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Frens Jan Rumph
Profile: I am a researcher, technical consultant and software engineer based in Holland. I have specialized in Charging, Accounting and Billing architectures. From both a technical point of view (IETF, 3GPP, etc) and a business point of view (TM Forum, GBA).
Main interests: Telecom, Charging, Accounting, Billing, Service Orientation, Software Architectures, Software Engineering
Disclaimer: All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only.
I do not make any representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
Furthermore, this is a personal weblog, the opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
Customer Billing Satisfaction Linked to Churn
An article on billingworld.com was published yesterday, by Khali Henderson:
As always: Customer is King! These results are again an indication that Charging and Billing present opportunities for improvement.
Customer Billing Satisfaction Linked to Churn, TM Forum Study Shows
Customer satisfaction with telecom billing systems, especially for mobile services, is a key to customer loss rates, according to the results of the latest TM Forum Business Benchmarking study, released this week at Management World 2008 World in Nice, France.
The telco benchmarking data show a large gap between the top and average billing inquiry rates among service providers. Average performers logged 16.21 percent of inquiries as billing-related while leading companies reported billing inquiries at 1 percent of all inquiries. Significantly, good performers in this area show lower customer loss rates with less effective performers showing high loss rates.
“Since the largest cause of customer services calls for mobile subscribers is for billing- related issues, investments in streamlined billing plans and multiple-play plans can generate a good rate of return,” the report noted.
The study, “Building on Success: Investment Opportunities in Changing Times,” was produced for TM Forum by OSS Observer and included input from more than 40 communications service providers from Central and Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and Latin America. The poll has been conducted each spring and fall over the past three years.
The TM Forum Business Benchmarking results show a widening gap between communications service providers with the best and the worst churn rates. In fourth quarter 2005, the providers with the worst churn rates (2.81 percent) had nearly three times the churn as providers with the best churn rates (.94 percent). In second quarter 2007, providers with the worst rates (3.7 percent) had 5.5 times the churn as those with the best rates (.67 percent).
“To retain and acquire customers [communications service providers] must continue to pursue improvements in operations: service delivery and customer management,” the report added.
Benchmarking data show leading service providers deliver orders in seven days or less 99 percent of the time and need to rework those orders less than 10 percent of the time. Further, the investment in processes leads to an average resolution by leaders in less than one hour.
“Clearly customer satisfaction, and therefore the revenue opportunities for additional services, is related to this high level of performance at service delivery. Investment in mature process development at the onset of service offerings is much less expensive than fixing a process once fielded,” the report stated.
B/OSS Names Billing & OSS 2008 Excellence Award Winners
Eight winners of the Billing & OSS World 2008 Excellence Awards were named Wednesday night. The awards recognize the leaders — vendors, service providers and integrators — in the development and deployment of billing and OSS technologies and solutions.
The Billing & OSS World 2008 Excellence Award winners named Wednesday night at the Billing & OSS World Expo were:
Best OSS Transformation:
1# Sprint Nextel Network Resource Management Phase
2# Nakina Systems Deployment Common Element Management System Tier 1 Environment
Best Service Assurance Solution:
1# Telcordia Service Management Suite
2# Integrated Broadband Services BBX 4.4 and I-Focus
Best Service Fulfillment Solution:
1# Telcordia Fulfillment Suite
2# Subex Syndesis Subscriber-Centric Fulfillment Solution
Best Customer Loyalty Program:
1# OSG Billing Digital Phone Conversion Campaign for Inland Cellular
2# -
Best Customer Care Solution:
1# CSG Systems ACSR with Order Workflow
2# Canada Post/Rogers eBill Solution
Best Revenue Management Solution:
1# Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (a.k.a. Portal Infranet)
2# Highdeal Transactive
Best Billing Solution:
1# Tech Mahindra Integration of the LHS BSCS iX with the Ericsson Charging System
2# Comverse Real-Time Billing Solution
Best New Product:
1# Oracle Communication and Mobility Server
2# VPI Systems OnePlan
Nominations were open to participating exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and attendees of this week’s Billing & OSS World 2008 Conference & Expo in Chicago. After receiving more than 90 submissions, the winners were selected by an independent panel. Billing & OSS World Group Publisher Mike Saxby and Editor In Chief Tim McElligott presented the awards.
Billing & OSS World 2008 Excellence Award finalists were selected by an independent judging panel, including Ian Scales, independent OSS/BSS journalist and analyst; Jeffrey Cotrupe, CEO, MarketPOWER LLC; Shira Levine, senior research analyst, OSS and billing, IDC; Sheryl Kingstone, director, enterprise research-customer centric strategies, Yankee Group; Ed Shanahan, partner, Excelerate Partners Inc.; Paul Hughes, vice president, enabling technologies, Yankee Group; Dan Baker, research director, OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase, Dittberner Associates Inc.; Susan McNeice, senior analyst, Stratecast; and members of the Billing & OSS World editorial team.
Link: billingworld.com announcement
Frens Jan Rumph
Billing and OSS World 2008 - my ideal program
Next week (29th of April to the 1th of May) the Billing and OSS World 2008 will be held in Chicago. Which I will not attend, which is a shame, because it seems really interesting!
Only looking at the topics (I don’t know who the speakers are) my ideal program would be:
Day 1: Tuesday, April 29
9:30 - 11 A.M. Plenary Session: OSS Transformation
11:10 A.M. - Noon Session A: Service Creation & Delivery: Managing the Content Lifecycle — Enabling the Digital Marketplace
1:00 - 1:50 P.M. Session A: Service Creation & Delivery: Case Study: BT 21 Century Network Boosts Web 2.0 Consumer and Enterprise Applications with Voice, Presence and Messaging
2:00 - 2:50 P.M. Session D: Billing/Payment Processing: Charging Ahead with a Real-Time, Advertising- and Policy-Driven Billing Model
3:00 - 3:50 P.M. Session B: Service Assurance & Customer Experience: Beyond CRM: New Technologies for Improving the Customer Experience Session
4:00 - 4:50 P.M. Session D: Billing/Payment Processing: Making Mobile Payments Work: Exploring the Pros and Cons of Leading Methods
5:00 - 6:30 P.M. Session B: Service Assurance & Customer Experience: Harness the Power of Self-Service to Drive Sales, Reduce Costs and Improve Care
Day 2: Wednesday, April 30
8:00 - 8:50 A.M. Session C: Customer Loyalty/Management: Using Billing Data to Promote New Services and Build Customer Loyalty
9:00 - 9:50 A.M. Session C: Customer Loyalty/Management: Examining the Relationship Between Customer Loyalty and Credit and Collections
10:00 - 10:50 A.M. Session A: Service Creation & Delivery: Innovation ≠ Anarchy: Improving Your Service Creation and Delivery Efficiency by Using a Process-Driven Framework
11:00 - 11:50 A.M. Plenary Session: It’s More than Acquisition and Retention. It’s about Experience!
12:00 - 6:15 P.M. Expo Hall Open
6:30 P.M. - 7:30 P.M. B/OSS Excellence Awards Ceremony
Day 3: Thursday, May 1 (actually I would skip this day)
9:00 - 9:50 A.M. Session D: Billing/Payment Processing: Billing and Customer Care Implications of Becoming a Fully Integrated Provider
10:00 - 10:50 A.M. Session A: Vendor Presentation: Extreme Transaction Processing (XTP): Revenue Management on Steroids
11:00 - 11:50 A.M. Session A: Vendor Presentation: Delivering Top Quality of Service and The Best Customer Experience with Next Generation OSS/BSS and SDP
12:00 - 1:00 P.M. Lunch in the Expo Hall
12:00 - 4:00 P.M. Expo Hall Open
As I said, I’m not attending, this was just an exercise to kill time (I’m a bit sniffy and sick at home). Wish there was some way of getting my hands on some presentations! Oh well, just wait for BIMS in Amsterdam, a bit more around the corner!
Something which is also pretty interesting are the Billing & OSS World 2008 Excellence Awards. The categories are:
- Best OSS Transformation
- Best Service Assurance Solution
- Best Service Fulfilment Solution
- Best Customer Loyalty Program
- Best Customer Care Solution
- Best Revenue Management Solution
- Best Billing Solution
- Best New Billing & OSS Product
I couldn’t find out who the nominees are, only that Highdeal was nominated for Best Revenue Management Solution.
Frens Jan Rumph
BSS/OSS support added to IMS plugfest
BSS/OSS support is added to the IMS plugfest, which is held the UNH InterOp Lab in New Hampshire by the IMS Forum.
It’s good to see that the IMS Forum is realizing the importance of including BSS and OSS components to the IMS plugfest event. In order to generate revenue from your services, you need to be able to charge for them! Results of Plugfest IV will be revealed on March 18th at Spring VON.X 2008 in San Jose.
The two main players in the fourth IMS plugfest providing BSS/OSS functionality are HP and Amdocs. This is a great way for them to get out of their own private labs and to really test whether their products adhere to standards defined by 3GPP and IETF.
Let’s see if charging and billing are the usual afterthought, with all the nasty hacks needed to still generate revenue, or that the IMS core and application vendors are up for the job. Hopefully also some more advanced tests will be performed than just offline and online charging for non-roaming subscribers without interconnect.
See also: http://www.imsforum.org/plugfest
Frens