The forces of convergence are now reshaping the communications industry. Service providers from every geography are migrating to all-IP enterprises at an accelerating pace. For wireless, wireline and cable companies alike, broadband network capabilities and devices are enabling multi-service offerings. Developing and profiting from such offerings will be a key to achieving high performance in the coming years.
A significant challenge faced by many operators today, however, is that their billing and financial settlement capabilities and systems are not keeping pace with the revolutionary and rapid changes occurring at the network and device levels. Only a few companies have developed true, real-time convergent billing systems. The majority of operators that provide convergent services still use traditional systems for billing and rating (charging), enhancing their legacy systems for additional capabilities as they are needed.
Few operators provide unified offers and tariffs, and so they are forced to handle different subscriber types separately when it comes to rating and billing. For many companies, this patchwork of systems and approaches stitched together to meet short-term, urgent needs is impeding their growth strategies.
Communications service providers are turning to Accenture to help them develop the next-generation billing capabilities needed to achieve high performance in the age of convergence. Accenture Communications Solutions that address next-generation billing and financial settlement are already delivering measurable improvements in performance for providers throughout the world.
Learn more about Accenture research, services and client successes for the Communications Industry.