Telecom Charging System Architecture
Of late, telecom billing has become a battlefield filled with landmines. The frequent launch of new technologies coupled with a rise in competition has stretched telcos to their wits end. Emerging technologies like IoT have posed new requirements, which simply cannot be fulfilled with traditional telecom charging system architecture.
In this highly befuddling environment, telecom operators aren’t very sure about their priorities. Whether they should push to acquire better hardware resources and incur additional capital expenditure or trust their hitherto billing services providers as they have done in the past.
It would be foolish to regard the ongoing developments in the telecom industry as mere changes. The reality is that the whole industry is in the midst of a major transformation and frequent disruptions are more of a norm now, and not exceptions. To accommodate all the emerging exigent requirements, fundamental changes need to be made. Therefore, it is a good time to go back to the drawing board and start afresh with a new telecom billing solution.
The success of cloud-based systems in the IT world has made them a good candidate for the telecom industry. A cloud-based telecom charging system architecture can be the solution to the extremely convoluted telecom billing operations of today. Below are some reasons why:
Rudimentary systems relied on specific rating and charging, which meant different systems were used for services like prepaid and postpaid. For example, IN (Intelligent Network) was used for prepaid and OFCS (Offline Charging System) was used for postpaid. This made revenue management complex as data from two different sources was required to be collated to make an estimate of the revenue generated. However, this issue can be easily overcome by using a cloud-based OCS (Online Charging System) that serves as a centralized platform for charging and storing different services and transactions respectively. Moreover, a cloud-based OCS also features configurations that are driven by catalogs and simplifies management of data across all channels.
A cloud-based OCS minimizes wastage of resources by letting you employ on-premise hardware and virtual (cloud-based) resources as per requirement. Hence, you are able to reduce your dependence on expensive hardware and lower your capital investments. Therefore, cloud-based OCS is the perfect platform for small-scaled MVNO that does not have access to a lot of capital. It allows these MVNOs to launch their services quickly and without much hassle, which otherwise might not have been possible.
For telecom functions to be efficient, downtime needs to be reduced. A quality OCS that is located in the cloud is designed for high fault tolerance, which means it can function even when the system develops a minor fault. On top of that, it offers true real-time availability and ensures complete accuracy in the charging process.
Given the ever-rising demands and their unpredictable nature, it would be criminal to invest in a telecom billing platform that does not scale. But, with a cloud-based OCS, you do not have to think twice about scalability. Cloud-based OCS lets you scale horizontally and vertically as per requirements. All you have to do is contact your billings services provider and allocate new resources by paying an increased subscription fee. The timely launch of new services will help you recoup the additional cost in no time, and you will start making more profits without doing any extra efforts.
Regardless of your scale of operation, you need cutting-edge analytics and reporting capabilities to sustain and enhance your business process. A quality cloud-based system offers complete reporting functionalities along with business-critical insights via its analytics function. Using the insights generated, you are able to create better and more personalized offers for your subscribers and keep them hooked to your services.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Comment
Telecom Charging System Architecture
