Service providers need to recast their billing systems so they can utilize them to better understand their customers' buying patterns, industry executives said Thursday during a forum focused on billing systems, payments and automated care in the new environment.
'How well you understand your customers is what matters,' said Steve Terry, Sun Microsystems manager of OSS/BSS solutions and partner development. 'The amount of services you provide don't matter as much.'
He added that to be successful in an environment where consumers are inundated with buying choices and options, operators need to build a more sophisticated billing structure that can capture and categorize buying preferences efficiently.
'What will the customer buy‾ Who are your best customers‾ Which customers are profitable‾ Are we delivering what the customers want‾ How much do they really want to spend‾ These are the important questions,' Terry said.
He said the billing industry is trying to address these questions and learn more about its customers' needs and the services they want. 'For service providers, it's about how to simplify the process for customers,' he noted. 'The wrong answers mean churn and revenue opportunity costs.'
Once they gather detailed information about customer buying patterns, operators need to use it 'to ensure you are coddling the right customers,' Terry added.
Howard Woolf, who heads the converged billing and solutions group for Comverse US, told the audience that operators must support the growing desires of customers to be online with multiple devices.