With operators running multiple automated integrations for their legacy billing systems, many are concerned that if they retire or consolidate them, they will lose the original automation.
With We Are CORTEX that’s not the case. The number of billing systems telcos are operating and maintaining is becoming a challenge. They may duplicate functions, consume operational costs and may also restrict growth. To give a simple example, many operators have different billing platforms for consumer residential services, consumer broadband, B2B connectivity, B2B mobile, consumer mobile, IoT – and more.
Too many billing systems to handle?
According to a survey by STL Partners, for example, one Tier-1 operator said they were running over 70 different billing systems, which was causing integration issues across the different interfaces, protocols, and platforms[1]. Customers are also likely to be subscribed to multiple services.
At the same time, each billing system needs to integrate into other systems, including (but not limited to) CRM, inventory, payments, accounts, credit checking, and so on. Of courses, the number of integrations, particularly among MNOs can vary widely.
For example, the same STL survey found that another Tier-1 operator had four overarching billing systems with 140 different BSS systems integrated into this. It’s a growing problem for operators.
Increasingly, telcos also want to offer consolidated billing – both reducing this complexity and simplifying matters for customers, so that it’s easier to generate single invoices. This will provide a more streamlined and flexible approach, while offering multiple benefits for both customers and operators.
For customers converged billing provides simplified billing, a single invoice with consolidated charges, a single payment option for all services consumed, reduced administration and paperwork, easier payment management, better tracking of costs for different services, and the potential for bundled packages.
Conversely, operators gain simplified billing, reduced administrative costs, better tracking of payments, improved efficiency, and enhanced customer experience. This, of course, requires the integration of multiple billing systems, many of which may already have been separately automated. It may also require the upgrade or retirement of certain systems, which creates a further challenge.
However, many have also taken steps to automate these functions, seeking to bring silos together. But what if you are now ready to retire some of those legacy systems?
Simplification is the answer
At We Are CORTEX we describe this latter process as Simplification – the second process in our three-step program towards hyperautomation, after Consolidation and preceding Optimisation (download our latest paper here to find out more).
This proliferation of billing systems, often over decades, creates significant complexity. At the same time, it makes the journey towards integrated automation appear daunting, especially as some legacy systems will need to be retired or become unfit for purpose, while hindering growth.
Simplification initiates the process of automation transformation through the retirement of existing assets and/or replacing them with new solutions. A valid concern, of course, is that if a billing system is retired or consolidated does that mean that the automation for the integrated billing system is no longer useful?
The simple answer is ‘No’. Let’s say an operator with multiple billing platforms wants to converge some of them, perhaps combining the consumer broadband billing solution with the consumer mobile platform.
The We Are CORTEX automation platform takes care of it
In this case, the API from the billing platform to be retired to the automation process will change and the automation will cease to operate. However, the automation process remains the same – so rather than rebuilding the automation when one of the underlying components changes, all that is required is adaptation to the new interface presented. This is the concept of reusability and portability, which means that no existing automation need be thrown out when things change.
In essence, any automation can simply be ported to the new solutions as they are deployed without disrupting the overall logic of the automation flow.
So, if the operator decides to retire one platform and migrate customers or services to another (new or existing), the relevant interfaces can be added without impacting the automation that has already been established because the logic of the workflows remain constant. The only concern is support for interfaces and protocols. Happily, the CORTEX automation platform supports any interface, proprietary or otherwise.
So, once the logical workflow has been built, all that needs to change are the underlying integrations with the platforms concerned.
It means that we can offer a simply, risk-free, future-proof solution to integrating and consolidating as many billing systems as required. To find out more about how this works in practice, download our latest white paper here.
[1] https://go.matrixx.com/rs/097-BCI-617/images/Why-legacy-billing-restricts-telco-growth-STL-JAN2024.pdf
