Historically, billing and OSS was the domain of the network administrator. The sales and marketing folks, not to mention C-level executives, were in the dark about the mysterious, uber-technical back-office workings that kept business going, and preferred it that way.
Now, platform vendors are shedding light on the back office for all areas of the enterprise, with special accommodations such as CxO portals and user-friendly data mining to improve business processes for everyone.
For instance, Aglilent Technologies Inc. has announced that its revenue-assurance solution covers wireless intercarrier backhaul traffic, so U.S. local exchange carriers can ensure proper payment for the use of their networks. But the acceSS7 Interconnect Analysis captures and generates real-time and historical usage data from the SS7 network rather than the switch, providing a deeper level of customer data. A datamining toolkit allows this core data to be sliced and diced, so the system can measure wireless originating and terminating traffic, assigning callby- call jurisdiction based on metro transit areas.
It also gives the ability to use SS7 information for demographic and marketing purposes: A provider can determine which ring tones are the most popular, or the reliability of downloads, the sort of information a marketing department can use to great benefit. Further, a Web-based portal allows access to the system and data according to end-user-defined business rules and job profiles; the CEO can tailor the view for his or her needs while the sales department may instead only see text messaging uptake numbers.
In a similar vein, Connexn Technologies has integrated a graphical, customizable, XML/J2EEbased Web portal dashboard into a new cost- and revenue-assurance platform, Certo, announced at Billing and OSS World 2004. The dashboard allows a service provider to configure different views of the system according to user profile, job title or permissions level, so a CxO can access a higher level of information than a network administrator, for example.
“CRA was a manual, departmental, ad hoc basis with no CxO ownership, and it’s evolved to a quasi-enterprise solution, with some automation and deployment system-wide,” says Connexn President and CEO Woody Ritchie. “Certo takes that further, giving full visibility certainly to the CFO, due to the revenue-containment aspects, and often to the CEO, systemwide, bringing together data from different legacy systems, CRM and various switches.”
Launched with a series of three packaged applications for interconnect, wireless postpaid usage and wireline postpaid subscription, Certo integrates a host of existing products into one integrated, modular solution for revenue assurance, automating the process from project configuration and initial systems audit to detection, management and correction of data discrepancies between the billing system and the switches.
And, it can view multiple applications and connectivity types on the same platform. Everything is presented in a graphical format, and it includes a tracking capability so executives can monitor productivity and manage workflow processes.
MetaSolv Software Inc.’s M6, the next version of its inventory and order management OSS, offers new automated provisioning for IP and optical services, and also adds a configurable user interface that caters to the CxO set with a friendly interface and multilayer inventory and provisioning capabilities.
Using the concept of portlets, M6’s Web-based interface includes a customizable navigation bar, enabling one-click access to key portions of M6 and external applications. A CEO, for example, can choose to have ready access to data that facilitates decision-making, such as average provisioning time per product and work group productivity. Information can be embedded into the view, even from applications outside M6.
Network administrators may not be given such free rein, but one platform can serve both positions, explains David Sharpley, senior vice president of marketing and product management at MetaSolv. “There’s a lot of data these operators have, and here’s a brand-new and easy way to bring the back office to the forefront,” he says.
“This leverages and empowers the whole enterprise — the vice president of operations and the CFO had only marginal visibility before this, so now they can make key, informed operational decisions.”
