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Table of Contents

Business Assurance Report Index
Chapters Pages
A.Telecom Industry & Operations Trends........................... 6
B.Transformation of the Back Office.................................... 15
C.Billing System Challenges................................................13
D.Customer Experience & Care Systems............................. 21
E.Order Management & Smart Commerce............................ 6
F.The Revenue Assurance Practice..................................... 6
G.Revenue Assurance Functions & Applications................... 29
H.The Revenue Assurance Organization & Management... 5
I.Hiring & Cultivating Talent for RA Organizations.............. 4
J.Revenue Assurance Case Studies.................................... 38
K.The Cost Assurance Practice & Market............................. 10
L.Optimal & Least Cost Routing Automation................... 14
M.Margin & Content Assurance............................................ 8
N.Network Inventory Reconciliation............................. 3
O.Fraud Management......................................................... 23
P.Credit & Collections Management..................................... 6
Q.The Carrier & Software Vendor Relationship................. 8
R.Managed Services Delivery..............................................15
S.Cloud Delivery & SaaS.................................................... 6
T.Revenue Assurance Consulting Practices & Market........... 5
U.Mediation’s Role in the BSS.............................................18
V.Network Policy Management............................................ 3
W.Analytics & Business Intelligence...................................... 47
X.Service Assurance.......................................................... 27
Y.Cyber Security............................................................... 23
Z.Market Forecasts............................................................... 10
AA.Market Synthesis...........................................................8
AB.Vendor Profiles - A to C...............................................51
AC.Vendor Profiles - D to G...............................................53
AD.Vendor Profiles - M to R...............................................49
AE.Vendor Profiles - S to X...............................................52

       
Telecom Industry and Operations Trends

The starting point for the future of revenue, cost, and fraud assurance is meeting the new challenges of the telecom business.  And to learn where telecom is likely headed, TRI analyzes a revealing late 2010 Netcracker global opinion survey of 50 B/OSS leaders.  We also hear from Steve Cotton, Head of Revenue Management at TM Forum, on his analysis of mobile opportunities vis-à-vis over the top players.

1. The Netcracker Telecom Industry Survey..........................5
a. The Survey Questions
b. Top Competitive Threats to the Telecom Business
c. Top Growth Opportunities for the Telecom Business
d. Top Priorities in the Next 12 Months
2. The Greater Competition from Over the Top Players.......10
a. Wireless in good position versus OTT – customer intelligence
b. Delivering the Added Layer on Top to OTTs
 
Transformation of the Back Office

While deploying and marketing great services is one way telecoms compete, another way is to be the low cost operator and “transform” the organization to become as efficient as possible.  In this chapter, transformation is discussed from different perspectives.

First we hear the advice of Hoosein Eslambolchi, the man most responsible for massively transforming the AT&T empire before it was acquired by SBC.  From a mid-tier carrier’s perspective, we also listen to the advice of Mike Irizarry following the recent transformation at his company, U.S. Cellular.

1. Transformation at AT&T Interview: ex-CIO Eslambolchi...12
a. Transformation Progress in Telecom
b. The Concept of One
c. Battling Telecom Industry Complexity
d. The Database of Record
e. The Power of the Data-Driven Paradigm
f. The People Side of Transformation
g. The Importance of Speed in Transformation
h. Perspective on Cloud Computing
i. The Virtues of Simplification
2. Transformation Advice for a Mid-Sized Wireless Operator...19
3. Transforming Telecom: Fiefdoms to Real-Time Enterprise...21
a. The Feudal Age: Predictable Growth
b. Rise of the Merchant Class
c. Apple as Business Model
d. Apple’s Command & Control Organization
e. Apple: Operating its Business in Real-Time
f. Telecoms: Can They Rise Above their Feudal Heritage?
g. The Issues around Telecom Fiefdoms
h. Turning the Management of a Telecom Enterprise into a Smart Grid
 
Billing System Challenges

The mark of a good billing system is how well it supports the on-going conversation between telecom and customers.  Here we explain many key developments affecting billing, including the move towards greater merchandising products, and charging systems that manage promotions on their own.

We also look at what billing managers have to say about improving billing processes, the e-billing, enterprise business relationships, and system consolidation.  Finally, we illustrate why highly flexible billing systems are key to complex telco-to- enterprise and cloud services.

1. The Ever-Evolving Definition of Billing..............................27
2. Supporting the Telecom to Customer Conversation..........27
3. Billing as Merchandising Program.....................................28
a. Inside Product Marketing at a Wireless Provider
b. Treating Customer Unique Needs: The Role of Personalization
c. How a Marketing Program Works in Billing
d. Merchandising to Different Subscriber Profiles or Demographic Groups
4. The Advanced Billing System at Oi in Brazil......................30
5. Improving the Billing Process.............................................31
6. Billing Process Improvements: More Tests, More Metrics...33
7. Paper and Electronic Bill Presentment...............................33
a. Improving the Quality of the Wireline Paper Bill
b. The Importance of E-Bills and Paper Cost Savings
8. Enterprise Billing.................................................................35
a. Creating Value for Enterprise Customers
9. Billing Consolidation............................................................37
10. Non-Traditional Billing as New Business Model Enabler...38
a. The Combination of Billing Complexity and Business Breaking Model
b. Examples of Non-Traditional Billing
c. The Evolution of Billing System Flexibility
d. Leveraging Metadata
 
Customer Experience and Care Systems

One of the drivers of telco revenue enhancement is driving customer care and support programs with the call center and other contact channels.

In this chapter, we summarize the advice of two global managers, Flavio Lang, the Customer Relationship Planning General Manager at Oi and Brian Brueckman, Senior Vice President of Direct to Customer at T-Mobile USA.  In addition, we feature an expert briefing on call center strategy from Robert Lamb, director of Contact Center Services at AT&T Consulting.

1. Achieving Customer Experience Excellence at Oi in Brazil...41
a. About Brazil
b. Brazil’s Telecom Market
c. Oi in the Brazilian Market
d. Oi’s Customer Service Philosophy
e. Oi’s Customer Care Infrastructure
f. Transformation of Customer Care
g. The Plan of Attack: VIP Treatment and Classes of Service
h. Other Transformation Actions
i. Transformation Results
j. Key Takeaway Points
2. T-Mobile Customer Care Excellence...................................51
a. T-Mobile’s Recognition in Customer Satisfaction
b. Using an Integrated Approach
c. Balancing Customer and Operator Needs
d. The Evolution of Quality Programs
e. Operational Metrics
f. Summary of Key Points
3. Customer Care & Revenue Maximization – AT&T Consulting...57
a. First Call Resolution
b. Call Center Key Performance Indicators
c. Agent Desktop Technology Priorities
d. The Effect of Social Media – Can it be Leveraged?
e. Finding the Right Channels of Customer Contact
f. The Use of Remote- or Home-Based Agents
g. The “Plan Before you Execute” Imperative
4. Verizon’s IVR, Process Change, and Web Customer Care...61
a. Why Superior IVR Systems are so Important
b. Improving Customer Support Processes through IVR
c. The Importance of Web Transactions to Customer Experience Excellence
 
Order Management & Smart Commerce

Once a boring back office function, order management is seeing a resurgence as telecoms drive greater coordination and personalized selling across call center, web, mobile store, and other channels.  In this chapter, John Konczal of IBM Sterling Commerce explains the details of how order management has become a competitive differentiator for savvy operators.

We also show how telcos are in a good position to leverage cloud, M2M, billing, and ordering skills to help enterprises in manufacturing industries, such as printing, turn products into services.

1. Order Management as Differentiator.................................62
a. Order Management Innovation in Retail
b. Advanced Order Management Self-Scoresheet
c. The Cross-Channel Sales Conversation
2. Smarter Commerce and Cloud Services............................67
a. The Promise of Cloud Services to Enterprises
b. Why Operators have been Cautious about Moving into the Cloud
c. The Smart Commerce Opportunity that Leverages Cloud
d. Opportunities in Helping the Printer Industry to Get “Smarter”
e. Telecoms are In a Great Position to Lead Smart Commerce
f. The Four Skill Sets to Compete in Smarter Commerce Cloud
 
The Revenue Assurance Practice

Revenue assurance investment is a key telco strategy for improving customer satisfaction and fixing control problems that cut across billing, ordering, provisioning and many other business functions.  This chapter sets the stage for our lengthy discussion of RA and discusses: definitions of RA, market drivers, lack of executive appreciation for RA’s role, and various measures of practice maturity.

1. Why Revenue Assurance is Critical to Savvy Telecoms...6
2. Background & History.........................................................6
3. Revenue Assurance Market Drivers....................................
a. Recover Lost Revenue
b. Fixing Billing & Provisioning Problems
c. Large Organizations Create Large Assurance Problems
d. Mergers Create OSS Chaos
4. The Business Case for Revenue Assurance.........................8
a. CFOs Don’t Know the RA Landscape Well Enough
b. Don’t Believe the Revenue Assurance Leakage Rates being Published
5. Stages of Revenue Assurance Organization Maturity.......9
a. A Simple Revenue Assurance Carrier Organization
b. The Dedicated Team -- Firemen Moving To Focus on Prevention
6. RAIIM’s 5 Dimensions of Revenue Assurance Maturity...11
7. Other Revenue Assurance Maturity Rules of Thumb........12
a. Maturity Comes Before Dashboards
b. How Software Salespeople Detect a Lack of Maturity
 
Revenue Assurance Functions & Applications

Revenue assurance is an umbrella term that covers a host of audit techniques, based on a consistent set of business control practices and often a unified software and data platform.  This chapter captures the great of diversity in telco RA functions.  In fact, TRI’s aim in this chapter was to explain as many RA functions as we could find.

Closing out the chapter is an interesting analysis by WeDo’s Sergio Luis Silvestre on the reason why “business assurance” encompasses a broader vision of where RA and other telecom business control functions should be headed.

1. Switch-to-Bill Reconciliation..............................................14
2. Revenue Assurance Problems that Lead to Under-Billing...15
3. Order Entry and Management Errors.................................16
4. Test Call Generation & Switch Verification.......................17
a. The Purpose and History of Call Test Generation
b. How Call Simulation and Testing Works
c. Call Test Generation in Next Generation Networks
d. Plenty of Call Test Generation Horror Stories are Out There
5. Bill Monitoring & Testing Services.....................................19
a. Robots for Hire: Verifying Accuracy in the Age of Complex Mobile Billing/Charging
b. The Call Testing and Verification Managed Service
c. Differences from Revenue Assurance Software Model
d. Removing Bias: Why Service Bureau Receives no Supporting Data from the Carrier
e. Robots Also Used to Detect Fraud Patterns
f. Call Testing: International Roaming Area Seen as Key
6. Broadband & Data Services Revenue Assurance...............21
a. What makes Data Services Hard to Revenue Assure
b. Typical Error Types in Data Services
c. Solving the Network Crossword Puzzle
d. Mapping Corporate Billing Hierarchies
7. Video Revenue Assurance....................................................25
a. The High Stakes of Video Assurance -- Constantly Improving the Process
b. Managing Multiple Partners and Customers in the Video Chain
c. Set Top Box & Smart Card Piracy Problems
d. How WeDo Helped Cablevision Solve its Pirated Set Top Box Problem
8. Revenue Assurance for Advertising & Royalties................29
a. Advertising Requirements
b. Licensing and Royalties Assurance
9. Telco-to-Enterprise Revenue Assurance.............................30
a. Audit Schedule: Whenever the Enterprise Customer Complains
b. The Scope & Root Causes of Billing Problems
c. Pilot Study: The Extent of Telco-to-Enterprise Assurance Problems
d. Service Acceptance & Outside of Contract Issues
e. Custom Contracts
10. Usage Trending Analysis.....................................................34
11. Revenue Assuring Operations after a Consolidation.........35
12. Partner Management Systems............................................36
a. What is Partner Assurance?
b. Partner Management for Network Partners and Outsourcing
c. Pioneering Partnership Management Solutions
d. Interconnect Partnering System for Settling Disputes
13. Content Partner & Profit Management Software.............38
14. Other Revenue Assurance Functions..................................39
15. Revenue Assurance for Small Carriers & MVNOs.............40
16. The Shift from Revenue Assurance to Business Assurance...41
 
The Revenue Assurance Organization & Management

Organization issues are top of mind today as revenue assurance departments are pulled in to help solve many issues beyond their original charter.  In this area, experts are sounding the alarm about remaining true to the original mission of revenue assurance, even as RA software vendors expand to serve other telecom functions.

One expert is Güera Romo, a former RA manager out of South Africa, who has one a deep dive investigation of RA organizations as her Master’s thesis.  We also hear from GRAPA founder Rob Mattison’s advice about ensure the integrity of the relationship between IT and RA.

1. The Role & Responsibility of the RA Organization.........44
a. Origins of the RA Department
b. Why Telecom has a Unique Need for RA Controls
c. Need for a Heightened Sense of Organization Accountability
2. RA Management – Taking a Lesson from Apple...............45
3. Resolving the Conflict Between Revenue Assurance and IT...46
a. A Case Study of Revenue Assurance Conflict with IT
b. The Difference between Running Engines vs.  Running Processes
c. How Bad Communications Can Lead to Further Issues
d. The Real Source of RA and IT Conflict
4. Revenue Assurance Governance..........................................49
 
Hiring & Cultivating Talent for RA Organizations

Revenue assurance software isn’t a “system” until the generic software and hardware is  teamed with a business process run by experienced analysts and users.  This chapter explores the human side of RA and draws perspective from two RA book authors.

First, Mark Yelland of RAAIIM advocates manning the RA team with “scientists” who are great at organizing and following rules and “artists” who are creative and love breaking outside boxes of rules.    Then Eric Priezkalns, editor of the talkRA website, explains  the origins of the RA profession, contrasts “big-data” and “process” RA analysis styles, and paints a lofty vision of what the RA profession can become as it evolves.

1. People Power vs.  Machine Power.......................................50
2. Operations Grounding: Teach the Transactional Mindset...50
3. How do you Recruit for Imagination?................................51
4. Incentives to Find Leaks.......................................................52
5. Enlisting Support from the Business Units.......................52
6. Revenue Assurance as a Profession.....................................52
a. Technology Guys vs.  Process Guys
b. The Pioneers of the RA Profession
c. Future of the RA Profession
 
Revenue Assurance Case Studies

Our case studies in revenue assurance are valuable for understanding challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned.  Most of these studies contain helpful background slides to better show the accomplishments and obstacles in each case.  But what TRI believes to be most valuable here is one particular study, our detailed 10-page analysis of the RA program at Verizon Communications.

In the past two years, Verizon, a high practitioner of the RA art, has outspoken about its best practices at  industry conferences.  In this chapter, TRI combines the knowledge gained from several public forums together with material from TRI’s private interviews with Verizon.  The result is an in-depth look into Verizon’s: RA practices, philosophy, data-crunching and workflow systems, innovative “chase-the-bill” preventative RA methodology, challenges, and planned enhancements.

1. Verizon Communications Revenue Assurance Case Study...54
a. Verizon’s Philosophy of Revenue Assurance
b. Constantly Improving the Business Process
c. History of the RA Program for Verizon’s Broadband and FiOS Service
d. The Two Imperatives of Revenue Assurance at Verizon
e. Emphasis on Preventative RA
f. The Scope of RA: Monitoring the Billing Process End-to-End
g. The Importance of Unfiltered and Detailed Data
h. RA Analysts – Traffic Controllers
i. RA Associates – the Worker Bees
j. The Overall RA Workflow
k. RA Work around New Product Introductions
l. Racing the Bill – How RA Work is Prioritized
m. Problems with Bill Cycle Prioritization
n. The RA Analyst’s Workflow & Use of the Moneta Analytics Tool
o. The Root Cause Analysis and Corrections Process
p. Exceptions to the RA Corrections Process: The Spinners
q. Housekeeping the Audits Themselves
r. Tracking Promotions
s. Coordinating with Customer Service
t. The Challenge of Enterprise Customer Views and Contracts
2. Carrier Access Billing – RA Case Study at U.S. CLEC.......65
a. Managing Regulatory & Inter-Carrier Billing Complexities
b. Designing the Carrier Access Assurance Process
c. Problems, Challenges, and Objectives of the Case
d. Process Flow of the CABS Assurance System
e. The Auditor’s Interface to the System
f. Revenue Assurance Problems Resolved & System Benefits
g. Conclusion
3. Global Revenue Assurance Program at Cable & Wireless...70
4. Wireless Revenue Assurance at Cellcom.............................79
5. Cable Operator Revenue Assurance Program at Comcast...81
6. A Combined Fraud & Customer Risk System at TDC Denmark...84
7. Revenue & Margin Assurance Programs at Vodafone UK...89
 
The Cost Assurance Practice & Market

Carriers use each other’s pipes and complete each other’s calls. As a wholesaler you need to be sure you’re billing for all your usage.   As a retailer, your job is to verify the interconnect bills you receive.   The interconnect reconciliation and optimization side of business assurance is what we mean by cost assurance, and it’s practice that’s highly developed in North America and will soon spread globally.

This chapter merges knowledge from multiple experts.  Peter Yelle of Contact Telecom gives a briefing on invoice validation.    David West of Equinox talks about the jurisdiction and complexing rating process involved in CDR usage analysis.  Hulya Altinsoy from Connectiv Solutions advises on how to plan and cost assure free or subsidized international calling plans.

1. Interconnect Billing Analysis...............................................5
2. Investing in an Invoice Validation Solution.......................5
a. Cost Validation: How Much of a Return Can You Expect?
b. Why Manual Invoice Validation Could be Costing you Money
c. The Biggest Benefit: Regular, Deep Dive Invoice Review
3. Usage Based Cost Assurance................................................7
a. Introduction
b. Usage Data Warehouse -- a Telelink Case Study
4. Cost Analysis – Should You Offer Free International Calls?...8
a. Decide If Free International LD is Right for Your Brand
b. Domestic is from Mars; International is from Venus
c. Analyze your Margins in Detail
d. Obtain International LD Benchmarking Data
e. Be On-Guard for International Traffic Pumping and Fraud
5. The Increasing Demand for Usage Analysis.......................11
6. Usage Collection and Traffic Identification Problems.......12
a. Background on Why Migrate to SS7
b. The Problem with the Old Usage Collection Systems
c. Extent of the Problem
d. Competitors in the SS7 Software Market
7. Electronic Invoice Conversion.............................................15
 
Least Cost Routing Automation

With the advent of SS7 and SIP based LCR, automation has truly arrived. Today, LCR is to bypass the painstaking switch updating process altogether by dipping a database on a dedicated server that call-by-call forwards the routing instructions to the switches in real-time.

Today, LCR and optimized routing is one of the critical innovations in cost assurance.  Our discussion includes a detailed LCR backgrounder from Pulse Networks, a SIP dynamic routing brief from GCS, and a discussion of the bountiful opportunities in international LCR from TEOCO.

1. The Significance of Least Cost Routing..............................16
2. Traditional LCR & Switch Translation...............................16
3. The Need for an Automated, Real-Time Solution..............17
4. Using a Central Server to Dynamically Route Calls...........18
5. Real-Time Interconnect at a Tier 2 Wireless Operator...19
6. Advantages of Automated Least Cost Routing...................19
7. LCR’s Critical Importance in the VoIP Network...............21
8. The Mechanics of Call Routing and Database Dipping...22
a. Similarity of Routing using SIP or SS7
b. The Increasingly Real-Time Nature of Call Routing
c. The Special Expertise Required to be a Vendor Player in LCR
d. Managing Rate Sheet Addendums
e. Delivering the LCR Solution
f. Limitations on Number of Interconnect Partners
9. International Call Routing..................................................24
a. Differences Between U.S. routing and International routing.
b. Name- vs. Number-Based Destination Routing
c. The Process of Taking in New Rate Sheets from Routing Partners
d. How Wholesalers Optimize and Distribute their Pricing Rate Sheets
e. The Impact of International Number Portability?
f. The Market Potential for International Call Routing Solutions
g. Managing International Interconnect Traffic Management – Telarix Example
10. The Impact of Local Number Portability on LCR..............27
a. Why the LERG Database is Not Enough
b. Number Pooling Complicates the Issue Even More
c. Carriers are Not Aware of the Severity of the Problem
d. The Extent of the LNP Cost Management Problem
e. Recommendations
 
Margin & Content Assurance

Margin assurance for content services is a high revenue risk because a third party content provider gets paid whether the operator collect revenue or not.  This chapter explores the techniques being used to tighten controls and detect errors in this area.

A key feature of this chapter is a full explanation of the ground-breaking margin analysis system installed at CenturyLink/Qwest using a TEOCO platform. The system is a big-data-based enterprise-wide system that is a model for future cost/profit assurance.

Among other areas discussed in the chapter are the effect of promotions, “fine-grained” customer profitability, and taking advantage of volume discounts.  Other case studies include one on auditing wholesale bills for a RIM Blackberry service and BT’s interconnect partnering platform that smoothes its wholesale relationship with mobile operators in the UK.

1. Margin Assurance Solution at CenturyLink/Qwest....................................30
a. Getting Organization Buy-In
b. Understanding your Data and Making Prioritiess
c. Sales Compensation Based on Margin not Revenue
d. Prioritization of the Project
e. The Power of a Scalable Technology Platform
f. The Difficulty of Assigning Costs to Events
g. CDR Enrichment and the Unified CDR
h. Wide Data Availability and Drill Down
i. Lessons Learned
2. The Assurance of Content Services....................................38
a. Content Assurance vs. Traditional RA
b. Getting the Cooperation of the Product Teams who Manage Content Services
c. The Interplay & Data Exchange Between Carrier and Third Party Provider
d. Matching Content Revenue and Cost  – Margin Analysis
3. Blackberry as Wholesaler: Reconcile Over the Top Services...40
a. Tracking the Level of Service
b. Document Your Business Process Before Creating Controls
c. Possible Leakage Points to Check For
4. Margin Assurance for Small to Medium Carriers..............43
a. Allowing the Necessary to Speak Above the Crowd
b. Obtaining the Necessary Facts to Run Your Business
5. Pioneering Partnership Management Solutions................46
6. Interconnect Partnering System for Settling Disputes......48
 
Network Inventory Reconciliation

Progress is being made in network inventory reconciliation.    That’s the word from Eric Nelson of Synaptitude (and former CLEC CEO), who believes adoption is being driven by the network groups who have been scolded for years over the high cost of their infrastructure.  In this chapter, the challenge of network reconciliation is explored and system solutions are offered from two directions.

First, Mark Nicholson, CTO of Subex, shows the virtues of network resource scanning and argues that the “configuration of the actual network is far more reliable than any representation of it.”  Then an opposite strategy is advocated by Suren Nathan of Razorsight who feels carriers – especially small to mid-sizes ones -- should reconcile using off-network systems such as ordering and billing.  It’s an interesting debate.  Either way, network reconciliation can pay big dividends in revenue maximization and operating efficiency.

1. Real-Time Network Resource Scanning.......39
a. The Challenging of Knowing Your Network
b. The Importance of Real-Time Resource Scanning
c. Keeping Track of Service Component Dependencies
2. Network Reconciliation Through the B/OSS...40
a. Why Network Inventory is a Cost Assurance Function
b. The History of Network Inventory Reconciliation
c. The Visibility Virtues of Inventory Analytics
d. What an Inventory Analytics System Will Track
e. Where a Network Inventory Reconciliation System is Needed
f. Wireless Backhaul: Preparing the Cleanup when the Dust Settles
 
Fraud Management Systems

Fraud management systems need to be as clever at pattern and anomaly detection as criminals are at exploiting the vulnerabilities of telecom networks and back-end systems.    It’s a never-ending struggle.  And this chapter attempts to define and explain the major control measures that operators put in place around a wide array of fraud management areas.

Several experts contributed to this chapter including David West on PBX fraud, Tal Eisner of cVidya on Insider Fraud, James Stewart of MACH on Roaming Fraud, and a director at Vodafone on Dealer and Commissions Fraud.

1. The Function of a Fraud System........................................4
2. Business PBX Fraud............................................................4
a. The Highly Vulnerable PBX
b. Why You Shouldn’t Necessarily Trust your Wholesaler
c. Monitoring Your Network Aggressively
d. Conclusion
3. Revenue Sharing Fraud & Traffic Pumping.......................6
a. Why Business CLECs and Enhanced Providers are Vulnerable to Revenue Fraud
4. Taming International Call Fraud & PBX Hijacking..........8
5. VoIP Fraud -- The Pena Case..............................................9
6. Basics of Fraud Analysis: Compare Actual to Expected Usage...10
7. Fraud and Next Generation Networks................................11
8. The Growth of Mobile Subscription Fraud.......................12
a. The Genesis of Insider Fraud and Why it’s Growing
b. The Scope of Insider Fraud:  Not Limited to Enterprise Accounts
c. How Insider Fraud Detection Works
d. Case Study of Insider Fraud at Mobile Operator in Europe
e. Detecting Special Discounts Fraud
f. Social Network Site Investigations
9. Insider Fraud: Criminal Activity in the Telecom Sales Process...12
a. The Genesis of Insider Fraud and Why it’s Growing
b. The Scope of Insider Fraud:  Not Limited to Enterprise Accounts
c. How Insider Fraud Detection Works
d. Case Study of Insider Fraud at Mobile Operator in Europe
e. Detecting Special Discounts Fraud
f. Social Network Site Investigations
10. Roaming Fraud Assurance...................................................15
a. The Roaming Service Bureau – How it Works
b. The Limitations of an Operating Doing its own Roaming Fraud Detection
c. Detecting & Resolving a Cross International Boundary Roaming Fraud
11. Dealers Management and Commission Assurance............16
a. Typical Dealer Problems
b. The Impact of Better Monitoring and Managing of Dealers
c. Determining what Standard Dealer Behavior Is
d. Dealer Management Software Used
e. Access to Dealer Management Reports
f. The Point of Sales System that Dealers Use
g. Managing the Tricky Relationship between Sales and IT
12. Fraud Management System Configurability......................23
a. Moving Beyond Customization Restrictions in Software
b. The Framework Approach to Fraud Software
c. Why Better Configurability Works for Telecoms Large and Small
13. Areas of Fraud Concern Vary by International Region...24
14. Sharing of Fraud Related Information among Operators...24
15. Technical & Performance Issues within Fraud Systems...25
a. How Similar are RA and Fraud Systems Under the Covers?
b. Advanced Functionality in Fraud Systems
16. Convincing Senior Execs to Support Fraud Management...26
17. Operator Satisfaction with Fraud Management Systems...27
a. Why Fraud Systems have been Throw-away Systems
 
Credit & Collections Management

The persistence of mobile subscription fraud is a sure sign that credit management remains a key control function.  And if the key result of bad credit decisions is bad debt, well, Bell Canada’s informal research suggests that that at any particular time, about 30% to 40% of bills are either past due or unpaid.

In this chapter we discuss what carriers are doing to combat these credit and bad debt issues.    First we look a the systems that Fair Isaac and Neural Technologies have developed to manage credit problems.  Then we hear how a large carrier dramatically tamed its s bad debt problems through better collections processes, as opposed to buying a new billing system.

1. Why Credit Management has Become More Vital.............28
2. The Technology Behind Credit Management & Fraud......28
3. Collections at Business Accounts.........................................32
4. Gaining Control of Bad Debt...............................................33
a. Early Customer Contact
b. Customer’s Lifetime Value & Profitability Profiles
c. Leveraging Billing Controls & Collections Policies
 
The Carrier & Software Vendor Relationship

It’s crucial that operators and software vendors cooperate for their common benefit.  But the relationship is often fraught with controversy and missteps by both sides.  This chapter draws from a number of experts to seek answers to this issue.

First we hear from PwC on why RA software gets mixed reviews and why carriers require different data sampling strategies depending on the situation.  Then we discuss a problem raised by a carrier who complained about the lack of “leveraged expertise” and ready-to-roll KPIs that came with his RA solution.

David West of Equinox also analyzes the build vs. buy question and what good software customer service means.  Finally, Gary Beck of Beck Computers weighs in on the issue of making the software vendor/carrier partnership more solid.

1. Operators Get Mixed Results from Commercial RA Software...4
2. Inheriting Carrier Best Practices When You Buy a Tool...4
3. Sampling vs. Full-Blown Analytics of RA Data...................5
4. Selecting the Right Business Assurance Software.............6
5. B/OSS Software: When to Buy and When to Build...........6
a. The Case for Building Your Own
b. In-House Projects: the Illusion of Control
c. Can Your In-House Application Stay State-of-the-Art?
d. Conclusion
6. In-House Build Preference over Revenue Assurance COTS...8
7. What Makes a True Vendor/Carrier Partnership?............9
8. What Makes for Good B/OSS Software Customer Service?...9
a. Treat your Employees Right.
b. Be Fair and Consistent When it Comes to Pricing
c. Be Honest
d. Do the Right Thing.
9. How Vendors & Customers can Build a Good Relationship...11
a. Be Willing to Compromise
b. Set Clear Requirements
c. Set a Realistic Budget and Timelines
d. Be on the Lookout for Points of Confusion
e. Be Quick to Work through a Tough Issue
f. Be Willing to Compromise
 
Managed Services Delivery

Outsourcing revenue assurance and fraud monitoring to a service bureau is a growing trend – as either a hosted or fully managed service.  Companies such as Subex, Neural Technologies, and Connectiva are certainly all seeing an uptick.

In this chapter we explore the pros and cons of this issue, discussing for what geographic regions and  operator sizes an outsource strategy makes sense.  The section also concludes with timeless advice from Scott Rice, Senior VP at Sprint, who teaches how to manage a managed service provider.  In Rice’s case, one of those outsource partners is Amdocs.

1. Managed Services in Revenue Assurance..........................13
2. Diverse Managed Services Models at Subex......................13
3. Connectiva’s Managed Services...........................................15
4. How Fast can Managed Services RA can Grow.............15
5. Managed Services & SaaS Hosting in Fraud......................16
6. Managing Your “Managed Services” Provider...................16
a. Definition of Managed Services
b. Oversight of the Partner
c. Engaging with the Partner
d. Cultivate the Relationship
e. Vendor Partner Responsibilities
f. Conclusion
 
Cloud Delivery & SaaS

While cloud computing, as an on-line computing trend, is in its infancy, Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a well-established trend in telecom solution delivery.

In this chapter we talk about the impact of cloud-based delivery in business assurance, such as the key advantages of SaaS and how the cloud is helping software vendors and carrier synchronize maintenance and software upgrades.  We conclude with an analysis by Peter Yelle of Contact Telecom on the benefits of SaaS in invoice validation and cost assurance.

1. Cloud Application Delivery for Telecom.............................20
2. Managing Peak Events in the Cloud...................................21
3. Application Maintenance and Testing in the Cloud..........21
4. The Demand for SaaS Delivery..........................................21
5. Implementing a Cost Assurance SaaS................................24
a. The Virtues of a SaaS – Evolving a Business Process
b. Getting Started
c. How are Invoices Received and Tracked?
d. How are Invoices Reviewed to Validate the Charges?
e. Independent References used to Validate the Charges
f. What is the Invoice Workflow from Receipt to A/P Presentation?
g. How is the Auditing Process Controlled and Managed?
 
Revenue Assurance Consulting Practices & Market

In our 2001 study of the revenue assurance market, we made a point of covering the services market, but since that time we’ve focused mainly on the software solution business because that’s where a lot of the action was happening.

But in this study we bring our focus back into services/consulting practices by covering three major consulting firms: Ericsson, PwC, and TMNG.  In this chapter you’ll learn how the services firms add value, attract and cultivate clients, and decide whether to accept contingency work.

1. RA Assessment: Cornerstone of an RA Services Practice..27
2. Identifying Leakage & Mentoring RA Managers...............28
3. Scope of Consulting Engagements......................................29
4. How Service Firms Get the Business................................29
5. How Service Firms Cultivate Carrier Customer Bonds...30
6. The Value a Services Firm Creates Beyond the Software Tool...30
7. Some Criticism of Large Consulting Firms........................31
8. Telefónica’s Contingency RA Contract................................31
9. The Attraction and Dangers of Taking Contingency Work...32
 
Mediation’s Role in the BSS

Mediation and usage analysis are the foundation of business assurance techniques, even as most mediation-specialty software companies have gone out of business or been purchased by larger firms. 

Of keen interest should be the detailed examniation of Sprint's multiple mediation explaining how Sprint manages its own internal mediation system in conjunction with that of Amdocs and Openet.

Most of the chapter is based on our 2009 study, and features cases studies and analysis of key trends such as active/on-line mediation and the switch to blade hardware software-based systems.

1. Mediation: The Basics..........................................................5
2. Shielding Billing Systems From The Network....................6
3. Post Event vs. Active Mediation..........................................6
4. The Attraction of On-Line Mediation.................................7
5. Convergent Mediation: Essential in 3G & LTE Networks.8
6. Features of Active Mediation...............................................9
7. How Multiple Mediation Systems Work Together at Sprint...............................10
a. The Heritage of Mediation Systems at Sprint
b. Sprint’s Mediation Architecture
c. Functions of the Different Mediation Systems
8. The Evolution of Mediation Hardware...............................14
a. The Impact of Usage Growth and Commodity Hardware
9. Vodafone Spain Convergent Mediation Case Study..........16
10. Advanced 3G Mediation at SK Telecom in Korea...19
a. Introduction
b. SK Telecom and the Advanced 3G Market in Korea
c. The Scale of Mediation Operations at SK Telecom
d. Value Based Pricing
e. Advanced Business Rules Engine
f. Customer Care Integration
g. Duplicate Data Checks
h. Multi-Processing
i. Preventing Data Loss
j. Bulk Processing Option
k. Sophisticated Subscriber Plans and Analysis
11. Birch Telecom -- Cost Reduction, Expansion, & VoIP....... 
a. Telecom Profile
b. Uses for Mediation
c. Mediation Strategy Going Forward
 
Network Policy Management

Network policy is gaining as a technique to promote services or throttle bandwidth in real-time for mobile voice/broadband users.  Promotional offers are tough enough to assure even for non-real-time services, so adding a real-time component has great potential to confuse subscribers and lead to churn and control problems.

Recognizing that RA solutions for network policy have still not arrived, this chapter provides a backgrounder on the impact of policy as seen by industry players such Volubill and Tango Telecom.

1. The Need for Policy Management in Wireless Broadband...23
2. Vodafone Hungary Case Study............................................24
3. Openet’s Dynamic Biz Control & Policy Management Solution...25
4. Traditional Policy vs. Mediation/Charging Players...........26
 
Analytics & Business Intelligence

Analytics techniques and software are one of the big trends in telecom software and directly impacts the auditing, usage, and revenue monitoring functions of business assurance.  This chapter, based on a previously published TRI study on Customer Analytics, provides several case studies to show how telecoms are exploiting analytics.

Supplementing these cases is recent analysis from John Myers of Blue Buffalo Group on the impact that “big-data” analytics and BI is having in telecom,  In addition, Simon Rees, of Idiro analyzes the one of the newest trends, social network analysis.

1. Definition of Terms..............................................................26
2. Gaining a Vendor-Specific Definition of Analytics............27
3. From Spreadsheets to OLTP for Business Intelligence......29
4. Preparing for Big-Data Requirements in Telecom...........29
5. Predictive Analytics.............................................................32
6. Analytics Challenge: Changing the Organization Mindset...34
7. Why Back Office Integration is so Critical........................34
8. Hardware Choices for Analytics..........................................35
9. Desktop Analytics Moves Up Market..................................35
10. Churn Management & Retention........................................36
a. Customer Churn and Its Impact on Operators
b. Goals of a Churn Reduction Program
c. The Root Causes of Churn
d. SAS Institute’s Method of Churn Analysis
e. Tracfone Churn Reduction
f. Real-Time Churn Campaign at SK Telecom
g. Bundling as a Retention Tool
h. Fair Isaac’s Champion/Challenger Campaign Technique
i. Portrait Software’s Uplift Campaign
j. Verizon’s Customer Retention Program - RETAIN
k. Forensic Data Analysis
l. Proactive Campaigns
m. Outbound Campaigns for Customer Retention
n. Increasing Customer Care Interaction Times
o. Personalization & Customer Segmentation
11. Profitability Analysis............................................................49
a. The Emergence of Pricing Optimization
b. Operations Costs and Profitability Management.
c. Profitability Analysis in Mobile
d. Business Intelligence in Selling Situations
e. How to Assess the Financial Impact of Customers
f. Why Profitability Analysis is not Easy
g. Profitability Measured at Acquisition, Origination, and On-Going
h. The Treatment of Unprofitable Customers
12. Mobile Marketing & Analytics.............................................56
a. The Need for a Better Marketing Coordination & Systems
b. The Demand for Mobile Marketing Data
c. Mobile Marketing Automation
d. The Marketing Advantages of an End-to-End Charging & Policy Platform
e. Rich HTML-Based Marketing on the Mobile Data Platform
f. Analytics for Mobile Marketing
g. Handset Analytics
h. Google Marketing Data for Mobile Phones
13. Social Network Analysis.......................................................61
a. Social Network Analysis vs. Predictive Analysis
b. Why Social Network Analytics has Nothing to Do with Facebook
c. Who are the Biggest Influencers in a Group?
d. Net Promoter Score vs. SNA
e. What Carriers are Ideal Customers for SNA?
f. What Carriers Won’t Get Their Money’s Worth from SNA
14. BT Group Customer Satisfaction Improvement – Case Study...63
15. NEXTEL’s Churn Management Program – Case Study...67
16. VTR Real-Time Marketing of Triple Play Services in Chile... 
 
Service Assurance

The worlds of service assurance and revenue/cost assurance are beginning to intersect.  In fact, cost assurance market leader TEOCO recently acquired TTI, a pure-play network/service assurance software vendor.  When you can accurately measure the service quality a roaming or traffic termination partner delivers, you can negotiate better contracts and select the best partners, so the capability to leverage powerful cost management tools is there, though this advanced software is generally not yet available.

This chapter, which draws from TRI’s 2009 study of the Network/Service Assurance market provides essential background information on service assurance.  In addition, we hear the perspective of experts at companies offering service assurance solutions such as Nexus Telecom and Accanto Systems.

1. Definition of Terms..............................................................5
2. Performance Management..................................................6
a. The Virtues of Performance vs. Fault Management
b. Marrying Probes with Performance Management
c. The Demand for Better and Faster Customer Reporting
3. Applications Performance Management............................8
a. Why Application Monitoring is Essential in Wireless
b. Application Performance vs. IP Performance Assurance
c. A Carrier Delivered Solutions for Enterprises
4. Deep Packet Inspection Surveillance..................................10
a. Combining Deep Packet Inspection and Massive Data Storage
5. Customer Experience & Service Quality Management......12
a. Customer Experience vs. SQM: Definitions
b. Integrating Multi-Vendor, Multi-Technology, Multi-Layer Networks
c. The Challenge of Monitoring a Service’s Quality
d. The Benefits of Customer Experience Management & SQM
e. SQM and Service Modeling Example: an MMS Service
6. Customer Experience Monitoring – Theory vs. Practice...15
a. Operators have Little Visibility on How Much Speed they are Delivering
b. Reactive vs. Proactive Assurance
c. Challenge of Correlation
d. KPIs to Determine Better Quality
e. Why Service Providers Don’t Have a Clue
7. Wireless Device & Home Network Monitoring..................17
a. Wireless Device Management
b. Home Monitoring - Advent of Residential Network Assurance
c. Relieving the Call Center from Excess Network Trouble Calls
8. Signaling Analysis Systems..................................................19
a. Signaling Impact on Service Assurance
b. Signaling vs. Performance Management Assurance
c. Voice Quality Analysis
d. Real-Time Analytics & Dynamic Thresholding
e. Service Assurance for Mobile Operators
9. The Challenge of Real-Time Feedback on Service Performance...23
a. The Need to Operate Telecom as a Smart Grid
b. How Signaling Data is Now Collected for Troubleshooting & Analysis
c. Why Mean Time to Repair is Delayed
d. The Bandwidth Problem: Transporting Signaling Data
e. Reliance on High Level Engineering Expertise
f. Database Indexing Signaling Data
g. An Analogy to Understand the Trouble Search Method
h. Enrichment of the Communications Data Record (CDR)
10. Large Scale IP Configuration Solutions..............................28
a. The Rise of the Deep Network Knowledge Guys in OSS
b. Carrier Ethernet – Assurance Spells the Difference
c. Network Reconciliation – Another Use of the Control Plane
d. Orchestrating Provisioning & Assurance on a Large Scale
e. Policy Assurance - The Evolution of Telecom Business with Enterprises
f. BT: Taking Compliance Responsibility for Customers
 
Cyber Security

The telecom experts who monitor the fraud, revenue assurance and cost management problems are generally unaware of the systems and methods used to control the cyber threat, one of the biggest risks to the telecom business overall.  This chapter provides an up-to-date analysis of the threat and the kind of software solutions and techniques being used to counter the hacker problem.  This chapter was written by TRI’s network analyst, James Heath, and is a summary of findings from TRI’s in-depth 2010 research report on the subject.

1. Introduction..........................................................................32
2. Research Methodology.........................................................33
3. Historical Perspective: Why IP Networks are Not Secure...33
4. The Ever-Morphing Face of the Malicious Hacker............35
5. The Urgency of Meeting the Botnet Threat........................36
6. The Botnet Threat to National Governments.....................37
7. A Botnet Case Study: Taxonomy of an Attack....................38
a. Hijacking the Botnet to Better Understand Them
b. Infecting the Host
c. Torpig Threats
d. Botnet Damage Analysis
8. The Distributed Denial of Service Attack...........................40
9. Trends in DDoS - Application-Layer Attacks.....................41
10. Drive-By Malicious Downloads............................................42
11. Masquerading Websites.......................................................43
12. Internal Fraud and Data Theft............................................43
13. Exploiting IP Configuration Vulnerabilities.......................43
14. IP Configuration Led to 2009 FAA Outage........................44
15. Principles of Effective Cyber Security Design....................45
a. Introduction
b. Network Security
c. Internal Security
d. Perimeter Security
e. Security Design
16. Cyber Security Lifecycle: Active Security Sectors..............48
a. Active Security Sectors Primary Functions: Protect, Detect, and Correct
b. Educate the Workforce
c. Enforce Policy at the Perimeter
d. Assess the Defense for Weaknesses
e. Inspect through a Fine-Grained Analysis
f. Correlate to Find the Needle in the Haystack
g. Mitigate to Minimize the Damage
h. Remediate to Repair and Improve
17. Model for an Advanced, Large Scale Cyber Security System...52
a. Making the “Protect, Detect, Correct” Trade-Offs
b. The Different Cyber Security Needs of Enterprise Users
18. Advanced Security Network Solution for Large Enterprises...53
a. Firewalls
b. Intrusion Prevention Systems
c. Honeypots
d. DoS Mitigator
e. Web Screener
f. Packet Capture
g. Forensic Analysis
h. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
i. Data Logging
j. Network Behavioral Analysis
k. Security Posture Management
l. Data Loss Prevention
 
Market Forecasts

TRI has also sized and forecasted the worldwide market for the telecom business, fraud, cost, and revenue assurance software market in this report.   The forecast model is based on several parameters: TRI's historical tracking of the OSS/BSS market; discussions with carrier experts; and interviews with software and services vendors.   The forecasts are delivered in Excel spreadsheets and uses 2011 as the base year and provides forecast numbers to year 2016.   The market breakouts are shown on on this page.

Market Synthesis

Analysis of the market and industry practices is contained throughout this report, but in this chapter, TRI pulls it all together to make final recommendations for carriers and solution companies.  We point to key trends across the business assurance landscape and point to opportunity areas that carriers and solutions vendors are not addressing.

 
Vendor Profiles

Our vendor profiles are based on interviews with the leading solution vendors in the field.  TRI made a great effort to reach every major supplier in the marketplace.  We succeeded in having conversations with almost all vendors with a few exceptions.  All vendor profiles are new reports except Vertek and Telarix whose profiles we have republished from our 2009 report.

In the services space, major players such as Ericsson, PwC, and TMNG participated.  We also reached out to some small services firms such as RAAIIM and RevOps Consulting, who provided valuable perspective too.

Pages

AB. Vendor Profiles A-to-C

 
1. Araxxe..................................................................................6
2. Basset Labs............................................................................7
3. Beck Computers....................................................................7
4. cVidya....................................................................................10
5. Connectiva.............................................................................6
6. Connectiv Solutions..............................................................8
7. Contact Telecom...................................................................6
 

AC. Vendor Profiles D-to-G

 
8. Diksha Technologies..........................................................7
9. Digital Route......................................................................8
10. Enghouse Networks............................................................7
11. Equinox Information Systems.............................................10
12. Ericsson.................................................................................8
13. GCS.................................................................................7
 

AD. Vendor Profiles M-to-R

 
14. MACH.................................................................................6
15. MDS Lavastorm Analytics.......................................................7
16. NAMS Firefly CMSI..............................................................7
17. Neural Technologies.............................................................6
18. Nexus Telecom.............................................................6
19. ProCom Consulting.............................................................6
21. RAAIM..................................................................................3
22. Razorsight.............................................................................7
23. RevOps Consulting...............................................................3
 

AE. Vendor Profiles S-to-X

 
24. Subex.....................................................................................10
25. Telarix.................................................................................7
26. TEOCO................................................................................10
27. TMNG Global.......................................................................10
28. Vertek.................................................................................7
29. WeDo technologies...............................................................10
30. Xintec..........................................................................4