Readymade vs. Customized Telecom Billing Solution

by

In the ever-changing telecom space, patrol billing solutions are critical for customer retention, compliance, and revenue. As telecom service providers evolve, the nomenclature choice of a ready-made (off-the-shelf) billing solution versus a customized (tailor-made) solution becomes important. Each solution has certain benefits and disadvantages. Knowing these can assist organizations in making informed decisions consistent with their operating objectives and long-term strategy.

What is a Ready-made Telecom Billing Solution?

As the name suggests, a ready-made billing solution is a pre-built single software product used to perform common billing functions in the telecom space. Billing solutions incorporate various basic features such as: 

Customer data

• Usage-based billing (voice, SMS, data)

• Invoicing and collection

• Tax and regulatory compliance features

• Reporting and analytics capabilities

Pros:

• Faster Deployment: Since it is a ready-made product, these is typically deployed and integrated faster.

• Lower Upfront Costs: Licensing fees are predictable, and there is no requirement for development from a blank slate.

• Derived from Industry Best Practices: These solutions are often developed by vendors who have several years of knowledge built into the application.

• Maintenance & Support: These vendors often maintain and support the solutions and typically include this service on a monthly licensing or annual subscription basis.

Cons:

Limited Flexibility: May not be exactly suited to your business model or pricing structures 

Scalability Challenges: Hard to accommodate hyper-customized use cases or incorporation of future business expansions 

Feature Bloat: Possibly paying for features you will never use, while lacking others you may need. 

What is a customized telecom billing solution? 

A customized billing solution is built (from the ground up or customized to an existing platform) in such a way as to accommodate your telecommunications and billing business requirements perfectly. These solutions provide the flexibility of incorporating unique pricing models or user workflows, regional compliance rules, etc. 

Pros: 

Perfect Fit: Developed for your business logic and user/workflows, regardless if you are offering VoIP, MVNO services, bundled OTT, or IoT-based pricing.

Highly Scalable: Adaptable as your service catalogue and customer base grow. 

Competitive Differentiation: Allow for the creation of unique plans, bundles, or features that off-the-shelf systems may not accommodate. 

Integration Friendly: Will integrate with existing homegrown or third-party systems (CRM, ERP, etc.).

Cons: 

More Cost: Initial development and long-term upkeep can be expensive. 

Longer time to market: Custom development takes time and is measured in months or years, incremental depending on complexity. 

Ongoing upkeep: You will need a technical team to conduct upkeep, updates, and fixes, and to facilitate scaling.

Important Things to Consider When Choosing

  • untickedCriteria 
  • untickedReady-made
  • untickedCustomized
  • untickedBudget 
  • untickedLower startup cost
  • untickedHigher upfront cost
  • untickedDeployment Time
  • untickedWeeks to months
  • untickedMonths to years
  • untickedBusiness Complexity 
  • untickedStandard businesses
  • untickedComplex or developing businesses
  • untickedScalability  
  • untickedLimited
  • untickedHighly scalable
  • untickedControl  
  • untickedVendor controls
  • untickedYou control
  • untickedCompliance Needs  
  • untickedGenerally supported 
  • untickedBuilt out regionally

When to Choose a Ready-made Solution

  • You are a small to medium telecom provider or a start-up entering the market.  
  • Your products are relatively standardized, and you have minimal unique requirements in your billing.  
  • You need to launch quickly and with relatively low technical management.    
  • You prefer to eliminate the complications of software development. 

When to Choose a Customized Solution 

  • You have unique service offerings or complicated bundling models.   
  • Your business exists in multiple regulatory regions or industries (e.g., IoT, smart cities).  
  • You are planning on growth that is aggressive, or you are integrating with enterprise systems.  
  • You have a competitive advantage in your speed and differentiation in your billing models. 

Conclusions

Choosing between a ready-made or a customized telecom billing system is less about being a technical decision and more about being strategic. While ready-made systems take you more directly to market and at a reduced cost

Leave a Comment