By Tony Poulos, Market Strategist, TM Forum

I only ever recall seeing two books that were dedicated to the science of Revenue Assurance (RA). One was a self-published tome by someone who had a particularly singular and outdated view on how RA practitioners should go about their work, and the other, much more informative and professional one written by Mark Yelland. The former completely missed the point that RA is a dynamic environment that is constantly changing, and changing as often as new products and services emerge, a point not missed by Mark in his. TM Forum’s own RA activities are also testament to this.

I cannot express how happy I was to receive a copy of a new book on my favorite subject that took a refreshing and informative approach to what could be deemed, by some, as a boring subject. The tome is titled Revenue Assurance – Expert Opinions for Communications Providers and was written/assembled/edited by none other than RA aficionado, inveterate blogger and editor of the very popular talkRA website, Eric Priezkalns. Not satisfied with his own extensive and practical knowledge of the subject, Eric had more than a little help from his learned band of RA luminaries including David Leshem, Ashwin Menon, Hugh Roberts, Güera Romo, Lee Scargall, David Stuart, Mike Willett and Mark Yelland himself.

This grouping is the essence of what makes this book such an interesting read and excellent reference source for anyone having to grapple with the intricacies of modern RA practice. The reason is that each topic, or chapter, is covered by a different writer, each drawing from his/her own experience. What could have easily become mish-mash of anecdotal stories is glued together in a logical progression through the evolution of RA and what makes for a good RA practice. Equally important is that it also points out what hasn’t worked, what to watch out for and how to remedy problems. It is, at times, even humorous. Eric himself writes, very much tongue in cheek, ‘How to Make Bills Confusing’ and ‘When RA Stops: A Bedtime Story.’

After Revisiting the Foundations of RA, the chapters roll on to Linking RA with Fraud Management (a very recent and sometimes problematic merger of philosophies); Strategy, Scope and Synergy; Epistemology (Eric likes big words), Icebergs and Titanics (a particularly interesting analogy to the iceberg theory that you don’t know what you don’t know); Hammer and Tongs -The Tools of RA; Managing Risk; Understanding Controls; The Business of RA; Power to the People of RA, the Future of RA and Anecdotes from the Edge, to name a few.

I found the section, ‘Which One Are You?’ on classifying people into RA categories most fascinating, and rather humorous. You can see where you fit in best as well. Are you a Pioneer, a Hamster, a Policeman, a Secret Policeman, a Journeyman, a Guru, a Traveling Salesman or a Dead Man Walking (which I think may be Eric taking a swipe at me)?

All in all, this is a must for anybody that works in RA, has to deal with RA people, manages RA departments and C-levels that want a better understanding of what RA is all about without having to bog down into the high detail chapters.


Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers can only be described as essential reading for any revenue assurance exponent and is published by CRC [ISBN 9781439851500] and available from Amazon, and other book retailers.