Telecom Billing Packages : Good for other Industries?
I have been browsing through various news sites on Telecom Billing and BSS systems at large. There are good investments being made by the operators to transform their BSS systems, in particular, billing systems. There are also many operators who are trying out new services like provision of broadband over mobile connection - check here. Let us assume that the market leading telecom billing packages would be capable enough to handle all such new and innovative services. It doesn't seem big enough a challenge for that to happen. But have you ever looked into checking the compliance of a telecom billing package to a non-telco industry vertical? It's a lot of fun. Believe me.
Let us start with Utility industry. It is imperative that the usage data here comes from various meters installed in customer sites. These records have to be mediated, rated, billed and invoiced to the end consumer. Though all of these are not the completely-out-of-box functionalities offered by telco based products, at a high level, these are not too far away requirements to implement. With some customization we can achieve these functionalities. But, a Utility Company looks forward to the same billing system to handle some of the Customer Care functions, web selfcare requirements, which becomes a bottle neck for a telco billing product. Here is where it falls short.
In Logistics industry, Settlement with intermediaries and suppliers becomes critical along with Contract and Customer Management functions. This again is not fully explored in a telco billing product suite. Also, payment functionality is a little hectic in this vertical with interfaces to financial management and cash payment systems, which generally is limited incase of a telco offering.
Similarly, the product will face multiple challenges in various other industry verticals, which is making the product companies to recreate a variant of the same billing engine for each industry vertical.
Have you seen any direct application of Telecom Billing Package in non-Telco industry? Share your thoughts here.
