Challenges, trends and implementation complexities highlighted at DiData`s billing seminar

When looking for a billing framework, companies need to insist on an architecture which is modular and component-based, and which has both vertical as well as horizontal scalability, with a flexible data model that allows multiple charging paradigms.

So said Brendan Logan, partner at Logan-Orviss, at his presentation on trends in the communications industry and their impact on billing systems.

Logan presented at a seminar hosted by Dimension Data during May providing the global technology services company`s top customers with an opportunity to learn more about the critical aspects of implementing a billing system from leaders in the field.

Logan added that new pricing paradigms are inevitable in the mobile, satellite and cable markets, because of dramatically increased competition and a speedy transition from a single service to multiple services, such as video on demand, interactive television, pay per view and gaming.

"The implementation of billing solutions involves the integration and deployment of hugely complex systems which are key to the organisation," said Pieter Olivier, sales support manager at Dimension Data Service Provider Solutions (SPS). "Getting billing right and implemented on time is imperative."

"Implementation often leads to high failure rates, budget overruns and time scale failures," said Logan. "Reasons for failure include inadequate project definition, poor selection process, unrealistic targets and a lack of management understanding and commitment."

Logan recommended organisations seek billing frameworks rather than packaged billing solutions because bundled solutions no longer provide the right balance between tailored functionality and speed to market.

Richard Pople, a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting provided key pointers on the selection and implementation of a billing system.

Pople noted that companies are increasingly looking to add more customer-centric activities to billing technology in order to develop and leverage their customer base, support a differentiated sales approach and improve cost and capital efficiency.

This strategy enables organisations to exploit new business opportunities and realise the potential for international expansion.

"The challenges facing a multi-country billing implementation include integration, configuration, data migration, security integrity, knowledge transfer, legal and regulatory issues," said Pople. "An added challenge is to tie billing and CRM applications together so that updates to products and pricing can be made in the billing system and then flow through to CRM."

According to Pople, two of the most essential elements in a billing implementation are senior management involvement and team dynamics. "Senior management must be an active part of the effort, focusing specifically on the critical factors and overall vision of the project while remaining flexible as and when new billing opportunities arise.

"Team dynamics will make or break the project," he said. "Everyone needs to know the goal and getting this right requires a culture of communication, cross-team interaction, open-door management and swift decision-making."

Dimension Data`s Pieter Olivier concludes: "Service providers need to differentiate their offerings through technical excellence, speed of new product and service introduction, pricing flexibility and customer management. Together with customer care and mediation, intelligent billing will become core to business success."