An extensive analysis report published by OVUM describes why telecoms that want to be competitive in the digital age, will inevitably need to upgrade their billing and revenue management systems.

An extensive analysis report published by OVUM describes why telecoms that want to be competitive in the digital age, will inevitably need to upgrade their billing and revenue management systems.

 A challenging era for telecoms

A report entitled “Telecoms Billing Market Landscape: Challenges and Priorities”, published in early 2016 by OVUM - a UK-headquartered global research and consulting firm – reveals the market developments that are driving telcos' need to invest in revenue management systems and in billing systems.

Although telcos are ready to explore new digital services and improve customer experience, their revenue management systems are not fit for this purpose. Firstly, their existing billing systems are rigid and can no longer support emerging industry needs and the growing complexity of services. Secondly, they must be able to embrace new operating models in order to quickly launch new services. Lastly, the siloed management systems must be updated, as they are currently unable to interface with other systems.

Survey results speak out clearly

In 3Q15, OVUM conducted a survey with senior managers from 28 CSPs (communications service providers) on the future of their billing and charging systems. The following findings derive from this survey and others, and from interviews with telco IT executives:

• More than 44% of telcos said they plan to transform or replace their revenue management systems over the next 18 months. During this timeframe they will strive to consolidate systems, restructure tariffs, and integrate billing systems with other parts of the business.

• Mergers & Acquisitions activity has created overlap and redundancy in telco billing systems. Over 21% of telcos stated that they had anywhere from 50–249 revenue management systems supporting their organization. More than 12% of telcos stated they have more than 1,000 revenue management systems.

• Telcos will need billing systems that can support the growing complexity of services, meet customers' high expectations for service, and support the delivery of next-generation technologies such as IoT and digital services.

• Restructuring roaming tariffs, consolidating revenue management systems, and adding convergence into billing systems are the top revenue management investment priorities for telcos.

• Having a configurable tariff system, integrated CRM, real-time capabilities, and the ability for service and subscriber convergence capabilities are telcos' top needs in a billing solution.

• The telecoms vendor space is consolidating as a result of the changes in telcos' needs and buying priorities.

• Vendors that offer a BSS product suite are winning more revenue management contracts with telcos, compared to "best of breed" product vendors.

The full report by OVUM can be accessed through the following link:  https://www.ovum.com/research/telecoms-billing-market-landscape-challenges-and-priorities/