Implementing an Efficient and Automated
Billing and Management System
RODOPI
TMBILLING SOFTWARE White Paper
INTRODUCTION
Companies providing IP Services operate in an extremely competitive environment. To profitably service new and existing accounts, billing must be handled efficiently and accurately. This requires the highest possible level of automation to provide incremental labor savings to manage new account sign ups, credit card approvals, entries in authentication and other servers, billing, notifications and customer support. To remain competitive, the billing system must provide a fast response to new services and promotions allowing fast response to the rapidly changing technology and marketplace. It must also provide a
platform that can easily expand to process a rapid increase of customers, services and transactions while maintaining historical data.
RODOPI
TMwas developed to respond to these requirements. It is 100% web based and uses Microsoft SQL for an industrial strength and scalable relational database. It provides on-line subscription, real-time credit card approval and automatically activates customer insertion in the Radius Authentication Server. Other servers can also be maintained automatically using the Universal Account Support Interface. By default, this interface supports RADIUS Authentication server, DNS server, many email servers, VoIP, and MVAM.RODOPI
TM runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 and utilizes the MS SQL 2000 database server.RODOPI
TM provisioning interfaces use standard protocols such as XML and FTP. This allows for platform independence and integrates seamlessly with UNIX, LINUX, and Microsoft Servers for fully automated server provisioning and data parity between servers.I. Rodopi Benefits your Business.
1. REDUCE EXPENDITURES
Forrester Research estimates that up to 20% of operating costs in IP Based companies are wasted due to overlapping software and chaos among marketing, sales and call centers. We investigated two companies with comparable customer base and found similar results. One company was using RODOPITM and the other a generic solution. We found that the company that is using RODOPITM can support its customer base with one-third of the employees.
Some examples follow:
• Reduce Labor for Billing Personnel - Tasks that required minutes of manual entry can now be performed with few clicks of the mouse.
• Exclusive Marketing Reports to Measure Advertising Results - Find out which marketing methods are most effective based on customer subscriptions and revenue and eliminate inefficient marketing methods.
• Parity between billed and active accounts – When offering a variety of services it is nearly impossible to manually disable all services for all non-paying customers. Many employees overlook details and leave a service active after customer has not paid, which results in direct loss of revenue.
RODOPI
TM will keep the parity; if a customer is not current their services will not be available. Billing rules allow you to define these functions.• Letters, Invoices, Statements -
RODOPI
TM will automatically mail all invoices, statements, welcome letters, past due letters, failed credit card letters, marketing promotions letters. A task that would take many hours if done manually.• Reduce Human Error -
RODOPI
TM checks for the validity of data entered by employees thus minimizing human error.• Ticket System for Tech Support - Ticket system optimizes your tech support staff productivity.
• Flexible Commission Tracking - Pay your employees the exact commission they deserve, thus maximizing your revenues and employee satisfaction.
• Positive Employee Moral - Maintain strong employee moral and productivity by reducing the stress of boring and repetitive tasks
2. CREATE A COMPETITIVE EDGE / INCREASE PROFITS
RODOPI
TM will not only reduce the cost of running your business but will also increase your company’s profits. WithRODOPI
TM you will have an edge over your competitors and will be able to capitalize on potential sales faster than other companies.• On-Line Subscription - Allows you to signup and immediately activate new customers around the clock. When your competitors are closed for business, you are still selling and activating accounts.
• Customer Satisfaction – With the robust customer support interface and numerous customer-care features,
RODOPI
TM is bound to keep your customers satisfied and eager to purchase new services.• Quickly Offer New Services - As new technologies become available
RODOPI
TM allows you to quickly deploy them. It is extremely flexible and will bill and provision for almost any service. As new technologies become available, you can offer them to your existing customer base with little adjustment toRODOPI
TM.• Efficient Technical Support - The Trouble ticket system in
RODOPI
TM allows you to provide a higher level of technical support and ensures in-progress issues do not get lost.• Automatic Suspension/Release - Users services are automatically disabled in case of a missed payment and re-enabled when the payment is received. This ensures services to your users are paid on a current basis.
II. What Does RODOPI
TMTMDo?
RODOPI
TM began as a billing and basic provisioning software tool. It has evolved into a unique product, which automates the Billing, Provisioning, Customer Care, and Technical support for a service-based business. It is the only product in its class that spans across so many aspects of company operations.1. Billing
RODOPI
TM uses a unique and flexible billing engine to provide recurring billing for virtually any service; below are some of the features:• Postpaid and Prepaid – Bill for postpaid or prepaid recurring services
• Usage Based Billing - Bill for virtually any usage, if you have access to the data
RODOPI
TM can bill it. Whether you are charging for Dialup/Online Hours, Megabytes, Bandwidth, VoIP minutes, Domain names or Multimedia traffic types,RODOPI
TM will bill the customer.• Multiple Payment Types –
RODOPI
TM supports Credit Card, Check, ACH, Cash, Prepaid Cards and Top-Off cards (new in 5.2).• Automatic Credit Card Processing –
RODOPI
TM has also developed its own Credit Card Processing Gateway (RPG). Use RPG or other leading gateways to automatically charge credit cards.• Credit Card Security -
RODOPI
TM supports the latest credit card security measures, such as AVS (address verification), CVV (Card Verification Value) (new in 5.3) etc.• Real Time Authorization – Credit card is automatically Authorized / Rejected on sign up.
• Batch Payment Tool – Instead of spending hundreds of tedious hours entering checks manually, a billing employee can apply all check payments with few a clicks of the mouse.
• Thresholds - Set different dollar thresholds per customer or per service. When the customer accumulates a bill for that dollar amount his/her credit card will be charged.
• Promotions - Customers can sign up for services with a secret promotion code.
• Commission Tracking - Flexible commission calculations based on type of sales person (reseller) and type of service sold.
• Taxes – Extremely flexible taxation, different taxes for different geographical regions, multiple level taxes.
RODOPI
TM is also integrated with VertexTM, the leading tax calculating software.• Secure Transaction Posting – Transaction types are password protected providing control over which employees can post check payments, credit, make refunds, post cc payments and other transaction types.
2. Provisioning
For IP services provisioning can be defined as the process of expediting all the tasks between receiving a request for a service (e.g., access to a Web-enabled application from a potential customer) and making that service available to the customer.
Every time an Hosting Company, ISP, ASP or TELCO or other IP based service providers need to add, delete or change customers’ information, it must implement one or many changes to the hosting and software systems that support the company’s operations. For example, provisioning a new user for application services usually requires system entries to establish user security, user profile, application preferences, print queue access, file sharing, user mailbox, VPN user level security, registration to the billing and help-desk systems.
Unless automated, this process requires large technical staff and is prone to human error. Thus, automating the process is an absolute requirement for growing companies to efficiently manage this growth without substantial staff additions. This efficiency translates directly to the bottom line.
Below are some direct benefits of
RODOPI
TM automated provisioning:• Rapidly Activate Online Subscribers - Services are activated in real-time when a customer registers or adds new services.
• Automate Repetitive IT Administration Functions - IT Professionals are extremely valuable and costly company assets. Removing routine and mundane repetitive tasks frees their time for the many critical functions for which they are trained.
• Satisfy SLA Agreements - Automated provisioning enables your company to better meet the terms of Service Level Agreements (SLA) because the applications and related resources can be automatically allocated to the right host with the appropriate level of availability.
• Support Multiple Services - Customers can purchase multiple services with only one sign up and all of these services will be activated automatically.
• Delegate Administration - Companies can empower the customer to self-administer their account (e.g,. sign up for new services, change passwords, invoice and usage review) rather than performing all administration centrally. This substantially reduces costs and allows the company to scale their business more rapidly.
• Automatic Suspension/Release : User services are automatically disabled in case of a missed payment and re-enabled when the payment is posted. This ensures you are receiving payment for services provided to the customer and is another way in which the workload is streamlined.
• Custom Provisioning:
RODOPI
TM’s unique provisioning engine allows companies to provision any company specific services. Furthermore, the provisioning engines use standard protocols and interfaces including XML, FTP, Command Line, perl, executables, and LDAP.• Examples - Below are specific examples of tasks automated with RODOPITM provisioning:
o
Email an Administrator every time a T1 line is purchased.o
Post an order into Covad’s system every time a DSL account is purchased.
o Create the entries for a new-hosted account with DNS provisioning and upload a “Coming Soon” web page to a domain when a customer purchases a web hosting account.
o Create an entry in an inventory database every time a customer signs up for a service that includes a hardware purchase.
• Please examine the below diagram, which illustrates the flow of a customer subscription and self– support. Notice that the account is provisioned immediately and the customer can use his/hers services shortly after purchasing them. Furthermore, notice that Rodopi uses standard protocols such as XML , FTP etc. , which allows for provisioning to be done on any remote or local server.
As important as customer service is, it is also a major expense and represents countless hours of service calls. The challenge is to provide quality customer service at a reasonable cost.
RODOPI
TM provides an extensive self-care interface that improves the customer experience and lessens the need to involve your staff in basic issues.• Online Customer Sign Up - Professionally designed yet easily customizable subscription interface; customers can self subscribe for services.
• Online Customer Support - Customers can support themselves, which minimizes customer support personnel. Here are few of the tasks customers can perform through the customer support interface:
o Change account info, passwords, logins. o View invoices and statements.
o View Usage such as MB uploaded, online hours used, VoIP. o View or change payment information.
o Change contact information. o Add new services.
• Automatically Email Invoices and Statements - Save hundreds of labor hours spent preparing, stuffing and mailing paper invoices.
• Letters - in addition to invoices,
RODOPI
TM will send numerous letters to the end customer. Letters range fromo Welcome letter when customer first signs up for a service. o CC expiration letter.
o Numerous Late Payment, Payment Due and other notices. o Tech support problems letters.
• Mass Mailing – Provides mass emails to a pool of customers. Notice that the email will only go to a pre-selected group (pool); it will not “spam” the whole customer base.
• Knowledge Base - Company employees populate the knowledge base, which can then be viewed by customers. As new issues are identified as repetitive, add them for future requests.
4. Tech Support / Trouble Ticket System
Technical support is one of the most important factors for retaining an existing customer base. However, quality support usually requires a large staff and carries a significant cost elevating efficiency as the most important issue. RODOPITM trouble ticket system improves the efficiency of your tech support staff and increases the quality of the support that your staff provides.
• Automated Ticket Creation - A ticket is generated when a customer emails the support department or leaves a phone message in the support mailbox.
• Automated Response -
RODOPI
TM will email the customer when a ticket is created and closed.• Ticket Escalation - Employees can escalate a ticket to a senior staff member. The Support manager can easily transfer tickets to his staff members based on the nature of the ticket and the staff member’s expertise.
• Chargeable Tickets - A per hour rate can be set and
RODOPI
TM will charge the customer based on how long that ticket was open.• Multiple Employee Groups - Set different employee groups for sales, support, marketing, administration, or any other grouping, and assign different permissions to each group.
• Employee Statistics - Reports in
RODOPI
TM reflect how many tickets each employee or group of employees have closed for a specified period of time. This is a very effective tool forevaluating support performance at the employee level.
• Remote Access -
RODOPI
TM is 100% web based, enabling remote or outsourced support centers to access the system; the only requirement is a browser and an internet connection.• Knowledge Base - Allows your staff members to help each other. If a team member solves a common problem they can publish the solution to the knowledge base, making it available for all other staff members.
III. THE POWER OF RODOPI
TM1. Power of a Web Based Solution
• Sell 24/7 -
RODOPI
TM includes an Online Subscription Interface so anyone with a computer and internet access can purchase your services, any time, day or night. This allows you to extend your sales staff, reduce phone expenses and focus on commercial and other direct contact sales needs.• Support 24/7 - The Online Customer Support interfaces allow your customer to support themselves; check invoices, change credit card information, change account password etc. Again your company reduces expenditures and staff.
• Access From Wherever You Are Now - Whether you are at conference in Sweden or on Vacation in Jamaica with
RODOPI
TM you can always check your monthly sales, commissions, employees’ activities and other information and reports. An internet connection and a web browser is all that is required. This is also used extensively for off hours support issues.•
Avoid Client Software Installation and Support - With a client-server solution the clientsoftware has to be installed on each of the employee’s workstations. Usually an Administrator has to install the client software and support it when it misbehaves. With
RODOPI
TM, the client software is a web-browser, no installation or support is needed, and can be used as easily by your administrative and clerical staff as your technical team.2. Power of a Unified Solution
In the past, supporting the individual needs of marketing, sales, customer service, and management required multiple products, each with a separate customer database. But without integrating
information from marketing, sales, and support contacts, this approach could not effectively provide the customer knowledge needed to support a lifetime relationship.
RODOPI
TM combines all theseimpact marketing campaigns are having on sales. Sales managers can monitor the performance of each sales representative. Customers can see a company that knows who they are, responds quickly to any issue, and even anticipates their needs.
By fostering increased customer satisfaction and retention,
RODOPI
TM means top-line growth: increased sales, higher win rates, better margins, and greater market share.3. Power of MS SQL Server 2000
Billing information is some of the most important data a company has. Storing such data requires the highest levels of availability, reliability, and security. This is why RODOPITM uses the leading
database server for storing the data.
SQL server has proven to be one of the most reliable and scalable database servers in the
marketplace. SQL server has won numerous awards including the CRN Channel Award. In addition, testing by the independent TPC council has shown SQL server to process the most transactions per minute.
4. Power of APIs
No two companies are the same, thus no two companies should have the same customer care interfaces, the same invoices or the same statements. To be and remain competitive in today’s marketplace a company needs to constantly think of new ways to make the interaction with
customers easier and more effective. For this purpose, RODOPITM has developed an extensive API, which covers all the RODOPITM interfaces visible to the end customer.
You no longer have to change your business model to fit the functionality of a software package, or spend great amounts of time and money to modify an existing software package to fit your business model.
• Integration - The API allows for customization of the import of customer data into RODOPITM so companies can integrate existing software with RODOPITM. The existing software will collect customer info and export it to RODOPITM. Some examples of such data collecting software are: ACT contact management software, sales leads processing software, and marketing software.
• Subscription - You can fully customize the customer subscription, so customers can purchase services quickly and easily.
• Multiple Subscriptions for Different Services/Customers - A sign-up form for DSL service should not be the same as a form for domain name services. Furthermore, a sign-up form for a college student should not be the same as one for a corporation. With RODOPITM’s API, you can easily create multiple sign up interfaces for different services and customer groups.
• Support – Customize your customer support interfaces so your customers can easily support themselves, which will cut down operation cost and increase your revenues.
• Invoice and Statements - Customize your invoices or export your statements to another system for aggregation with another company (new in 5.3).
5. Power of Multidimensional Database
Business leaders know that even a slight variation in the way they search for data will often uncover previously indiscernible trends and relationships and produce remarkable insights. But if each new view required a complicated data-mining task, more time would be spent compiling reports than analyzing results and taking appropriate action.
With a traditional flat database, generating such complex reports in a timely manner is nearly impossible. The reason is a query has to traverse through a number of tables sequentially. Suppose you want to find out revenue generated by John’s Web Hosting cash sales in Texas, in a flat
database the software will have to traverse each of the four tables. If each of these tables had thousands of entries, which is usually the case in a large database, the software will most likely be unable to pull the information needed.
Many software solutions use a flat database, and thus are not able to produce quick custom reports. These software vendors advertise thousands of built in reports, however, such reports are useless when the report required by your company is missing. The fact that our industry is always changing and new services are constantly available compounds need for such custom reports.
Rodopi 5.3 includes a OLAP based reporting module, which will extract relevant data from your Rodopi database and store it into a multidimensional database called an OLAP cube. In an OLAP Cube each data attribute (service , sales person, date of transaction etc) is considered a separate “dimension”. Because each attribute is a dimension in the Cube reports based on these attributes can be easily and quickly generated. Thus RODOPITM can provide the fast, flexible data
summarization and analysis needed for a successful business in a fast pace industry. Sample Report:
Sales Rep Table
1. …. 2. …. 3. John Products Table 1. Web Hosting 2. Dial in 3. VOIP Customer Loc. Table 1. CA 2. TX 3. NY Payment Table 1. CC 2. Check 3. Cash
