Harness Power of Innovative Next-Gen Telecom Billing Services to Succeed in 2021

In this age of technology, you need to be one step ahead of your competitors at all time. When it comes to the telecom industry, the competitive struggle is more intense because there are different types of operators in the industry. MNOs, MVNOs, ISPs and OTT service providers collectively form the entire telecom domain. Every player in the industry needs to be competent when it comes to telecom billing solutions, if it really wants to make a mark.

The Challenges for Telcos in 2021

2021 is expected to be extremely challenging for telcos, especially for the smaller players like MVNOs. Have a look at some challenges for telcos in the present times:

Revenue assurance

You simply have to deliver services as per your contract with the customers. Therefore, it is important to have complete revenue assurance. Considering the number of telecom services delivered these days, it is quite a challenge to be 100% accurate with revenue assurance.

Quick monetization of innovative plans

To break away from the crowd and provide unique telecom services, you need to have a billing system that allows flexibility in monetization. As a telecom operator, you should be able to combine disparate services and deliver them in an attractive manner. Also, the monetization needs to be quick if you want to exploit the trends prevailing in the market. For example, in the times of lockdown, you can provide conference calling as part of the package as more and more professionals are looking to connect remotely with their peers.

Management of third-party partnerships

There are simply too many things that an operator has to manage these days. It is impossible to grow one’s service catalogue – horizontally and vertically – at the same time without third party partnerships. Therefore, the complexity and challenge is huge, unless you have access to pro telecom billing services that offer APIs for third-party partnerships. A flexible system can manage various third-party partnerships with suppliers, video streaming vendors, payment gateways and shipping services. You can even manage an interconnect partnership for roaming services through an intuitive telecom billing platform like Telgoo5.

To overcome the numerous challenges, it is vital that a modern-day telecom operator uses telecom billing systems that have the necessary functionalities. Telgoo5 is an outstanding telecom support platform that simplifies day-to-day tasks and makes the challenge in 2021 simpler. The system comes with cutting-edge APIs that add new functionality and help in the evolution of telecom businesses.

Improvise with Innovative Monetization by Using Top Billing System Software

Monetization and billing hold special place in the day-to-day operations of telcos. There are many promising technologies in the market that need to be packaged and delivered in an innovative manner. 5G and IoT are two key technologies that need to be delivered in an attractive manner to the customers. These technologies put heavy burden on the shoulders of telcos, especially Data MVNO and other smaller players in the market.  An intuitive billing and provisioning software solution is needed.

Transform Plans into Action Faster

The whole marketing team of a telecom operator tries to exploit market conditions. This is done by analyzing the immediate needs of customers and coming up with plans that fulfill those needs.

Operating a Billing System Software Solution is not the easiest thing to do. To devise a plan, many configurations need to be tweaked. A telecom system should allow for the different tweaks and should be intuitive enough, so that a less technically sound operator can also make the changes.

Real Time Charging For Maximum Impact

A telecom operator needs to get his basic rights if he wants to make the maximum impact with his plans and offers. A real time charging is the minimum requirement in today’s time as it helps in:

Convergent charging for consolidated billing

As both event-based services like SMS and session-based services like voice call are charged at a centralized location i.e., an Online Charging System, it becomes easier for telcos to create consolidated bills. All the charges can be reflected on a single invoice. Consolidated billing provides the necessary incentive for subscribers to stay with a single operator. They can subscribe to voice, SMS, data, broadband and even video streaming services as part of a single vendor partnership. The simplicity and convenience of Convergent Charging is crucial for a modern-day telecom operator.

Accurate implementation of credit limits

If a telecom operator is also performing the role of an IoT billing provider, the implementation of credit limits becomes even more important. Customers of today want complete transparency and do not want to pay a dollar extra. A real time charging platform keeps complete track of every transaction and ensures customers are sent timely reminders about their quota completion. Whether it is prepaid or postpaid services, real time charging is crucial in today’s time.

Revenue assurance

Ensuring proper revenue is the main concern of a telecom operator. Top billing systems like Telgoo5 are unwavering in terms of accuracy of charging. Hence, there is complete accountability for every service and total revenue assurance.

Telgoo5 provides a reliable platform, which is easy to use and completely accurate. It allows telcos to monetize their services in any way, shape or form with minimal efforts.

What Is Next For The Telecommunications Industry In A Post-COVID World

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a widespread impact on people, communities, and businesses around the world. The fast-paced outbreak has already rendered a lot of business contingency plans null and void due to its unexpected and unpredictable nature.

Telecommunication companies have also been caught in the crossfire. Companies relying on store footfall to enhance their revenue and subscriber base have had to hustle to come up with other plans. On the flip side, the need to stay connected and social has skyrocketed with people having to stay at home. This can be a good opportunity for businesses implementing the MVNO model to find success.

In fact, both for consumers and businesses, there has been a massive surge in voice calls, data use, and streaming. A lot of telecom companies have already tried to help by removing data caps and introducing new packages. For the telecom industry, this situation can be an opportunity to build a much more loyal and dedicated customer base and to emerge from the other side of the pandemic with a much more established business presence. For those offering or considering offering MVNO solutions, working with a reputed service provider like Telgoo5 can be a smart, insightful option.

Important Focus Points

Businesses in the telecom industry would be best served to focus on specific short-term goals to survive and grow in these conditions. Some important focus points can include:

• Efforts to expand the customer base

• Bringing together customer data from all relevant channels

• Reducing support costs by dramatically improving customer experience

• Developing new strategies to enhance ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)

Unifying Customer Data

As things get back to normal, customers are more likely to start engaging with telecom companies over different channels. Implementing a CDP or Customer Data Platform can help companies merge all this data and provide a seamless and consistent experience to customers.

This can be a salient way to provide cohesive solutions to customers in online and offline environments alike. Contextual experiences can enhance the value companies offer to customers.

Expanding the Customer Base

A deep understanding of how customers can use your services during these times can be a key component in being able to expand your customer base. For example, you can analyze exit intent on your business website to find product and service offerings that really resonate with new customers during the pandemic and its restrictions.

Simple changes in your acquisition strategy, like free home delivery of SIM cards or driving the installation and use of your mobile apps can be a great way to enhance customer lock-in and engagement. MVNO companies can take advantage of streamlined MVNO billing solutions and other features from a provider like Telgoo5 to leverage customer acquisition efforts.

Increasing ARPU

Providing new, unique, and varied user experiences can be an excellent way to engage existing customers and drive revenue while people continue to largely stay at home. You can use social proof displays to drive and expedite purchasing decisions, provide a fun, gamified experience across your website and apps to enhance the lead collection, and focus on time-appropriate messaging to provide customized, tailored solutions to customers who are staying at home or working from home.

Looking Ahead

The Wuhan virus or COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the notion that being connected is a highly prized commodity. Keeping this in mind, it can be a good time for the telecommunication industry to embrace innovation and cater to a rising need for more customized experiences. In this environment, reacting to changes in customer expectations can be the most important element for telecommunication companies to keep growing and thriving. Forging partnerships with a company like Telgoo5 can prove to be decisive in such situations.

Transition From Legacy Systems To Modern Infrastructure with Telgoo5

We at Telgoo5 know that the ability to scale despite challenges and adapt to changes is crucial to your success in the telecom sector. This notion is especially true when it comes to online charging technologies – and dealing with the issues of legacy charging systems.

With new requirements and technologies at every corner, you have to be quick on your feet in meeting customer demands. Further, you must keep an open mind to making changes at a moment’s notice. Additionally, you must stay on top of the latest advancements.

In essence, we at Telgoo5 know that you must be ready for everything that your legacy charging system will not allow you to do.

Legacy Charging Systems Set You Up for Failure

If you have made it this far with a legacy charging system, the first thing you require is substantial applause. The next thing you need is to instantly look for a better Online Charging System (OCS) such as Telgoo5.

Remember that if you stick with the limitations of a legacy charging system, you introduce your customers to a world of trouble. In a day and age where customer experience reigns supreme, your consumers will find themselves stuck with tolerating problems from the past.

Standing by your legacy Charging System even in the face of better alternatives can expose your service to a host of issues. The following examples highlight the most glaring of these problems.

Latency Problems

You can face high-latency issues frequently if your network infrastructure is not set up for modern communication.

This can be quite a problem for data-savvy customers, which describes every customer segment in today’s day and age.

Charging Delays

Apart from overall latency, you can also face online charging delays.

This causes massive headaches for your customers and your billing department alike. Inaccuracies in billing could very well cause your whole operations to crumble with their consequences.

Poor Customer Experience

When performance issues become an everyday instance for your customers, they take pride in describing their overall experience as a bad nightmare.

Customers don’t know, and they frankly don’t care what is going on behind the scenes with your OCS. What they need is a better service, and failure to deliver on this promise can affect your overall brand.

Loss of Consumers

With better OCS services being offered at other providers like Telgoo5, it is not long before your customers start looking for a change for the better. Switching providers proves easier than sticking with your service. As a result, your customers decide to leave in favor of better service experiences.

Sticking with your legacy charging system drives your operation into the ground faster than you can think. It is absolutely necessary to get your ducks in a row and proceed towards better Online Charging Services.

The Ability to Scale and Adapt to Better Systems is Crucial Here

Fortunately, upgrading from your legacy charging system is not that difficult. All you need is an efficient online charging system provider. The rest falls in line if you know what you are doing. Most importantly, it gets easier when you show the ability to scale and adapt in the face of change.

Telgoo5 offers new technologies such as real-time charging and allows you to better serve your customers better. Along with improved customer experience, it also helps you cut unnecessary costs that come with the upkeep of legacy charging systems.

That is the reason why most companies are actively looking into upgrading their legacy charging systems.

Adapting to Change Doesn’t Cost You Much, But Provides a World of Benefits

We at Telgoo5 know that with the right Online Charging System Provider, proper upgrades will not cost you an arm and a leg. It doesn’t require you to pay a fortune in upkeep costs. And it will not ask your customers to start dealing with higher tariff prices.

Also, with that, you still receive smoother service delivery, timely modification features, and a better overall customer experience for your target market. This strategy effectively resolves any issues caused by your legacy charging system.

To understand the improvement process and its effects on your specific network, don’t hesitate to reach out to Telgoo5 today. We at Telgoo5 will be glad to answer any questions you may have and set you up with improved online charging services right away.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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!

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.

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.

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.

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?