Revenue increase
Marketing and commercial services try to orient more to the customer, offering new and additional services to subscribers in order to increase revenue, and provision of services, which include third-party supplier services (for example, video content, long distance services), require higher flexibility, performance and functionality, in order to decrease risks of profit loss.
A billing system must create a synergetic effect from interoperation of commercial and IT-departments, i.e. new services, which are introduced to the market, must be launched in the shortest possible time, meet current requirements of subscribers and market conditions.
Elimination of profit "drain"
During provision of services each operator faces quiet, invisible and constant profit "drain". Elimination of profit "drain" and thus gaining of additional profit is the possibility, dwelled upon in this section.
Unlike profit losses, which happen due to ineffective internal processes and profit management procedures, profit "drain" is connected to external strategic decisions, related to:
- efficient tariff policy;
- subscribers loyalty management.
Due to absence of effective mechanisms of external strategic decision management, these decisions have a tendency to become "default", and not planned. In the environment, which becomes more and more competitive, where the load on the network infrastructure and content quality are the main factors of new profit gaining, disregard of external strategic decision management directly causes profit decrease and, therefore, survival ability of a telecoms operator.
Inline Telecom Solutions products
Inline Telecom Solutions offers complex billing solutions for prevention of profit loss, which help telecoms operators to reasonably determine and implement effective tariff policy, manage subscribers loyalty, realize strategies of partner profitability. Products of Inline Telecom Solutions are developed bearing in mind provision of effective interaction and integration with existing infrastructures of telecoms operators.
Efficient tariff policy
In order to find out what an effective tariff policy is, it is first required to understand, which tariff policy is ineffective. Ineffective tariff policy is due to the fact that a telecoms operator offers flat rates for provided services. A flat rate is used independently of the communication channel load or content value.
Examples of flat rate scenarios:
- "all you can eat" – independently of channel load;
- "flat tariff policy" – all content independently of its value.
For example, in the data transmission network with broadband connection to the Internet, "heavy" Internet-users load the channel more, than other subscribers. This, in turn, lowers the quality of service provision for the majority of other subscribers, which, as a result, are unsatisfied with provided services.
"Утечка" дохода в этом случае происходит со стороны выручки, когда эти абоненты уходят к другим операторам связи, чтобы получить уровень сервиса, которые они хотят получить. Также "утечка" дохода происходит со стороны затрат, поскольку оператору связи приходится все больше средств вкладывать в сетевую инфраструктуру, чтобы повысить качество обслуживания и лояльность абонентов.
Profit "drain" in this case happens on the part of revenues, when these partners leave for other telecoms operators, in order to get the service of the level they want. Profit "drain" also happens on the part of expenses, as a telecoms operator has to invest more money into the network infrastructure, in order to increase service quality and subscribers loyalty.
Such an inefficient tariff policy results from the fact that a telecoms operator uses billing solutions, which cannot provide price strategies, based on network load coefficient or depending on content value, even if the network infrastructure allows to realize such strategies.
Determination and conducting of a tariff policy based on the channel load is shown on the Picture 1. This tariff policy consists in self-regulation of subscribers’ behavior during purchase and use of services, i.e. in willingness of subscribers to pay for the required level of services (channel load level).
Such approach to a tariff policy, based on the "open market" allows not only to avoid profit "drain", but also to increase profits, because a tariff policy can be optimized in such a way, that to be attractive and agree with a specific market segment, taking into account a certain level of the channel load.
A telecoms operator can define a tariff policy based on the channel load, or statically in certain values of load and cost ratio, or dynamically in accordance with the curve on the diagram. Such approach helps telecoms operators to get the maximum profit, and prevent its loss.
Management of subscribers loyalty
The majority of telecoms operators mostly focus their business activity on attraction of subscribers, than on their retention. However, if providers made a simple comparison of expenses for attraction of subscribers and loss of profit from leave of loyal customers for a competitor, the focus of their business would drastically change.
In the result of big attention paid to attraction of customers, a telecoms operator loses profit from constant loss of subscribers. These are not just average subscribers, who usually go from one operator to another, these can be more valuable one. Picture 2 shows customer value at the upper level.
For the majority of telecoms operators such form of profit "drain" is quite familiar, and their difficult financial situation is the result of "outflow" of loyal customers. One of the main difficulties a telecoms operator faces – is the billing system, which was designed according to the principle "One size, which fits everyone". Besides, with the help of such system it is impossible to automatically identify and fully stimulate loyal customers, effectively managing a large size of the subscribers base.
In addition to setting priorities and focusing on subscribers loyalty management, an operator also needs to use the system of subscribers loyalty management, which shall be integrated with the billing solution. The system o subscribers loyalty management contains the information about subscribers and volumes of used services, and with the help of analysis it is possible to identify most valuable customers according to certain criteria, as well as their behavior. These data can be used for development and realization of the respective strategy of stimulation and retention of these subscribers.
