Considerations for Your Next-Gen Billing RFP

But above and beyond creating accurate invoices, Ajmera says another key consideration for providers evaluating billing systems is if the platform can give them a single view of the customer. “If you have that, you can more easily cross-sell and upsell into other products in your portfolio that the customer may not be taking advantage of,” he said.

OUTLOOK: As for 2009, Ajmera says the challenge for providers is how much they are willing to spend on what. Large capital investment hard for many companies to even think about now.

Jeff Cotrupe, Founder and CEO at MarketPOWER LLC

Top RFP Considerations

• Ability to Bill at Different Rates based on Packet Type to Differentiate Services
• Support for a Wide Range of Next-Generation Services
• Integration with a Service Delivery Platform
• Integration with a Revenue Operations Center

A next-generation billing system needs to support the creation of a wide range of billing parameters that map to new service models and customer agreements, according to Jeff Cotrupe, founder and CEO of MarketPower LLC. This encompasses the ability to bill each packet at a different rate based on packet type to differentiate between services. Some of these services include VoIP, text or multimedia messaging, IPTV, gaming, location-based services and unified/intelligent communications.

Cotrupe adds to this list a new class of services that are delivered by emerging service delivery platforms (SDPs), such as MVNO networks and branded storefronts.

Other features he adds to the list of things providers should consider in billing platforms are multiple customer tiers; value-based, volume-based or flat-rate block pricing; prepaid and postpaid service plans; support for global currencies; and carrier-to-carrier settlement.

One of the questions Cotrupe advises providers to ask their vendors is if their billing systems are part of or integrated with an SDP. “An SDP slashes the time, cost and risk of introducing and integrating new services, he said. “It enables rapid development and deployment of everything from traditional voice to complex multimedia applications to services that don’t even exist yet.”

He adds that an SDP provides an infrastructure for users to manage and pay for services, and for content providers to deliver those services, get paid for them and pay the service provider. The advantage here is that it incorporates billing right into the service creation and delivery process.

Cotrupe also suggests asking vendors if their billing system is part of or integrated with a revenue operations center (ROC). “The ROC integrates all billing, revenue and cost management processes with each other, and then integrates them with the rest of an operator’s OSS/BSS infrastructure,” he said. “If there are revenue assurance holes — and there usually are — the ROC fills them up.”