Billing/Charging: The Perennial Power Tool for Change

Tuesday Sessions

STEM the Tide of Telecom Expense 10:45 – 11:30 a.m.
Self-service Telecom Expense Management (STEM) can provide less expensive, and sometimes free, expense management and analysis. STEM goes beyond billing to include inventory and ordering, provide expense analysis and enable upfront controls for ongoing telecom expense management. This session will discuss synchronizing inventory from initial service order to final bill; managing assets and usage across multiple devices; building flexibility into online billing and reporting tools; and performing e-billing and how it fits within a broader eService strategy designed to meet the full scope of customer needs.

Speaker: Tom Angeline, Senior Director of Business Development & Marketing, AT&T

Case Study: The Realities of Billing Transformation 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Hand-in-hand with its spin-off from Sprint, EMBARQ was faced with a monumental task: transforming its immediate billing operations in a mere 12-month window without impacting its customers or operations and keeping it inline with its greater transformation goal of enhanced, integrated service offerings delivered with a superior customer experience. This session will reveal the lessons learned during the overhaul of existing business processes, migration of 3.7 million customers and a smooth transition for 4,000 customer service operators.

Speaker: Julie Sehrt, Service Delivery Manager, Embarq

Mass Correction As an Enabler of Revenue Assurance 2 – 2:45 p.m.
Recently there have been growing concerns in the industry regarding the recapture of revenue when large numbers of errors are detected. In this presentation, Subex and Verizon will discuss strategies and tools for successfully correcting high volumes of individualized errors. Verizon has made significant strides in the development of mass analysis and correction tools and processes that have had predated success in several initiatives across the enterprise. The discussion will also include a brief history of tool-based correction processes, including examples where carrier strategies have succeeded, as well as examples of where they have failed.

Speakers: John Myers, Senior Consultant, Subex Ltd.
Kathy Romano, Executive Director, Verizon

Case Study: Billing Transformation 3 – 3:45 p.m.
Many service providers have faced the daunting task of transforming their billing systems to support the addition of broadband or wireless. But RCN Metro transformed its billing system from a cable-centric system to one supporting a full-service, communications service provider system. The company will present a case study on this transformation.

Speaker: Chris Lowe, Senior director, IS/IT, RCN Metro

Wednesday Sessions

Case Study: Rethinking Billing for Next-Generation Service Providers 9 – 9:45 a.m.
Traditional billing solutions were built to address the legacy telecom business model and related challenges. Enabled by new technologies like SOA and Web services, service providers are now rethinking their billing architectures and focusing on new priorities and challenges. Evolve IP, a managed technology provider offering telephony, network services and hosted applications, has taken a radically new approach to solving the billing problem.

Speakers: Camilla Dahlen, President, HighDeal
Robert Hirtsko, Communications/Media Industry Principal, SAP Americas

The Trials and Tribulations of Servicing the Corporate Sector 10 – 10:45 a.m.
In a challenging economy, subscribers of all types are looking to better manage their telecommunication costs. For businesses, telecommunication services are a significant expense and managers are intensely scrutinizing their services to cap costs. In turn, operators are driven to develop compelling offers that entice business users, but worry about how their systems can support the various tariff structures and programs. This session will identify the profiles, challenges and solutions of some of the leading operators servicing the corporate sector.

Speakers: Jennifer Fellows, Vice President of Product Management for Intec

Thursday Sessions

Transpromotional Billing 9 – 9:45 a.m.
Today’s invoice is no longer just a financial document. It must also act as a powerful communication and marketing tool that generates revenue and improves customer relations — called, for short, transpromo. This session will discuss ways to improve your current transpromo efforts as well as how to make sure you are getting the desired results. It goes beyond the basics to providing an action plan for your transpromo initiatives. According to a recent study, 63 percent of companies are planning to add marketing messages within the next 36 months, which makes this session timely as well as informative.

Moderator: Dawn Kaplan, Principal Systems Engineer, Operations & Transformation Solutions, Telcordia
Speakers: Debbie Miglaw, Director, Product Management, DST Output
Rich Hoffman, Vice President, Technical and Operations, OSG Billing Services