Choosing a telecom billing solution, whether for VOIP, VGA, VGT, mobile or SMS, can be a difficult decision for companies looking to save money and improve the quality of their telecom services. There are many telco billing solutions, each offering different features and rates. To choose the best telco billing tool, it’s important to consider several factors.
First of all, it’s important to determine which functionalities you need. Basic functionalities such as call cost valuation, creation of customer billing files or generation of invoices and consumption files for your customers are generally included.
However, some companies may require more advanced features, such as customer billing files templates, simultaneous management of multiple telecom operators (OVH, Sewan, OpenIp, Networth…), support for electronic signatures on contracts, automation tools, turn-key integrations, CRM functionalities or a dedicated customer area. It’s important to determine which features your company needs in order to choose the best telecom billing solution.
For example, for companies offering subscriptions with items included, it could be important to use BlueRockTEL’s item bundle feature so you never forget to add an item related to a sold subscription.
Why choose a telecom billing solution?
Call billing is a crucial aspect of any VOIP reseller. Without a trusted telecom billing solution, it’s difficult to track call costs and bill customers accurately. In this section, we will have look at the importance of a trusted telecom billing solution, how does the CDR files work, how to verify the amount billed by the provider, and how to generate a clear and detailed telecom invoice for your customers.
The importance of a billing system
Relying on effective telecom billing software is essential for tracking call costs and invoicing customers accurately. Without such a solution, it’s difficult to know how many calls have been made, by which customers, for how long, and finally at what rate. This can lead to billing errors, inaccurate invoices and consequent loss of revenue for your company.
A complete phone billing system must give to VoIP and mobile telecom resellers complete control over how they structure and market their offerings. They can customise pricing plans, international calling options, mobile data packages, etc. This enables them to adapt to their customers’ specific needs, offer greater flexibility and stand out in the competitive telecom services market.
In addition, the solution must be able to apply re-billing rules related to the reseller’s offerings, such as fair usage policies or international pricing grid management.
The operation of CDRs (Call Detail Records)
CDRs (Call Detail Records) files are electronic records of all incoming and outgoing calls, provided by the telecom service provider, whether it is a VGA, VGT, VoIP or mobile line. These files contain information such as caller number, recipient number, call duration, and cost. CDRs are crucial for VoIP billing as they enable call tracking and cost calculation. Your company needs to ensure that its telecom billing system can process CDR files and convert them into invoices.
Although not common, billing errors can occur on the operator’s side. In such cases, the CDR file proves useful in verifying the amount charged by the provider to ensure accurate costs.
Operators are not the only ones generating CDR files: certain systems like PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) or Session Border Controllers (SBC) also provide these types of files. Therefore, it is important for the chosen telecom billing solution to support the types of CDR files used by the company.
Generate a clear and detailed telecom invoice for your customers.
A clear and detailed telecom invoice is essential to ensure that customers understand the costs associated with their telephony services. The role of the VOIP valorisation system is to generate these invoices in a concise manner, accompanied by a consumption statement that provides a detailed history of incoming and outgoing calls, call durations, and individual (over)costs in relation to the subscription in place on the line.
A clear invoice reduces the need for customers to contact the provider with questions regarding their usage.
Factors to consider when choosing a telecom billing solution
When choosing a telecom billing solution, it is important to consider several factors to ensure that the solution meets the needs of your business. The key factors to consider are cost, ease of use, detailed consumption reporting, and billing control tools.
Cost
Cost is an important factor when choosing a telecom billing solution. It is crucial to find a solution that offers a good value for money. A good practice is to compare prices from different providers to find the most affordable solution for the required level of functionality. Also, be mindful of considering additional costs such as installation fees, maintenance fees, and support fees.
It is important to note that some solutions, initially appearing inexpensive, may charge a percentage of the company’s revenue as their payment structure, which can result in additional costs as the reseller grows in revenue.
Ease of use
Ease of use is another important factor when choosing a telecom billing solution. It is crucial to find a solution that is easy to use for the company’s employees, especially considering the sensitivity of the billing period. It is also important to find a solution that offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface, ideally in your native language. You should be able to navigate the solution easily to perform necessary tasks such as setting up new accounts and carrying out monthly billing operations.
Detailed consumption reporting
Detailed consumption reporting is an important factor when choosing a telecom billing solution. It is crucial to find a solution that provides comprehensive visibility into consumption. The solution should offer comprehensive and accurate reporting on usage data, including call details, data usage, messaging, and any other relevant services. This information is crucial for both internal analysis and customer billing transparency.
Billing control tools
The importance of control tools in the selection of a telecom billing solution cannot be underestimated. These control tools play a key role in optimising your billing process by avoiding errors that may occur in a customer’s account. Configuration mistakes in a customer’s account can easily happen, leading to inconsistencies between the billed amount and the actual consumption of services.
To counter this, control tools enable you to compare billing amounts with previous months, identifying any inconsistencies and ensuring accurate billing. Therefore, when looking to choose a telecom billing solution, it is essential to consider the effectiveness and reliability of the integrated control tools to ensure optimal management of your billing process.
BlueRockTEL: Your turnkey telecom billing solution
Looking for a comprehensive telecom billing solution? Look no further than BlueRockTEL. Our white-label solution offers a complete end-to-end billing platform, specifically designed to meet the needs of telecom businesses. With BlueRockTEL, you can streamline your billing processes and ensure accurate and transparent invoicing for your customers.
Here’s what BlueRockTEL brings to the table:
- Scalability: Our solution can handle the growth of your business, supporting a large volume of transactions and calls in real time without compromising performance.
- Flexibility: BlueRockTEL allows you to customise billing plans, pricing models, and invoicing formats to align with your specific business requirements. You have the flexibility to tailor the solution to fit your needs.
- Cost-effectiveness: We understand the importance of cost when choosing a billing solution. BlueRockTEL offers a competitive pricing structure, providing you with a cost-effective solution that offers great value for money.
- User-friendly interface: Our solution boasts an intuitive and user-friendly interface, ensuring ease of use for your team. You can navigate through the system effortlessly, perform necessary tasks efficiently, and provide excellent service to your customers.
- Complete CRM suite: Our SaaS platform unifies your company’s tools by providing CRM & communication tools, payment management, and collection of unpaid invoices.
- Comprehensive service range: BlueRockTEL supports all operator’s CDR, PABXs, or SBCs and is available through a fully functionnal API.
- Detailed consumption reporting: BlueRockTEL provides comprehensive and transparent consumption reporting. You and your customers can monitor usage details, enabling a transparent and trustworthy billing relationship.
- Billing control tools: With BlueRockTEL, you gain access to powerful billing control tools. These tools help you identify and rectify any discrepancies between actual consumption and billed amounts, ensuring accurate and error-free billing.
Choose BlueRockTEL as your telecommunication billing solution, and experience hassle-free and efficient billing operations. Book your free demo today to learn more about how BlueRockTEL can empower your telecom business.
Conclusion
Choosing a telecom billing solution is a crucial element for businesses aiming to maximise profitability while providing quality service to their customers. By examining the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, it is possible to identify the one that best suits the specific needs of your business.
It is important to select a telecom billing solution that offers great flexibility and a comprehensive range of features. Additionally, you should consider the reliability, security, and cost of the solution.
By choosing the right telecom billing solution, you will be able to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver superior service to your customers.
