Revenue assurance is a process that allows large enterprises, such as telcos and fintech companies, to accurately capture and monitor the revenue for their services. This can be achieved using advanced software provided by 4C Group. Revenue assurance allows the business to detect and correct payment or billing errors. For more than a decade, world-renowned technological leaders in Africa have trusted 4C Group to provide them with revenue assurance technology and support to positively impact their bottom line.
Revenue assurance is a data-driven process that tracks large volumes of payments and improves profits, revenues and cash flow without influencing demand. Our iNSight™ Revenue Assurance Management software examines actual or potential leakage points in the network to ensure all tasks associated with receiving money are working efficiently and as intended. This means data can be corrected before it reaches the billing system and allows enterprises to update customer accounts instantly with collected payments.
4C’s software can be installed as its own system or alongside our iNSight™ Operational Data Store (ODS), which allows payments and files to be compared with the data from accounts and mediation. This software is designed to operate according to best practices in revenue assurance on a Mobile Network Operator’s (MNO) network or other large company.
Revenue assurance in the telecoms industry
While revenue assurance can be beneficial to a number of industries, it is particularly useful in the telecoms sector. The growth of connected devices is rapidly changing the context of what it means to be a telecoms operator. Consumer behaviour is being shaped by innovation and new technologies that will continue to drive demand for new services. New relations with new partners who can provide those services add more complexity to the billing scenario with new business models and associated revenue streams.
These new services create complex pricing strategies that include the likes of revenue sharing, zero-rated and sponsored services, elastic pricing, loyalty points, prorated services and others. The typical revenue chain in telecoms includes a complex set of interrelated technologies, systems, products and processes. As these expand and become more complex, the risk of revenue leakage increases dramatically.
In telecoms, revenue assurance involves several controls and processes that collectively ensure all products and services rendered are billed for and collected in accordance with the commercial agreement with users. The revenue assurance function includes audit and control management, revenue assurance process reviews, customised dashboards and reporting. Depending on the level of maturity of an operator’s revenue assurance environment, annual losses can range between 2% and 4% of revenue.
How 4C can improve revenue
4C’s iNSight™ software and ODS provide a comprehensive and transparent revenue assurance system that can help minimise revenue losses for enterprises. Instead of hiring an entire team to take care of revenue assurance, our software allows you to automate some of the processes and assess any potential avenues of risk or leakage quickly and efficiently. There will still be some form of engagement from your organisation.
Revenue assurance services cover several broad areas:
- Core revenue management chain – The entire system that is concerned with the capture, processing and collection of revenue.
- Core revenue assurance – The process of ensuring that the core revenue management chain is working properly.
- Collateral revenue assurance areas – The areas that are not directly related to the revenue management chain, but are still responsible for the effective operation thereof.
- Collateral revenue assurance – The process of ensuring that the collateral revenue assurance areas support the revenue management chain.
- Extended revenue assurance – The process of assuring the maximum revenue generated for a given product, service or department.
4C’s iNSight™ revenue assurance management software offers enterprises the following benefits:
- Reconciliation – Measuring the revenue generated from different sources, such as prepaid call detail records (CDRs) vs. mobile switching centre CDRs.
- Synchronisation – Comparing subscriber profile attributes between sources to ensure a single, constant and accurate profile across all network systems.
- Rating – Rating unrated data streams and then comparing them to rated records that are not necessarily from the billing system.
- Re-rating – Configuring rating rules to recalculate the rate applied and compare it to the billing system’s applied rate.
- Record level matching – Matching comparative data from different sources to identify discrepancies.
- Data classification – Configuring business rules to data to allow the analyst to quickly monitor revenue assurance key performance areas.
- Generic queries – Using pre-configured queries to assist the user in retrieving detailed information without the need to write SQL queries.
Why choose 4C Group for revenue assurance?
4C Group offers in-depth consultations with customers. We will learn your data models and create a needs analysis to establish the intended results and reduce your risk of exposure to fraud and revenue leakage. This is a tailormade solution for your enterprise that will improve your revenue risk profile. We also offer 24/7 customer support and system monitoring, which improves the customer experience.
Our ability to work with and understand data on an enterprise scale has been refined over the years. 4C can provide specific rules and controls that are based on your company’s data model and industry requirements. This not only improves your bottom line, but also the digital infrastructure that supports revenue management.
4C’s software provides an end-to-end revenue assurance service, which helps to ensure that large enterprises in Africa can reconcile their revenue streams, synchronise their billing systems, and get access to in-depth data. This level of reporting ensures that monthly bills are invoiced on time, and gives a complete breakdown of revenue performance for the business. For more information about our revenue assurance services, contact 4C today.
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At 4C Group of Companies, we strive to effect operational changes and cost savings for customers through our iNSight product and associated services. This product’s main function is to re-purpose and deliver business-critical information to a variety of systems and stakeholders.
We specialise in information assurance, business assurance, FinTech solutions and a variety of business systems. For more insights into our products and services, check out our blog page or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
