| |
IMS
Demands an Equally Powerful Online Charging Solution
By Mac Taylor, December
2006
Single
platform
In
an IMS environment, the lines are blurred between prepaid
and postpaid interaction requirements. All users will
require real time information such as advice of charge
while operators will require real time confirmation
of charge authorization.
Operators
generally have both a prepaid and postpaid charging
system today, while many operators may have several
charging systems for different service platforms. By
decoupling charging from and at the same time harmonizing
charging with the IMS integrated services framework,
operators can collapse their charging into a single
platform providing key charging and interaction functions
for all services.
This
significantly reduces operational costs. Although a
move to a consolidated new generation charging architecture
is a large under taking, if left unaddressed, operators
will be hard pressed to adapt legacy solutions to the
wide range of new service enablers and complex services
expected with IMS.
Deploying
new services
The
capability to deploy new services in an IMS environment
is far greater than in traditional voice networks. Many
such services will have a direct dependence on the capabilities
of the online charging system. This dependence is not
only in regard to rating but also in regard to service
interaction and user interaction. State-of-the-art,
online charging systems will facilitate operators quickly
deploying and charging for the new IMS market opportunities.
Migrating
to online charging
Online
charging is a complex problem. Operators are loath to
change from existing online charging systems, since
such a migration has potentially a large negative revenue
impact if the migration is not successful. Most operators
are waiting for their existing suppliers to evolve their
platforms to meet new marketing requirements. If operators
choose not to use a new online charging supplier they
generally have two options – to await the delivery of
committed roadmaps from either their current prepaid
supplier or their current post paid supplier.
Vendor
strategies
Most
traditional telecommunication equipment suppliers are
trying to evolve their existing IN prepaid systems to
handle integrated prepaid and postpaid/voice and data
requirements. This is a difficult challenge and a difficult
sale primarily because the existing “post paid billers”
have their systems already integrated into the very
important functions of CRM, billing, service planning,
etc…
These
“IT Billing Companies” are all generally attempting
to evolve their batch based rating systems to real-time
platforms. They are generally doing this by partnering
with SCP front end products that provide the real-time
network connectivity and user interaction. In this case,
part of the online charging function (account management
rating, policies) from the IT billing companies interacts
with the SCP in a pseudo real time basis.
The
benefit of such an approach is that very few changes
are required to the overall OSS installed. Many operators
believe that the jury is still out on whether these
platforms are able to scale in a real time environment
and whether they can provide adequate availability or
reliability.
The
next two to four years will provide insight into which
vendor group (TEM prepaid or IT billing companies) dominates
the online charging domain. The
easy choice for operators would be to wait it out and
see which group is more successful before making its
own selection. Such a delay could be a big risk, leaving
operators with inadequate tools to roll out new services
and charge for them during a time that promises, if
nothing else, to be even more competitive from a services
standpoint and even more demanding from a financial
performance perspective.
|
|
Highdeal Point of View
IMS
as a driver for online charging solutions
In
an unpredictable market in which fads and crazes for
applications can storm the market and last just a few
weeks, it is pointless for service providers to have
a fully functioning IMS architecture for fast service
introduction, if they can not just as easily price and
package for them. New IMS services will require a level
of flexibility, performance and prepaid/postpaid convergence
that existing billing systems simply cannot address.
There is therefore an architectural shift from the traditional,
batch oriented OSS/BSS systems to an emerging online
charging system, with the emphasis on pricing, rating,
balance management and charging policy logic, all operating
in real-time and plugged into back-end systems for CRM
and ERP. Online charging solutions not only deliver
service convergence for multiservice offerings, but
also payment convergence for offering prepaid, postpaid
and hybrid accounts.
The
charging battleground
Mediation,
prepaid IN, customer care and billing vendors are now
all competing in this new market for online charging.
When selecting a vendor, new greenfield operators may
be at an advantage compared to incumbents, as they can
invest in online charging systems from day one without
the constraint of having to offset the CAPEX costs of
legacy OSS/BSS systems or be compelled to look to their
existing vendors to migrate their systems. Whichever
the service provider, the faster they implement an online
charging system, the faster they can reap the benefits
of increased service differentiation, faster service
delivery and a future proof architecture securing any
new multiservice offerings in the future.
Learn
more about the Highdeal solution for next generation
service pricing, rating...
|
|
