Revenue-Management Software Solutions

Revenue management is a bottom-line business, and no one is more focused on that line than wireless carriers. PCS '98 in Orlando featured dozens of solutions, and other shows specific to revenue management such as Convergence Billing and Customer Care and SAPPHIRE '98 offered a more detailed look at software. Here are some of the latest billing, customer-care, risk-management, data-warehousing, fraud and provisioning software solutions available.

Billing & Customer-Care Solutions Most billing and customer-care vendors emphasized rules-based solutions and the ability to begin by using the applications in a service-bureau environment, and then later moving them in-house. For instance, National Independent Billing Inc.'s (NIBI) WRITE2k will be available in a turnkey or distributive service-bureau environment in early 1999. The company is developing the solution with SePro Telecom International.

Scott Grill, NIBI sales manager, said rules-based software is more flexible than earlier table-based solutions because the table-based applications are limited by the scope of data you have set up. The rules-based software allows customer-service representatives (CSRs) to change rate plans quickly. WRITE2k includes Care Station, a tool that helps your customers with bill inquiries, disputes, adjustments, orders and payments. The Smart Care feature includes an automated voice-response system that gives customers advice on using or accessing services and promotional offers. Web Care eases self-care via the Internet, and Agent Care helps CSRs handle customer inquiries, registrations, service provisioning, payments, equipment rentals and hot billing. The After Care feature supports welcome letters, intelligent statement messages, faxes and e-mail.

Similarly, American Management Systems' (AMS) new CACS-Telecom automates common actions such as sending letters, checking for payments and hotlining accounts. CACS-Telecom uses advanced technology and best-practice approaches to improve collections efficiency, reduce delinquent accounts and bad debt by more than 25%, and decrease operating costs by more than 50%, said Caroline Gunderson, AMS senior principal. Wireless providers can establish differentiated treatment paths using behavior score, customer value or other segmentation criteria. The Starter Rule Kit settings incorporate risk-management best practices directly into the software, while Workflow Manager automates work-queue selection and prioritization and provides real-time work status information. The Situation Summaries displays collection events and data for each customer on a single screen, and auto-dialer integration speeds the calling process.

Like NIBI, Bellcore emphasized flexibility and quick feature implementation with its U-Bill product, which it plans to release in December.

"Implementing a new rate plan for any feature takes the most time for billers," said Herbert Manger, Bellcore business manager. "This flexible product is designed so companies can start billing quickly. It will have an easy-to-use interface, and new features can be implemented in a day's time, as opposed to over several months."

He said U-Bill would be modular and allow users to create bills in real time. Its pricing is geared toward smaller and start-up companies, and its flexibility will allow billers to expand the system as the company grows.

Daleen Technologies' BillPlex convergent billing and customer-care solution supports industry-standard hardware and relational database management systems. The architecture enables its database server to offload events to service applications, such as rating, provisioning and rendering, for processing. The upgrade, version 2.1, supports Web application access, enabling subscribers to view invoices through the Internet. It also includes a third-party customer-care interface, allowing you to use your existing customer-care interface, which eliminates retraining costs for CSRs.

SAP's SAP FOcus on CUStomers (SAP FOCUS) is an initiative to help you manage the life cycle of your customer relationships. The SAP Service component coordinates all service functions, including call-center-based customer service and support, parts and services delivery, and invoicing. SAP Service includes functionality for call centers; installation management; return material authorizations; repairs and returns; scheduling, dispatching and field service; service agreements; and service execution.

Several other vendors promoted seasoned solutions that target convergence. H.O. Software demonstrated its HOCIMS (H.O. Cellular Information Management System) solution, DMW Worldwide displayed its Enteror family of customer-care and billing products, and Kenan Systems promoted its Arbor/BP system.

Data-Warehousing Solutions A few companies recently have released solutions for storing and viewing data. SAP unveiled its Business Information Warehouse, which provides users with a comprehensive view of data across the organization, including SAP R/3 and non-SAP data, to give you a holistic view of customers. NCR expanded its data-warehousing portfolio for the communications industry as well, with a new suite of business software that provides a closed-loop Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM includes four modules: Churn SENTRY, GrowthADVISOR, Customer BI and Integrated Campaign Management, built around the VALEX marketing automation software from Exchange Applications.

Organizations with relational or object-relational databases that wish to integrate extended data types into dynamic desktop applications can do so using Formida Software's Formida Fire. You can integrate heterogeneous databases and migrate them to next-generation database-management systems as well as incorporate data types across a variety of platforms, operating systems and networks. Then you can view details about distribution channels and display operational data graphically. If you are a NetWare 5 user, ChartWorks' system will allow you to build, share and maintain dynamically generated charts across diverse platforms.

Fraud Solutions Cloning and subscription fraud is still a major concern in the wireless industry. To combat cloning through A-key management, AMS announced the availability of KEYper, an integrated client-server system. Using encryption technology, KEYper prevents reproduction of the cellular phone number and ESN of an active phone onto other phone equipment. KEYper interfaces to any switch with authentication capability and can be used with authentication-ready cellular handsets. It includes a graphical user interface for on-line maintenance and system inquiries, while the listen monitor handles message capture, statistics recording and administration user interface. To speed operations, embedded base processing loads the database off-line.

In its effort to fight subscription fraud, Equifax announced FraudScan, an on-line, point-of-sale, fraud alert and identification-verification system that the company designed based on suggestions from 12 wireless carriers. Features include fraud flags, identity verification, area code updates and postal format standardization. FraudScan flags potential fraud based on application information. It features 46 fraud flags that respond to transactions. Some flags are Social Security number (SSN) flags that alert you if, for example, an applicant gives you an SSN of a deceased person. Address flags highlight high-risk commercial addresses, addresses that have been reported misused and numerous other problems. Phone-number flags indicate several inconsistencies, including reportedly misused telephone numbers, telephone drop numbers or disconnected phones. Driver's-license flags indicate invalid license numbers. The flags are not part of a consumer's credit file, so FraudScan has no consumer disclosure requirement.

Provisioning Solutions Several announcements on the provisioning front allow your customers to set up service via their handsets.

Lightbridge is developing a microbrowser-based self-service activation system through Un-wired Planet's Up.Link Platform for wireless information access. The customer inputs his home phone number, SSN and date of birth into his wireless telephone. The information travels through Unwired Planet's micro-browser to a database, which uses reverse telephone number look-up to retrieve account information. With no human intervention, customers can choose a rate plan and features, apply for credit, activate service, and verify the correct billing address.

The entire process takes 10 to 45 minutes, so CSRs can reduce time spent activating customers and increase time spent enhancing customer satisfaction. Manually the process can take days, costing some carriers up to $1 per minute for the transaction. This offering should be available in mid-1999, and it can go into any handset that uses soft keys to navigate through data.

Handset provisioning also is available via a Sema Group solution. Over-the-Air Service Provisioning Function (OTAF2000) is for the IS-41 CDMA market and enables subscribers to activate new wireless services directly on their handsets through a customer-service center. These wireless services include customer activation of service, immediate updates of roaming tables and security features.

Shared Solutions Several revenue-management vendors recently announced acquisitions, mergers and agreements to enhance their service offerings. Billing Concepts agreed to acquire 22% of the capital stock of Princeton TeleCom Corporate (PTC), a company specializing in electronic bill publishing over the Internet and advanced payment solutions.

"Consumers are rapidly embracing the ability to pay bills over the Internet, and this phenomenon is causing vendors to publish their bills electronically," said Parris H. Holmes Jr., Billing Concepts chairman & CEO. "When an integrated communications provider needs billing services, we have the ability to perform collection functions that will keep its bad debt to a minimum by utilizing the advanced collection and payment-processing features of PTC."

Metapath, known for its Ceer, Ceos and Cerve applications, merged with Mobile Systems International (MSI). The new company will be known as MSI; however, the initials now stand for Metapath Software International. London-based Mobile System International specializes in network- planning and management application software for wireless carriers, and Metapath focuses on real-time customer-management products.

"This coming together creates the potential for a combined strength that could significantly enhance the way we manage our network," said Andrew Sukawaty, CEO of Sprint PCS, a customer of both companies. "Adapting network planning to very current customer data would enable us to evolve a customer-driven network, which would be a major component to a customer-centric focus."

Convergys also introduced itself to the PCS market. Convergys uses advanced technologies to analyze multiple sources of customer-specific data, developing targeted, action-oriented information, said Robert Marino, Convergys president. Convergys consists of two groups: Convergys Information Management, formerly CBIS, and Convergys Customer Management, formerly MATRIXX Marketing. Convergys also paired with the Integrated Network Group of Glenayre Technologies to market the Glenayre openMEDIA prepaid and credit-limit monitoring products as part of its billing and customer-management portfolio. Convergys will offer the products to complement its existing set of solutions, some of which currently provide integrated prepaid services.

InfoCellular announced the integration of its customer-acquisition product, InfoCell ConVerge, with Oracle Financials under Oracle's Cooperative Applications Initiative (CAI), said Carol Ferrari Gerbetz, InfoCellular director of marketing. CAI enables best-in-class applications software vendors to develop and sell standard integration bridge products, linking their solutions with Oracle Applications. CAI expands the Oracle-based enterprise applications solutions set and allows you to choose complementary applications. Through InfoCell ConVerge, you can create and track sales, take payment, manage cash and track inventory movement. This integration transfers the business activity generated by InfoCell ConVerge to the Oracle General Ledger applications as journal entries.

Kenan's Arbor/BP system recently was chosen by Qualcomm to manage the billing function of its OmniTRACS mobile satellite communications and tracking system in the United States. Arbor/BP will enable Qualcomm to bill for future products as well as new services as they are offered. Kenan will configure its billing platform to handle the interaction between the large number of providers that will be involved in global roaming, said Janice Jens, Kenan mobile industry marketing manager.

Lightbridge announced that Centennial Wireless and Powertel are using FraudBuster to detect and prevent technical and subscription fraud. Meanwhile, ALLTEL has chosen GTE TSI as a service-bureau authentication solution to protect customers from fraud. The company provides the Encrypt-A-Key solution.

GTE TSI launched RoamerXchange 3.0, made up of three modules: the RoamerXchange core component, RoamerXchange Profile and RoamerXchange Administration. The company will offer the RoamerXchange Profile module at no cost to all wireless providers and billing vendors, regardless of their clearinghouse affiliation. This module allows non-RoamerXchange users to electronically send and receive standardized data sheets to and from all wireless carriers.

"When you get changes, everyone else gets them," said Brian Moore, GTE TSI director of clearing and settlement. "It gives carriers who are not on RoamerXchange the ability to dial in free, daily, to upload new data about roaming agreements in a consistent format."

The rest of the upgrade allows Roamer-Xchange customers to share technical data sheet information directly with carriers and billing vendors on RoamerXchange systems. You can send and receive the latest table update information to and from GTE TSI's clearinghouse, eliminating manual data input. The upgrade allows you to electronically share and administer proprietary roaming agreement information, including edits and negative file bypasses, directly with your roaming partners and GTE TSI's clearinghouse.