Why Do Carriers Need Convergent Charging?

Telecom businesses are constantly evolving the way they charge customers. These methods focus on improving customer experience while growing revenue.

Many methods have been developed for charging customers. They include prepaid, postpaid, and most recently, convergent billing.

In this article, we'll discuss what convergent billing means and why every telecommunications carrier out there needs to implement it in their business.

What Is Convergent Charging?

Convergent charging is the act of billing all of a customer's service usage as a single invoice.

Many telecom companies offer a diverse range of services - data, voice, prepaid, and postpaid telecom services. To properly serve the different segments of their customer base, many have developed flexible service bundles that people can use to suit their particular needs.

If a telecom business is not charging their customers with the convergent method, they have to send their users several invoices and so will have trouble keeping up with all the records. 

Customers themselves may not understand how they're being charged. Studying many invoices for many services from the same company is not a pleasant customer experience.

As a result, telecom carriers have moved towards convergent billing, where they can easily charge their customers in real-time for all the services they use. 

Reasons Carriers Should Adopt Convergent Charging

1.   To Improve Customer Experience

Convergent billing improves customer experience exponentially. A customer who is billed with the convergent method can easily see at a glance how many services he has used and how much he has paid or has to pay for them. 

Convergent billing also makes the telecom carrier more transparent and trustworthy.

2.   To Easily Gather Customer Data and Offer More Streamlined Services

By charging customers with the convergent method, telecom companies find it easy to gather data on how customers use their services. They can intuit what the customers need and offer those services before users ask. 

Also, there will be no need to pay for extra hours to compile customer data for analysis. Convergent billing tools gather and store data automatically.

3. To Reduce Wastage and Increase Revenue

Convergent charging helps telecom businesses reduce wastage in managing and billing customers. These revenue wastages are caused by customers not being charged in real-time and the extra time to prepare different invoices. 

Convergent billing helps companies charge users in real-time and update account balance records as required.

4.  To Create a Centralized Database of Customer Records

Businesses have a centralized database of all customers that is updated automatically and in real-time when using a convergent charging system. They quickly pull up vital records. Convergent billing makes data analysis simple for telecom carriers.

5.  To Create a Better Customer Support Experience

Convergent charging helps telecom companies to create a better customer support experience for customers. 

Since convergent charging enables companies to automatically have the complete history of a customer's usage in one place, there is no need to update records manually. AI can be implemented to guide customers through the support experience.

Telgoo5 has many years of experience providing converter billing solutions to telecom carriers. Reach out to Telgoo5 today for a free quote.

Maintain Network Operations with Care via Cutting-Edge Operations Support System

An Operations Support System along with business support system constitutes a major share of telecom operations. In the past, both OSS and BSS were considered to be separate paradigms; however, the line between them is collapsing very fast. The modern-day approach is about increasing efficiency, for which, it is necessary to have an overlapping of these two telecom business functions. A rise in the use of IT methodologies and virtual functions has made it possible to have a single interface for managing both business and operational tasks.

Support Better Service Delivery with Innovative Operation Support System

An OSS performs the following tasks:

·       Management of different network functions

·       Delivery of service

·       Fulfillment of service

·       Service assurance

·       Timely support to telecom customers

To perform these tasks, an OSS relies upon:

·       Management of data

·       Arrangement of sequence, in which, the tasks need to be performed

·       Upgrades in technology to meet growing requirements

·       Management of data and processes via relevant applications (APIs)

An Operation Support System performs the extremely important task of identifying errors and making the operation error-proof. Nowadays, telecom operations are carried out in a seamless manner and the OSS functions can be performed by a single intuitive interface.

Combine B/OSS with Quality Billing for Best Service

A single interface that manages all day-to-day telecom operations is nothing less than a godsend. Platforms like Telgoo5 offer both single and unified telecom solutions that work ideally for MNO, MVNO and MVNE.

Complete management via a single platform

When you have a state-of-the-art B/OSS model along with real-time charging, you can serve your customers in the best way possible. It becomes easier to have a single view of customers during monetization, service delivery and billing.

Greater revenue assurance

A real-time Online Charging System (OCS) ensures charging of transactions in a few milliseconds. Hence, there is no revenue leakage, and the billing is completely transparent for the subscribers.

Ability to launch differentiated products

Modern-day telcos need to think on their feet. A versatile telecom support system allows telcos to create attractive plans that combine a wide range of services. For example, you can monetize a video streaming service with a data pack. Also, you can manage the complete partnership with a third-party service provider. There is complete abstraction in the process i.e. the system does everything for you and you do not feel out of your depth even while creating complex service plans for the users.

Setting Up Convergent Billing? Implement These Best Practices With Telgoo5

When customers are using your services, they want to spend more time on their calls, texts, and data exchange than dealing with billing issues. We at Telgoo5 know that in today’s competitive environment, not getting this convenience can cause them to switch to another provider right away. To make matters worse, this all happens before you even have time to turn things around for the better.

That’s why almost all telecom companies use convergent charging for improved customer experience.

Simply put, convergent billing helps your customers deal with different charges on their accounts in a single invoice. They no longer have to pay individual payments for multiple services or devices. Everything is now present in a single bill. This presentation makes their lives that much easier in a day and age where customization is the most critical factor in utilizing telecom services.

If you are integrating convergent billing through your mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), it is essential to ensure they are set up the right way. Being mindful of the following best practices can help you determine if you are fulfilling the crucial requirements of this segment.

Best Practices for Convergent Billing

As mentioned above, ease of use should be your guiding force throughout the setup process for convergent billing. Remember to keep this simple rule of thumb in mind. Set up your convergent charging in a way that ensures optimal customer retention.

But apart from ease of use, the following tips by Telgoo5 are also crucial in setting up this billing mechanism. This strategy allows your customers to make the most out of the simplicity you are offering to them.

Make It Simple to Understand

Since you are representing all of your charges in a single invoice, it is paramount for that bill to be as transparent as possible.

Separate and segment your invoice into different sections, such as data and voice charges. If there are any other charges that you think need a separate section, make sure to list them accordingly as well. Setting up your backend convergent billing interface with this goal in mind is the key to achieving more straightforward billing delivery.

This distinction makes the invoice easier to read, and your customers appreciate this transparency as well. This process also reduces your call and inquiry volume that is related to resolving basic billing questions.

Make It Easy to Set Up

Convergent charging should be as easy to set up as it is simpler to understand. Ensure that your customer relationship management (CRM) application makes it easy to assign different charges to your customer profile. This refinement helps your representatives in delivering on-call changes without getting into unnecessary complexities.

This also holds for your customers’ end as well. Don’t use convoluted mechanisms. Don’t go for complex interactive voice recordings (IVRs). Don’t assign complicated service codes to use. Make everything as straightforward as possible.

This process helps your customers change their services promptly. With the assurance of a consolidated bill in mind, this easy setup translates to better customer experience.

Have a Clear Difference in Service Charges

While setting up convergent billing, you must offer a variation in charges through your MVNE.

Make sure to take a look at what your competitors are offering and develop your subscription packages to be better in delivery. With this, also ensure that your packages are different from each other to offer a diverse range of experiences.

Having little to no difference in subscription costs kills the whole concept of convergent charging. If you have a clear difference in subscription packages, it translates to a charging system telecom consumers find much easier to use. This notion also goes a long way in customer retention.

Contact Telgoo5, an Experienced MVNE, Today

To make sure that you are setting up complex convergent billing in an easy to use way, having an experienced MVNE is of paramount importance.

The Telgoo5 team can assist, with extensive experience in setting up convergent charging systems, we can help you achieve your goals with ease. Our targeted setup and delivery mechanisms setup convergent billing in a way that’s easy to use for your customers and even simpler to deploy for your company.

At the same time, we deliver these services at competitive rates, which is due to the modern infrastructure that we have built for our operations.

If you are looking for an MVNE to set up convergent billing or improve your existing online charging systems, don’t hesitate to call Telgoo5 today. The Telgoo5 team will be glad to discuss your needs and help you deploy better services for your customers in no time.