Telco Billing and rating replacement projects are inherently complicated and high-risk projects, as all operators that have been through such a project would agree. The challenges only increase when aiming for a convergent architecture accounting for a wide range of services such as mobile-, fixed- and TV services. Especially if convergence also encompasses business-related services such as MPLS, Satellite, trunks, PBX etc.
Our experience is that operators often enter into large-scale CRM/Billing replacement programs without putting enough focus on Order Management, Process Orchestration and Service Fulfilment.
Rating is more complex for mobile than for fixed broadband, but for other aspects the reverse is true. A good example is service fulfilment, which is more complex for broadband than for mobile. Fixed services often have service fulfilment processes that stretch out over time requiring workflow management, process orchestration and logistics.
Often today’s operators are a result of mergers and acquisitions and it’s not uncommon that the mobile business doesn’t understand the challenges of the fixed business, or TV, and vice versa. As a result, different parts of the organisation will have legacy architectures optimised for selling and provisioning different types of access services.
Our experience is that, although billing and CRM represent a huge challenge, it is not uncommon that the operator discovers too late that great complexity within the billing/CRM replacement program is also about Order Management and Service Fulfilment. Many times the projects become too billing/rating-centric rather than focusing equally on Order Management, fulfilment and provisioning.
With triple-play and quadruple-play the focus on how to structure offerings, how to package and sell the offerings online and through customer service, and how to fulfil and provision the offerings is of great strategic value.
Looking at the future with Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualisation, we believe that Order Management, Process Orchestration and Provisioning together with the general integration architecture will become even more important.
In this type of environment, to achieve convergence, you need extensive Telco knowledge in the OSS and BSS layers with true experience from a wide range of Telco services at the access level.
United Vanning Consulting has extensive hands-on experience in these areas!
United Vanning Consulting is an expert consultancy in the Telco industry with hands-on experience from many systems and architecture replacement projects, providing individual consultants or taking responsibility for the entire, or, parts of the architecture. We have experience from almost all roles in billing/CRM migration projects both on the customer side and as a supplier, including:
Program and project management
Change management
Business and process analysis
Architecture
System implementation and integration
Test Management and test execution
Interim management
For more information about United Vanning Consulting or to explore how our expertise can help you please contact us here.
