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| Case Study |
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Patni's billing solution expedites VoIP rollout
for a major US broadband provider |
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Patni's comprehensive VoIP and Converged Billing, Rating & Mediation Solution enabled service bundling
across product lines, highly accurate call usage processing and enhanced billing flexibility, while minimizing
billing data errors and lowering customer care costs.
The Client
A leading nationwide
provider of broadband voice
and data communications
for small and medium
businesses. It currently has
over 500,000 existing
customers, and a network
build-out capable of
servicing over half of the
households in the US.
The Challenge
This pure broadband provider desiring new revenue streams via entry into the
VoIP market acquired a VoIP service provider and faced the immediate
challenge of automating the billing and service fulfillment for integrated voice
and data services. The acquisition and desire for competitive positioning also
drove the need for a seamless billing and a consistent customer care
experience across all its service offerings.
As a critical part of a nationwide consumer and business VoIP product rollout,
the client's OSS required a new, automated system to manage, process, and
bill customers for the VoIP call usage they incurred. The existing broadband
access usage systems and infrastructure did not have the native capability to
support the new VoIP product requirements.
An important imperative was to deploy an integrated solution supporting
service bundling across all product lines and to bring the VoIP offering to
market in an accelerated timeframe, while closely monitoring capital outlays.
The client requested Patni's assistance to:
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Provide expertise and guidance in VoIP products, call processing,
taxing, and billing |
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Automate existing manual usage processing by designing and
implementing a Mediation system to eliminate the delays in bill
processing thereby reducing operational expenses |
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Automate near real-time processing, rating, and taxing of VoIP call
usag |
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Extend the existing Portal Infranet based billing system
implementation to support VoIP products and usage |
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Ensure compliance with the regulatory and legal requirements facing a
VoIP telephony provider |
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Extend existing billing system implementation to support delayed
billing.
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The Solution
Patni executed this engagement using a hybrid onsite and offshore delivery model
that allowed for successful delivery under cost-optimized, aggressive timelines
while still bringing superior value to the client through highly experienced
resources.
Patni's role in the engagement was:
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Provide strategic direction and guidance for the VoIP telephony go-to-market
approach |
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Lead a comprehensive vendor identification and evaluation of Order Entry,
Order Management and Mediation packages |
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Architecture design, development and implementation of industry standard
based VoIP call usage mediation solution |
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Future-proof design leveraging existing OSS and BSS systems
integrated with new systems and processes |
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High value consulting through hybrid onshore and offshore
engagement model and extensive industry experience.
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Patni was responsible for all aspects of these efforts including
program management and leadership in the product definition,
system architectures, implementation, and management of hybrid
onsite-offshore team.
Patni designed the Mediation system and Billing enhancements based
on widely accepted telecom industry standards and practices. Patni
was able to easily converge the industry standards with the client's
specific needs based on its broad and extensive experience with VoIP
and the broader telecom industry.
The resulting integrated system leveraged and complemented the
client's existing billing infrastructure with an end-to-end, fully
automated VoIP call usage billing platform capable of supporting the
current VoIP product definition and services, along with future
enhancements; with only configuration changes to the billing system
and with little or no changes to the Mediation system.
The Technology
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Mediation |
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Portal Infranet -Billing |
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Vertex - Taxation |
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Telecom industry
databases (Telcordia
LERG, CCMI) |
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Sylantro VoIP Soft
Switches |
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J2EE, Java, Oracle,
C, C++. |
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The Benefits
As a result of Patni's efforts, the client has achieved the following benefits:
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The new Mediation system now provides a central clearing house for
all VoIP call usage, providing the flexibility and scalability required
for future VoIP product growth |
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Increased capabilities and flexibility in the VoIP call usage billing,
including simplified pricing and VoIP product configuration, as well
as billing cycle delaying abilities |
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Lower operational expenses through the elimination of manual
processes |
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Lower customer support costs due to improved accuracy of the
customer bill |
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Increased accuracy of the call usage billing process through full
automation resulting in:
–Minimized Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
–Minimized billing data errors
–Enhanced Sarbanes-Oxley auditing
–Lowered customer care costs
–Increased customer satisfaction.
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