The magnitude of changing a billing system for any growth business can be daunting. However, with an experienced provider, who has a proven planning process and ability to focus on business requirements, a new billing system can be delivered with success and demonstrable ROI.

Background

Comm-Tech are an industry-leading business communications specialist, based in the heart of Norwich city centre. They provide independent advice, based on a wealth of technical knowledge, built up over more than 35 years in the industry. Using the latest communications technology, they support UK companies of all sizes, across a wide range of industries and markets.

As an independent telecoms specialist, Comm-Tech have achieved success by delivering exemplary levels of customer service across all touch points. Their service and consultancy are delivered on a bespoke basis, tailoring solutions to their customers’ specific needs. When their long-standing billing provider of 10 years changed their platform, with patch upon patch needed to prop up the system, they decided to look for an alternative solution from a company with the same high levels of service and understanding as their own.

Challenges

Comm-Tech’s problems were extensive. They had a range of issues that they needed to address if they were to confidently deliver their billing and grow their business in the way they envisaged. They needed to overcome the following challenges:

• Accuracy of billing: They had only been able to provide accurate billing 3 times in 22 months
• Quicker revenue collection: It was taking almost 2 weeks for the billing run to be prepared. On occasion they were forced to pull Direct Debits on the last day of the month
• Reporting: Profit reports were all over the place and couldn’t be relied on
• Customer service: They needed to reduce the amount of customer queries and respond quicker to billing enquiries
• Quality data: Lack of trust in their data and reporting for operational needs

They needed a reliable and future-proof system that would deliver timely, accurate billing and reporting, that their billing team could use with minimal manual intervention.

Solution

Comm-Tech were impressed with Inform Billing’s high levels of service and collaboration evidenced with similar businesses. Moving to Inform Billing enabled Comm-Tech to completely cleanse their data, finding all sorts of areas where they were not billing correctly.  Inform Billing managed the migration process, breaking it down into stages and made it run smoothly.  As well as providing a better end-user experience through the Enlighten portal, staff are no longer continually providing copies of bills as customers can access these themselves.

Benefits

Eclipse accurately delivers and scrutinises bills and enables the team to ensure that margin is maximised. Other benefits that have helped Comm-Tech include:

• Bill run process reduced from 12 days to 2 days
• Opportunity to grow monthly fixed line revenue by over 25%
• Eradicated manual discounting
• Easy options to include announcements and promotional messaging
• The level of automation has enabled Comm-Tech to streamline and refocus their billing team, allowing them to concentrate resources elsewhere

Eclipse has enabled Comm-Tech to add new products to their portfolio, such as Web SEO and to be more creative with commercials. Enlighten, meanwhile, has had a major impact on the sales team, with the end-user features and enhanced branding often being the difference to help win a sale.