The boundaries between OSS and BSS are blurring and with the integration of the Global Billing Association (GBA) the TM Forum is strategically placed to be the thought leader, voice and focal point of both the OSS and BSS worlds. However, a strong emphasis needs to be maintained on the issues confronted by service providers, and therefore processes not systems need to be the focus of discussions.
As such, the TM Forum, which has a strong tradition in process management through its Business Process Framework (aka eTOM) project, has launched the Revenue Management Initiative. This Initiative focuses on the process of revenue and customer management. All business processes that affect the contact with the customer and his experience of the service are within the remit of the group.
The objective of the Initiative is to provide a forum for discussion and leadership during the most critical phase in the history of communications - the real, not theoretical transformation from a technology focus to a service and customer focus – based around billing, revenue and customer management. Further, the new Initiative is expected to drive new requirements into the TM Forum’s existing frameworks and business guides and to initiate new project activities.
The output of this group will add to the TM Forum’s publications, process frameworks, case studies, seminars and practical advice on the most pressing business process issues of today and tomorrow. This work will be published through a number of channels – Inside Revenue Management, which will build on the success of Inside Billing and will contain service provider opinion and feedback on current issues, which will in turn fuel the content of an all new Initiative, Telecom TV - the Revenue Management Channel.
This content and the continuing work in areas such as billing process benchmarking will be presented and discussed at TM Forum events such as the highly successful Benchmarking Summit, Management World 2008 in Nice and other leading BSS events. The new Initiative will be inclusive, and participation is welcomed from the whole TM Forum membership.
For further information on the Revenue Management Initiative please contact Tony Poulos at tpoulos@tmforum.org.
Some team details include:
Project/Team Name: Revenue Management Council
Project Leader name & email address: Doug Zone – dzone@metratech.com and Brian Pawlus brian.pawlus@oracle.com
TM Forum Staff Support Name & email Address: Tony Poulos, tpoulos@tmforum.org
Project Member Companies: TNO, BT, Virgin Mobile, Magyar Telecom, Sprint, Hong Kong CSL, MTN Group, Ziggo, Amdocs, Oracle, Metratech, Ericsson, LHS, Telcordia, Deutsche Telekom, Subex, Teradata