With any business, you must have the right support and systems in place to achieve and exceed your target goals. Telecoms are no different, and that is why it is vital they chose the right Business Support System (BSS).
What is a BBS?
For telecoms choosing the right Business Support System is imperative. These components allow the telecom to run its business operations for the benefit of customers and to monetize network capabilities.
The right business support system underpins all the critical business operations and services a network operator is trying to provide, driving operational efficiency at scale. Some of the operations covered by a BBS can include;
Product Management – This can include product development, the management of sales, catalogue and inventory or the offerings and deals available to customers.
Customer Management – A BBS can be used to support complex customer-facing applications or services. It can also support customer service agents to handle customer complaints or issues in a timely and more productive manner.
Revenue Management - Charging, billing, invoicing and collecting revenue from customers is an important part of any telecom and a BSS can support all these operations. It can also manage additional ad hoc billing or roaming charges.
Order Management – As we have previously mentioned a BSS can manage products and services but it can also be used to handle an order throughout the various stages of a sales journey. It can handle incoming sales orders, process order fulfilment and even order failures.
Why is it so important for Telecoms to Select the right BSS?
Customer Relationships
One of the most important reasons a BBS is important for telecoms is to maintain good customer relationships. With the choice of networks available, maintaining a high quality customer service is not only vital for retaining current customers but for attracting new ones. The right BBS should support customers by improving the services they receive.
By providing them with the right information and letting them self-service issues, customers can achieve a quicker resolution to their issues. The billing system equips telcos to give customers full visibility and control over their spend, plan, add-ons and more. Giving your customers the ability to self-service will free up your customer service agents to manage high-level issues and give you the ability to field a higher number of calls at a lower overall cost.
Customer relationships nowadays go beyond just resolving issues and are affected by a range of experiences your customers have whilst using your services. Many of these can be improved by deploying the right BSS. By having automated workflows set up you can trigger alerts to customers when they near a billing point. This will mean you can avoid “bill shock” by warning customers in advance of them breaching billing limits. These triggered workflows can also be configured to send useful information at the right time. For example, if a customer has consistently reached their data limit for a number of months an alert can trigger to inform them of a package with more data or how to apply a one-off “bolt-on” for more data.
Business Targets
As a business attracts more customers and grows it is essential the systems within that business can grow at a similar pace. It is therefore paramount to choose a BBS that supports the scope of your business. As your business grows and takes on more customers, features such as automation will be key in helping you to minimise outlay on staff whilst not affecting customer satisfaction. Automation is also key to support service complexity, to enable scalable business models in current and new industry verticals and to support 5G services.
The correct BSS should also provide you with insights into the nature of your business with detailed reporting. Having a powerful reporting tool will be key to the successful growth of a business, allowing you to highlight where investment might be needed and provide a competitive edge.
It is also important any BSS can be quickly integrated into current business practices and systems. A modular approach, based on open APIs, is preferential to ensure compatibility between components This will allow for rapid deployment and for systems to be quickly updated and expanded as the business grows.
Financial Risks
Choosing the right BSS should also protect your business from financial risks. Where many telecoms now offer prepaid models, it is important that real-time usage metering is as accurate as possible. By using an online converged charging system as part of their BSS, telecoms can keep a track of all the transactions within a certain subscriber’s account. This could include their overall account balance or one-time charges such as top-ups. They can also enforce credit limits by automatically controlling service access at the cut of point for a subscriber, thus protecting them from overspending, or “bill shock” and protecting the telecom’s interests. Telecoms can also use this to maximise digital opportunities, monetise 5G technology and drive business growth.
Lifecycles AllinOne BSS system offers telecoms the complete set of modules to fully support the end-to-to, back-office operations of both wholesale and retail providers or subscription-based service enablers. Working straight from the initial point of sale, through to provision, customer management, billing, collections and reporting. Our BSS solution are highly responsive, flexible and easily integrated. We are also able to optimise growth and deliver a seamless end user experience by automating business processes.
Click here to find out more about how our BBS can help your business grow and reach your goals.