It means that carriers would have these unique agreements between 1,500 end operators, translating into almost 2.5 million unique deals. A staggering amount, and this is only the tip of the iceberg as we add in different quality expectations and perhaps internal margin targets on different traffic streams. This is where modern approaches to networks and systems come into their own, and there are innovative cloud-based systems already available in the market to address such a complex environment. Without these intelligent systems, carriers will not be able to address this new complex reality, and will as a result suffer from further margin erosion. The key to success with many of these OBR systems is to ensure that you are never in a position where unexpected charges or penalties, from the terminating operator, can totally destroy any margin made on that route. Having the ability to accurately rate calls for your customers is part of this, and being absolutely up to date with the latest changes to origin rates is key. At the same time, being resilient to fraudulent attempts to bypass the higher rates that apply to certain countries is of growing
importance. Many network elements have the ability to modify the fields in the signaling that identify the originating number, and recognizing attempts to do so fraudulently is complex, but critical to protect revenue and margins. There are some industry-wide enhancements under development, which will perhaps help in this case, as standards developed to prevent caller ID spoofing (a major issue with spam calling in many countries) are implemented. These standards, known as STIR/SHAKEN, enable the originating service provider to assert (via a digital certificate) that the caller ID in the call messaging is accurate and valid. Subsequent carriers in the chain can also confirm that no modifications to those fields have been made. But one thing is certain, no matter how good you think you are at identifying and preventing these frauds, the fraudsters will almost always be one step ahead. So, it is becoming increasingly important to have access to agile fraud prevention systems, empowered by AI and machine learning, to keep up with the new innovative fraudsters that will tirelessly try to take advantage of the complexity to win at the fraud game.
agile customer interaction/
Address new pre-paid customer segments with agile, real-time systems to address untapped revenue The next step in the agility journey is to foster agile interaction with both your customers and suppliers. There are challenges in dealing with how customers and suppliers are increasingly expecting to interact with international carriers both in person and via their system interfaces throughout the relationship’s life-cycle. Agility in terms of payment cycles, contract terms and the integration of systems using APIs to minimize human involvement are all key requirements. Addressing new markets There is no doubt that in today’s new reality, interacting with customers in an agile way will improve customer experience. But it will also enable carriers to address segments of the markets they would not have been able to otherwise, bringing new untapped revenue and savings with minimal risk and resources. In this day and age, where diversity and resilience are
becoming a crucial part of carriers’ arsenals, and where revenue is becoming a scarce commodity, not being in a position to address new high growth segments is never a good business position to be in. For example, smaller customers in particular may not have the credit ratings and history to be provided with the normal post-paid billing arrangements, but may represent a significant growth opportunity for major carriers traditionally unable to handle this risk. Consequently, using flexible and intelligent systems that will automatically request pre-payments against termination service are key for carriers to tap that new source of revenue, with minimal exposure. The internal ability to track the take-up of those funds as each call is established gives them the peace of mind that they are being appropriately charged and minimizes any risk for the carrier.
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