IN@Voice billing system covers the needs for launching new products and providing digital sovereignty for telecom operators
YEREVAN, June 28. /ARKA/. ‘Bercut's main task is to support telecom operators’ business efficiency amid speedy innovation and serious competition for subscribers. During the vendor's existence, which is more than 28 years of development and expertise in the telecom industry, we have managed to create a universal solution that can cover the needs of almost every representative of the telecom industry in terms of billing services or launching new products in demand. We are talking about our flagship solution - IN@Voice convergent billing system - Bercut BSS-system."
Interview with Daniil Fedotov, Convergent BSS Bercut product expert.
Q. Daniil, can you tell us what clients, tasks and projects Bercut is concentrating on today, as far as the telecoms sector is concerned?
A. We successfully operate with operators of different levels: from small (Tier 4) to Tier2 or Tier1 leaders. They can be mobile, convergent or broadband operators with a base of 15,000 to 50 million subscribers. Bercut customises the needs of individual businesses and offers solutions that optimally match their scale, expectations and challenges.
Over the course of its existence, Bercut has partnered with a large number of players in the telecoms industry. Today, we continue to develop our relationships and build up our international expansion. For example, in the CIS, operators from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and many others co-operate with us. Bercut products are in demand not only because of their extensive functionality, but also because they provide organisations with digital independence.
Q. You said that you take an individual approach to each client's tasks. What exactly is your approach?
A. Like many modern vendors, we follow the Catalog Driven approach. This allows to unify and standardise the processes of user work with our systems. However, only Bercut offers variability in delivery models, terms and conditions and individual selection of the format of the product catalogue delivered to the customer depending on their financial capabilities and needs. The essence of our vision is to focus on the individual needs of each individual organisation in terms of its strategy and efficient use of resources. We believe that this is one of our key advantages.
When launching projects, we study the operator's business and its needs in depth. Based on this analysis, we offer an optimal solution delivery model with minimal business process restructuring, labour investment and the fastest possible time-to-market.
Bercut manages to reduce time-to-market year on year. As of the first quarter of 2024, the average journey from business idea to product delivery to the user was only 3.5 months.
The success of one of the longest-standing partnerships and the largest of Bercut's clients is a testament to the high performance of our IT products. On the way from a small regional player to the level of a federal Big Four operator, for more than twenty years Bercut solutions have provided a new technological spiral for development. Unique products for end users, created on the basis of convergent billing system IN@Voice today allow the partner to position itself as a trendsetter in the telecom market. The operator is the first to create and launch innovative product offers, successfully maintaining the best value for money for its subscribers among its competitors. More than 20 MVNOs have already been launched on its network, with Bercut's IT products also involved in charging and servicing. We are proud of our contribution to this success and take our partner's achievements as personal.
Q. What are the key benefits operators receive when using the IN@Voice convergent billing system?
A. Bercut's BSSsolution can be confidently referred to as a product that provides 100% convergence. The product has the ability to tariff any type of units (traffic, services, goods) that can be calculated. This allows to combine in a single package not only communication services for subscribers, but also to build entire digital ecosystems, to offer subscribers an exclusive set of services adapted to their needs. Both telecom services and offers of related companies can be added to the single convergent solution.
An example of such a project is the multi-subscription implemented by one of Bercut's clients. It allows the subscriber to independently assemble a set of services offered by the operator that he or she needs. It can include various products of the service provider and its partners. The main difference between this product and its analogues is that subscribers of other market players can also use the subscription. For example, an operator can offer a subscriber using a competitor's communication services to buy a premium subscription to an online cinema or music service from that competitor. In essence, this is a whole marketplace with a set of partner and operator services and access for subscribers regardless of which network they are registered with.
To fulfil such a scenario, IN@Voice provides functionality that allows to identify subscribers not only by the generally accepted mandatory parameters - binding to a specific SIM-card or IP-address - but also by any other attributes, such as full name, login and others: full name, login and others. The subscriber chooses which services he/she would prefer to pay for and at what time: prepaid, post-paid or a hybrid format combining all these models.
By the way, multi-subscription available to users and other telecom operators is not the first breakthrough project for the telecom market with Bercut's participation. Earlier, on the basis of the IN@Voice billing system, the Exchange product was implemented - an online platform where subscribers can buy and sell unused traffic, as well as exchange it for additional services of the operator and its partners. The product launched on the basis of the Exchange IT product earned Bercut's partner the status of the first operator in the country to change the perception of traffic in favour of using it as a non-monetary resource.
Q. Earlier in your interviews, you mentioned that 100% of customers customise business processes in your solution. What does that mean? Can operators launch products without your involvement at all?
A. The platform approach, universal mechanics and built-in customisation points embedded in IT systems at the stage of their creation further open up the possibility of developing a new product by making changes at the configuration level, i.e. eliminating the need for traditional coding. The share of such projects among our clients is growing. This allows the operator not to fall into dependence on the IT solution provider and solve the predominant part of business tasks independently, without involving the vendor in this process. For example, a leading operator in one of the CIS countries based on LTE network and Bercut billing solution launched services supporting 5G NSA and launched the country's first 5G MVNO. The company has become a leader in the use of this technology without involving Bercut in system-side enhancements. Such projects directly confirm the multifunctionality and flexibility of our billing solution.
Q. If you provide such digital independence for an operator, how do you maintain long-term relationships with your partners?
A. We are always open and maintain regular interaction with each of the users of Bercut's systems. Several times a year we organise workshops for partners, including on their own initiative. Based on the feedback, Bercut forms a product development roadmap that takes into account the needs, horizons of plans and objectives of the partner. This approach allows Bercut to deliver business-relevant releases in a short period of time, ensuring their demand and replicability. Meetings for our customers are an opportunity to voice ideas, assess opportunities, timelines for implementation, and get new insights or best practices from the vendor.
Being in close co-operation with the operator, we are constantly checking with their needs and strategy, immersing ourselves in the specifics of a particular business and IT landscape, helping the operator to understand what and how to implement. Bercut shares its ideas and expertise free of charge. This allows us to create a relationship of trust and fosters a deeper understanding between the parties.
Perhaps most importantly, Bercut makes no exceptions for smaller or less profitable operators. Equal terms and conditions are available to all. In our commercial relationships with our customers, we show the same flexibility and loyalty that is embedded in Bercut's flagship product, IN@Voice. Despite the high turbulence, Bercut keeps the task of maintaining and developing its customers' business a priority. -0-