disconnect the line. It is not as if all the telecom billing software solutions made by IT companies are good and work well for every business. Not at all! However, complete disdain for something that you automatically think of as an exorbitant expense. Doesn’t make good business sense!

If till now, you have refrained from purchasing OSS telecom billing solutions because you thought they cost too much, you are in for a surprise. Most telecom entrepreneurs, in spite of their vast knowledge, do not know that telecom billing software can be procured as Software as a service (SaaS). If you are still not clear how this can help…read on.

Telecom Billing Software as SaaS

One of the least expensive ways of employing telecom billing software in your business operations is via SaaS model. With SaaS, you do not have to purchase any license or acquire any infrastructure. You can even decide on whether to host the services on your company’s cloud or employ the billing platform already operating in a cloud provided by the vendor.

This approach best suits startups and organizations with a limited budget. Enterprises that wish to integrate the billing software ASAP have to wait for only a day or two before beginning the use of billing software as part of SaaS model.

Read More

Can Blockchain Make Telecom Billing System Better?

Ever wondered how many people have invested in bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies? As per a survey performed by Cambridge University, somewhere between 2.9 million and 5.8 million people utilized a cryptocurrency wallet in 2017. This number is staggering, especially when we look at the way governments of different countries are doing their best to stop people from using it.

Ever wondered how many people have invested in bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies? As per a survey performed by Cambridge University, somewhere between 2.9 million and 5.8 million people utilized a cryptocurrency wallet in 2017. This number is staggering, especially when we look at the way governments of different countries are doing their best to stop people from using it.

Many governments deem it illegal, others tell the people that it is unsafe for their hard-earned money and some even go as far as saying that it is downright immoral (some people use cryptocurrency for purchase of drugs and illegal video content). Right or wrong, we are not here to discuss about the virtues of cryptocurrency. We are here to analyze what makes it click. Which is that unseen force behind this phenomenon that people trust? The answer is simple: Blockchain.

Bitcoin is an unregulated and de-centralized currency, which means that there is not one single entity that controls it. The power lies in the hands of people. It is the best form of democracy when it comes to financial transactions. And, it has been made possible by the use of blockchain. For a layman, blockchain is like a ledger that is made available to all users. The data and transactions are completely transparent, which is clearly seen by all the users at all times. It won’t be wrong to think of it as a Google Doc spreadsheet, which can be edited at any time and the changes are there for all to see. Due to transparency in all transactions, people are ready to put their faith in it and hence, cryptocurrency has become so popular.

Use of Blockchain in Other Fields

Although, blockchain hasn’t been used in any other field, its promising start as part of the cryptocurrency operations makes it a wonderful option for other domains. In a field like telecom, where customers are often worried about the telecom billing system employed by their service provider, it won’t be a bad idea to give blockchain a try.

However, an immediate overhaul of the system is not advised and companies should look to integrate it slowly with their telecom billing solutions. Some of the benefits that can be extracted by its implementation in telecom are listed below:

  1. Solution to the problem of roaming – Blockchain can help overcome the major hurdle of operators that require them to integrate expensive systems, so they can offer authentication/access settings for starting roaming calls. Blockchain addresses this problem by enabling complex datasets across multiple parties, in real time and with great reliability.

  2. Better Connectivity – Use of blockchain along with telecom billing and payment software will make it easier to offer several local hotspots along with Wi-Fi accessibility based on permissions. The transparency that comes with blockchain can go a long way in fostering trust amongst customers with regards to billing for these difficult-to-track services.

  3. Telecom providers can become remittance providers – Remittance is the action of transferring money in a different country. By using blockchain, telecom providers will be able to serve their clients better by offering remittance services.

  4. Reduction in cost of operation – Last but definitely not the least, the implementation of blockchain will automatically lower the requirement of infrastructure, which will in turn lower the cost of operation.

Read More