Revenue Management Group

Spotlight Roundtables and Risk Management "Summit"

Steven Cotton — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:22:47 GMT

There have been numerous announcements concerning the TM Forum Action Week 39 sessions being conducted across 7 Revenue Management Online Community Groups in Madrid, but you should also consider some special sessions that are being held in addition to the team working sessions. First, there will be several presentations and a roundtable on subject ranging from Revenue Assurance to Customer Experience on Monday during the Frameworx Spotlight. Then, on Thursday afternoon, the leaders of all the groups working in the Enterprise Risk Management area (Fraud Management, Revenue Management, and Security Management) will hold a Risk Management Summit session, kicked off by an overview of the ERM Risk Universe by Thomas Steagall, group lead of the ERM Group. This is an excellent opportunity to get the "big picture" concerning the substantial work that has gone on over the last 18 months in these important areas. Finally, the three Catalyst projects being promoted by the Revenue Management Initiative will have their final open meetings before kicking off the formal work phase in the drive to Dublin. If your company has strong interest in joining as a Service Provider Champion or Participant, this will be the chance to weigh in. As always, TAW will be an intensive gathering of the influence leaders in the industry, so be sure to register soon and use the Agenda feature on the web site to sign up for individual sessions.

Hasta Madrid--See you there!

Management, Assurance, and Control

Steven Cotton — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:28:39 GMT

The following blog is excerpted from a comment I recently posted to Dan Baker's B/OSS Blog, entitled Revenue Assurance vs. Business Assurance.

Some time ago, I was given the mission by the CEO of the Telenet subsidiary of GTE to transform the company from a last-place unprofitable recent acquisition into first-place and profitable as Vice President of Quality Management. Having come from an engineering background, my first step was to immerse myself in the subject of "quality". What I found was a three-tier view--Quality Control, Quality Assurance, and Quality Management. From the job title above, you can see which view I adopted. I think that the Business Management layer of the telecommunications management stack (see http://networkdictionary.com/telecom/tmn.php) has much to gain from applying the same distinctions that the quality discipline has found useful.

Business Management could be seen as the overall approach taken by executive management, with Business Assurance being the enterprise-wide measures applied to the actual practice of the methods and means to operate the enterprise (including such detailed activities as controls, though Business Control sounds a little Orwellian).

The TM Forum's Revenue Management Initiative, of which I serve as staff head, is taking the tack of applying Lean Enterprise Management as the Business Management approach, Value Stream Management as the Business Assurance methodology, and the various operational practices such as Revenue Assurance for defining and applying the controls in the actual process flow of digital service provision to end user consumers. The ultimate objective of this strategy is to deliver value to the customer, return to the shareholder, job satisfaction to the employee, and integrity to the society. Well-done, this results in a virtuous circle of success and benefit.

Pivotal Stage for Revenue Management Initiative

Steven Cotton — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:09:55 GMT

As the new roster of Online Community Group leaders comes on board (Asset Management, Charging and Billing, Enterprise Risk Management, and Fraud Management so far), the face-to-face meetings being put together for Action Week 2012 in Madrid in January promise to have all the energy and personal touch that new key players always bring. There has been a great deal of foundational work done in all of these groups, not to neglect the continuing leadership in the Business Assurance, Customer Experience and Revenue Assurance arenas, so it struck me as a pivotal point in time this coming January in Madrid to kick off a calendar year of "breakout" work on this solid foundation.

There are organizing and planning meetings being announced and scheduled by the new group leads in the early part of December to make sure that relevant agendas for the work period and Madrid meetings are established. If you have an interest in any or all of these group activities, please be sure you have joined the applicable Online Community Groups and set your subscription options to have visibility into the calendar and discussions.

Here are a set of links to the Revenue Management family of Online Community Groups for which the future planning is going on:

Please consider actively driving the direction of these groups.

Upcoming Fraud Management Survey for SPs

Steven Cotton — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:39:49 GMT

This is a quick "heads up" for Service Provider fraud management practitioners to watch for a comprehensive survey produced by the Fraud Management Group over the last 9 months. It will provide guideance for the next year or more for collaboration work of impoirtance to Service Providers, so this is your chance to expose the critical issues for your company in the fraud management arena. The survey is being publicized throoughout the industry by also soliciting participatiion from the LinkedIn business networking site so that the results will reflect the broadest perspective possible.

I urge you to invest some of your valuable time in sharing your perspectives and experiences with the TM Forum--the ensuing report will be worth it.

Revenue Management Evolution

Steven Cotton — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:25:11 GMT

If you had checked out the Revenue Management home page about 18 months ago, Tony Poulos would have deftly greeted you in his best TV personality way, inviting you to join in work on Billing and Revenue Management. Well, if you haven't checked lately, the new web site isn't the only thing that's changed since then.

In July of last year, the membership of the Revenue Management Initiative Group had come to the conclusion that there was a lot more coverage of subject matter that would justify inauguration of several dedicated groups. At that very time, I was asked to join the TM Forum as its full-time Head of Revenue Management. Luckily, Tony has been right there for the explosive evolution of the Revenue Management activities in the Collaboration Program, because there was a lot that happened very quickly.

First, the membership clearly knew what they were talking about, because the subscriptions to the now 9 groups associated with the Revenue Management Initiative have grown from a base of 250 companies and 625 subscribers to 476 companies and 4,244 subscribers--in 13 months!

While the range of topics is broadening ever farther, Customer Experience and Asset Management being the latest examples, the underlying theme promises continuing evolution of this area into even more business-oriented topics. There is a whole body of knowledge and best practices implied in the Lean Value Stream Management them of the Revenue Management Initiative that could well lead the work into such diverse subjects as Human Resources Management. This will inevitably call out to segments of member enterprises not currently engaged in TM Forum collaborative activities.

As they say in the advertising world--watch this space for more!

Exploring Governance as part of Telecom Solutions

Avishek Chakraborty — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:03:12 GMT

A Strategic New Investment Option

By - Avishek Chakraborty, CRM Specialist - Team Lead, Tenotree

From infancy to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood – we tend to mature from all corners – socially, emotionally, and practically!. We consider ourselves as matured and learned adults when more than anything – we are RESPONSIBLE and ACCOUNTABLE for any act of ours.

On similar lines, following the above analogy – the telecom world has indeed also reached a stage wherein Social Accountability and Corporate Governance set the order of the day – not just to flourish business but to simply sustain it as well.

It is indeed true that gone are the days when “Blackberries” and “Apples” were just fruits, “Cloud” was only in the laps of Mother Nature, and similarly the times when audit and book-keeping was reserved in the form of tacit knowledge in the grey cells of some legendary “Dumbledore”.

Transparency and integrity of business records at the corporate level is nothing less than a quintessential attribute which all incumbent telecom operators have to comply with inorder to keep the mast of their sailing ship upright at all times.

There could be still few Questions unanswered - What does it mean to product vendors and their exact roles?, Should operators really bother about such assessments taking help from allies?

Let’s take the bull by the horns –

From a product vendor perspective, it could be typically looked at as a Non-Functional requirement or a form of people-process-organization level strategic consulting exercise or simply put - an additional revenue generation engine!. The intention is to leverage the technology aspect in the best possible way to cast an everlasting GOVERNANCE impression.

It would all translate into engaging in a consultative way with the operator to understand their Legal framework, create a charter with a foundation plan and a pilot strategy, identify the internal group of stakeholders, set aside a RACI matrix for internal communication, identify the prime reporting parameters starting from Legal & Regulatory Acts to Frameworks & Standards, and above all dates. Here “Dates” could mean timelines pertaining to internal as well as external auditing or both.

At this stage the focus is to harness maximum information from diverse subject lines, starting from the Acts set by Global & Local Telecom regulatory bodies that the operator is looking to comply with (like SOX Act) to Business, Technology and Service standard monitoring (standards set by TMFORUM,ITU, ETSI).

As illustrative examples, we look at an Act followed by a couple of ITU standards –

ü SOX Act: The first rule of SOX Act, which deals with alteration, destruction or falsification of records -

Sec. 802(a) "Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."

Now, for product vendors, the scope presumably here would be to automate the reporting elements and use something called the “Audit Trail” component as part of tracking and monitoring all system level changes done for prioritized entities like Customers, Products, Opportunities, Orders or Revenues.

ü 4G Standards set by ITU –

In 2009, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).

Again, from a product vendor perspective, this could be just another reporting parameter in the “Governance Compliance Matrix” to validate and establish the throughput rates for the services rendered. All said and done – when theory meets practice, a hypothesis is created. The hypothesis to devise and deliver the Holy Grail of Corporate Governance solution needs to be worked out in collaboration with specific operator communities to deliver value in the true sense as we look at powering the digital marketplace further.

Team Action Week Observations

Steven Cotton — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:25:16 GMT

In addition to the large contingent of Service Provider members present for the Frameworx Spotlight, there were a large number of new companies attneding in Baltimore, and the Revenue Management Initiative was the beneficiary of much of that "new blood". All 7 of the group meetings scheduled had lively attendance and quality input/interaction. That didn't even include the two very interesting Catalyst projects which I am "mentoring" for presentation at Management World Americas 2011 in Orlando.

What struck me as much as that, however, was the rich and broad interaction among the topical areas of Revenue Management, all the way from Charging and Billing to Risk Management and Revenue Assurance. Especially lively was the meeting of the Customer Experience Group, with 11 different companies (many of them new to the group) and fruitful interaction with the Information Framework Group to discuss a contribution stemming from Dublin's Catalyst experiences of Tektronix Communications.

If you haven't taken a look at the range of interesting projects chartered for the current work period in this area, check them out at http://www.tmforum.org/CharterDocuments/6207/home.html. I venture to say that you will find several of interest, ready to welcome your contribution and participation.

Going the Extra Mile - A Reliable Guide in a New Era

Steven Cotton — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:54:18 GMT

A venerable concept in American popular culture is the idea of "going the extra mile"--pushing past "good enough" to "above and beyond". Given the hyper-competitive environment in which CSPs find themselves, this concept can be a reliable guide to managing their business.

Three keys that the Revenue Management Initiative uses to focus its efforts provide practical applications of going the extra mile:

Digital Services Consumer key--traditional Customer Experience Management discussions have centered on SLA performance measurement. Going the extra mile demands that an understanding of the value expectations of the Consumer, followed by assurance that the SLA, when met, will meet expectations and lead to Customer Satisfaction.
Lean Management Principles key--traditional attempts to enhance profitability tend to focus on general cost reduction programs. Going the extra mile demands that the focus be on the elimination of waste, being defined as cost that does not add value to the process stream.
Value Stream Management key--traditional attempts to manage the value stream of value chain suppliers and partners tend to focus on adverserial relationships, trying to minimize what the two-way business model requires to be paid to third parties. Going the extra mile demands that suppliers and partners are seen as integral components in a seamless customer experience, motivated in a like manner to the CSP to deliver value and earn the most revenue possible, apportioned in a way to sustain relationships.

There is so much technology and detail in the operation of modern CSP enterprises and their infrastructure that it is easy to get consumed by the complexity and chaos and lose sight of the fundamentals to business suceess--simple things that are hard to do.

Service Provider Expert Participation - Revenue Management Initiative Projects Enter a Critical Phase

Steven Cotton — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:49:35 GMT

Many of our Service Provider members have had the "pleasure" of hearing from me on the importance of the their category of member in the success of the Revenue Management Initiative's collaboration activities. While there are distinct roles typical of various member participants, one role that cannot be easily delegated or proxied is that of direction setting and prioritization of work. Some may choose to "model" Service Provider requirements and overall needs, but I have found that to be a poor substitute for actual direct input from the principals.

The various Online Community Groups which have formed within the Revenue Management Initiative have progressed their inaugural work to the point of having established chartered projects, with targeted deliverables and specific milestones. It is at this critical phase, where contributions and preliminary drafts of deliverables are at the point of being discussed by participating group members, that the direction/priority input from Service Provider members is so critical. The resources and time spent is precious enough, without the direction of the work being other than what the most members find to be the most useful.

Given that, a concerted effort will be undertaken in the next days and weeks to engage those subscribers to the various groups who are from the Service Provider segment of our membership. A small and practical amount of feedback concerning the various projects and their direction and intended results will be solicited, so I hope you will watch for this and reply, should this apply to you. Given that analysis of the subscribership among the various groups indicates at least 1/3 representation by Service Provider representatives, I am hoping for a significant response toward this worthwhile cause. I realize that the type of participant we have attracted from the Service Provider membership are just those people most jealously guarded from excessive demands for work beyond the "day job", so please be assured that we will bear that in mind when we ask for your feedback. Call me on that commitment if you think it is not being followed.

Pithy Policy Panel

Steven Cotton — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:47:02 GMT

The lively discussions that have gone on in the Charging and Billing Group on the subject of policy-driven service delivery and its interplay on charging and billing led me to put together a panel of influence leaders in this area at Mangement World 2011 next month in Dublin.

The format of the session should lead to lively interchange, with ample opportunity for the attendees to interact with a broad range of perspectives and experience.

Check out this session in the final timeslot on the agenda, Thursday at 1115-1245, entitled "New Pricing Schemes / Policy Based Pricing". A 'lightning round" of pithy (short) presentations, followed by a set of provocative questions posed by the moderator, will preceed opening the floor to questions and comments, culminating in a challenging call for contributors to step forward to participate in the Collaboration efforts that follow.

Mark this on your schedules--you'll be glad you did!