The service providers’ challenge – leveraging assets to provide multiple services

IP networks enable service providers to offer multiple services. The rationale for a single, multi-service network is compelling: control costs, bundle services, reduce churn, gain market share, increase profitability. A major obstacle to making these services profitable is the business systems required to support these services. How do you use your existing systems when introducing new services? Implement billing mediation and rating as the primary link to manage customer usage.

Integrate existing systems without breaking the bank

Connect:SM for Communications modular design enables service providers to deploy our integrated billing mediation and rating modules as standalone solution or as an integrated part of the total customer care and billing solution. It delivers the power to generate revenue for multiple IP services with minimal expense.This allows you to implement usage-based billing without replacing your existing OSS/BSS. It does this by providing billing mediation to quickly and accurately collect, process, and deliver usage events to a rating engine, which applies value for IP services and simplifies the interface with legacy OSS/BSS. The solution is capable of standalone processing as well as integration into new and existing operational support systems.

Connect:SM for Communications Usage Processing is the union of:

» Billing Mediation

This system collects usage events from network devices, formats, and delivers the output to the rating application and other usage management systems. Its modular design and configurable output engine accommodates network design, growth, and business needs.

» Real time Rating

The rating application supplies rated usage records to OSS/BSS applications in detailed or summarized formats. The rating engine matches each usage event to the proper customer and a rate plan, and then calculates the charges. The highly flexible rules engine allows the service providers to associate monetary value to each
customer's network usage by virtually any measure of time or service type.

» Web-based Customer Usage Dashboard

This web-based application displays detailed customer usage information in an easy-to-use web dashboard. Customers and service representatives can view usage details over the Internet, usually within minutes after a call or session is completed.

» Purpose-Built Event Record Data Repository

Using our event record data repository framework, BillWise works with the CSP to implement a repository with analytics purpose-built for their specific business environment.

Choose Connect:SM for Communications Usage Processing and you get…

Operational Savings

There is no disruption to existing back office operations and systems. And you get a centralized system management and highly flexible configuration capabilities, which translate to a less significant learning curve and reduced training expenses. Highly configurable interfaces and system rules make data handling and rate charging rules easy to generate. Customer self-service reduces production costs and increases call center efficiency.

Capital Savings

Because there is no tear out of existing systems, capital can be invested in network services. It maximizes your software investment with its rapid deployment and its ability to replicate to multiple units.

We’ll help ensure that you’re ready for the future. Today.

If your business is looking for ways to profit and thrive in a very crowded market, look to BillWise, the solutions company with more than a decade of experience solving complex telecommunications challenges. BillWise is fully equipped to help you make a profitable and sensible transformation by providing the solutions that will position you for the future and by containing costs with its flexible pricing for small and large service providers.

INTELLIGENT ADVANTAGES

Scalability:

Connect:SM for Communications scales from start-up to Tier One Carrier traffic, providing proactive volume management.

Flexibility:

Connect:SM for Communications gives you the flexibility to adopt new network elements without disrupting established connections to downstream applications and allows for changes in network element data formats.

Reliability:

Connect:SM for Communications offers a high level of reliability with its Guaranteed Message Delivery. If your network fails, Connect:SM continues to collect and store records until the network is back online.Then it forwards data to the downstream application(s).
As a result, there’s no record loss when network problems occur and your revenue stream is protected.

Compatibility:

Connect:SM for Communications supports a wide range of network elements including softswitches, servers, gateways, and headends from industry leaders such as Alcatel, Cisco, Motorola, Broadsoft, Metaswitch, Arris, Acme Packets, and others.

Convergent Services Billing Mediation – the next generation network necessity

An inflexible billing system was dropping event records, making it impossible for a CSP to scale its business and rapidly deploy new services. The Connect:SM for Communications' Billing Mediation solution ensured that every record was captured because of it’s highly reliable design. Plus, the CSP could invest with confidence
in a system that it wouldn’t outgrow.

The smart, simple solution to transform network data into meaningful information

Network usage data from IP network elements can be unintelligible to CSPs’ business systems. CSPs need a well-designed, complete mediation solution to collect bits and bytes from network elements and transform them into information that can be turned into revenue-producing data and critical business intelligence. Connect:SM for Communications offers a smart, simple, and complete solution that deciphers every type of network event generated by complex NGN services. It is the culmination of more than a decade of hands-on experience in understanding the communications business, network usage, and billing. It provides reliable, single-source data collection that eliminates omission and duplication errors. It also securely renders data into a format that is usable by all major OSS/BSS applications such as billing, invoicing, rating, customer care, fraud detection
applications, customer analytics, data marts, and especially billing systems.

Prevent revenue leakage and turn data into revenue without losing a penny

CSPs focus on finding sources of lost income and instituting quality processes to stop revenue leakage. Connect:SM's billing mediation seals leakage by collecting and storing usage data immediately, preserving contents if the network fails. When the network returns online, the billing mediation picks up from where it left off and continues collecting, processing, and forwarding usage data to OSS/BSS applications. As a result, records are not lost and the revenue stream is protected.

Adopt new products and services quickly without breaking the bank

Accommodating new services for BSS applications that were designed for a single service is often a system
integration challenge. Connect:SM's Billing Mediation, modularly designed for change management, is an essential buffer that enables service providers to leverage assets and provides flexibility to add new services later. So, CSPs can adopt new network elements or change data formats without disrupting established connections to OSS/BSS applications, and without major capital layout.

Deliver real time know-how

Connect:SM for Communications' Billing Mediation collection and file structures enable formatting and real time delivery of usage events to OSS/BSS applications and streaming usage data for up-to-the-minute network status. In addition, it's real time technology can be integrated with some NGN elements that rely on log files and batch processes, thus extending the capabilities of these platforms.

Invest in a system you won’t outgrow – think big and start small

Scalability means a CSP can confidently invest in a system it won't outgrow. Connect:SM for Communications Billing Mediation’s modular design allows all application components to be deploy as a SaaS application on the Cloud or as a licensed application installed on-site on a single small server for a start-up service provider or they can be distributed to multiple servers to accommodate network design, growth, and business needs.

Processes you can host on multiple servers for maximum flexibility and scalability

• Host usage data and processes on multiple servers – in widely distributed networks
  

• Manage it all from a single interface
  

• Place small collection hosts at remote sites for ‘pre-mediation’. CSPs can collect and store usage data in persistent memory there, and then automatically forward it to a central mediation device to manage the correlation, formatting, and routing to OSS/BSS applications.
  

A large library of NGN interfaces

BillWise has partnered with industry leaders to develop standardized interfaces to IP networks and its large library of interfaces
support network equipment vendors and industry-standard outputs.

Simplified processes so you can change the system as your network changes

Flexible and simplified configuration processes use a graphical interface so you can change your billing mediation system
as your network changes. These processes provide:

• Support for legacy systems
  

• Help to reduce operating costs
  

• Support for new network elements
  

• Substantially reduced time it takes to interface to new applications

Convergent Services Usage Rating – associates monetary value to usage

Connect:SM for Communications’ real time rating engine helps CSPs of all sizes overcome obstacles by providing an advanced, event-rating engine for providers of IP communications services. These include an array of enhanced services such as Voice over IP, OTT and IPTV video, metered bandwidth, mobile broadband, multi-service virtual private networks, enhanced telephony, IP conferencing, and content-driven services.This engine matches each usage event to a customer and a rate plan, allowing the service provider to associate monetary value to each customer’s network usage.

It accomplishes all this with its advanced, high speed, expandable IP services rating system. It allows for unlimited flexibility in defining and updating rate plans, discounts, and various features with any combination of usage event elements. This includes rating based upon user-definable triggers such as seconds, minutes, packets, bytes, and contents. You can rate new services the moment they appear – all you do is add new rate information. It can be implemented rapidly as a standalone solution, enabling CSPs to move from flat rate to event-based billing, without replacing existing systems and without burdening your support staff.

Implement real time solutions to easily integrate with existing OSS/BSS applications

Connect:SM for Communications rating engine, built from the ground up, provides accurate, real time, end-to-end, consistent information to OSS/BSS applications. It can be a standalone solution or implemented with Connect:SM for Communications carrier-class mediation solution for an integrated solution for IP communications. Its open interface supports existing service activation systems or customer care systems through documented, standards-based interfaces. And CSPs can deliver detailed or summary transactional information to OSS/BSS applications by directly querying the Rated Events repository or by utilizing it's unique, customizable adjustment file process. This process creates a user-definable file that can be uploaded to a billing application for summarized billing.

Grow in today’s highly competitive marketplace

Connect:SM for Communications rating engine handles simple to complex rate plans on a variety of network traffic events, allowing you to rate any event. Because user-defined features permit a rate plan administrator full control in all areas of rating, these rules allow you to use the system without backend code changes. For example, you can define rate periods; roaming agreements for shared networks; reusable rules; and various types of rates – simple, tiered, destination, duration, complex, and bounded rates. Even with this power, there is minimal burden on support staff. A simple-to-use, web-based interface for building and managing customized rate plans, managing the rating system, and accessing reports translates to a less significant learning curve and reduces training expenses.

Simultaneous support for multiple service types enables carriers to use the same medium to widen its range of services, providing more value to its customers, thus resulting in increased revenues. Advanced rules operators provide conditional rating by any element within a usage event, such as time, location, phone numbers, and Quality of Service (QOS). Any combination of these elements can also be used to satisfy a conditional expression.

A powerful yet simple and intuitive user interface facilitates easy configuration and monitoring. Imported standard telephony rate files ease the load of managing hundreds of rate plans and services.

Choose Connect:SM for Communications rating engine and you get…

» High performance on a small platform to help carriers create high volume business and survive

Connect:SM for Communications rating engine supports carriers with high volume transactions or start-up carriers. Because it can run multiple and concurrent occurrences of the rating engine, this strategy multiplies the overall throughput, and carriers benefit … all on a small footprint. And whatever platform you choose, you can have redundant configurations or use specialized, fault-tolerant processors.

» Control over your network with Connect:SM for Communications rating engine’s advanced system management

Connect:SM for Communications rating engine provides such system management features as built-in security, which defines user roles and permissions; user activity logs; and pre-defined reports for rated, unrated, and rejected events. Plus, there is SNMP support for performance monitoring with a carrier’s existing network tools. Online documentation includes screen-sensitive help and workflow assistance in setting up and maintaining rate plans.

» Information anytime, anywhere to generate sales now and drive profitability

On demand metrics – information anytime, anywhere, now make it possible to measure the ROI of marketing departments’ campaigns. With Connect:SM for Communications rating engine, these departments can test their marketing plans anytime by experimenting with rate plans and reviewing rate information without affecting the production rating system

Web-based Customer Usage Dashboard

Connect:SM for Communications Web-based Customer Usage Dashboard is a CPNI compliant customer portal that provides:

• Customer and CSR views
  

• SSO Enablement
  

• Password Management
  

• User Roles
  

• Flexible Branding
  

• n-Level Account Hierarchy for Commercial Customers
  

• Transaction Search Tools
  

• Detailed Usage Reports, Graphs and Tables
  

• Printer Friendly and CSV Output
  

Purpose-Built Event Record Data Repository

CSP's are under increasing pressure to differentiate their data and voice services, including high speed data (HSD), voice over IP (VoIP), wireless , and eventually IPTV services. A key challenge for CSPs is the lack of comprehensive visibility into how subscribers use their voice and data services.

Connect:SM for Communications' Event Record Data Repository provides a customizable framework for CSPs to collect and measure subscriber usage transactions to gain rich, contextual insight into voice and data usage.

Fed with real-time or batch processed transactional data from the Billing Mediation module and/or Rating Engine, and optionally, enriched with data from 3rd party systems, the Event Record Data Repository provides a reporting and business analytics capability that highlights important subscriber usage patterns, network resource consumption, and product & pricing performance metrics.