When it comes to our money, it is simply human nature to be cautious. We want to be sure that we are not being over-charged and that we are getting good value. So it’s no surprise to learn that clear and fair charging for communications services is fundamental to a good customer experience. It’s one of the findings of Nokia Siemens Networks’ ongoing consumer global market research.
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To be truly customer focused, you must do business on your customers’ terms. For many customers this can mean providing payment independence, combining prepaid and post-paid charging systems, as well as voice and data billing mechanisms, to give customers the choice of payment method for different services. This enables you to manage your customers by who they are, not how they pay.”
Michael Matthews Head of Strategy and Business Development Nokia Siemens Networks
In fact, the research reveals that the area of cost and billing is one of five key drivers of a good customer experience, the other four being brand, customer service, network performance and service quality, and service and device portfolio.
But cost and billing is one of the most visible influences. It is also something that is easy for customers to compare against other service providers’ offers.
As well as transparent and fair charging, customers want cost controls and flexibility in tariff plans to match their needs. Meeting these demands is all part of the drive by many communications service providers (CSP) to become fully customer centric in their business.
Unifying complex charging systems
The key challenge when unifying charging and billing in this way is the widely scattered information in various silos across the CSP’s network and organization. The complexity of services now available to customers is a further barrier. “Charging systems must now cope with complex tariffs built on a variety of billable units: minutes, sessions, megabytes and content items such as downloadable sound tracks or video clips,” says Michael Matthews, Head of Strategy and Business Development Nokia Siemens Networks.
The Nokia Siemens Networks unified charging and billing solution overcomes these challenges with a modular architecture split into two layers. One layer combines online and offline charging elements and applications into a converged charging and rating engine. This gives CSPs a holistic view of the subscriber base and provides consolidated data to the enterprise layer’s financial modules, such as invoicing.
The second layer comprises a range of functions that would be used by any industry, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Care and Order Management, as well as generic financial modules for invoicing, account receivables and bill printing.
“The solution provides not just a completely integrated and fully flexible charging capability, but also reduces the complexity of charging systems and processes, enables new services to be brought to market more rapidly and at lower cost, and helps to reduce a CSP’s financial risk. Unified charging and billing lies at the heart of customer centricity and provides a foundation to achieve sustained growth,” ends Matthews.
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