aurora Complex billing made simple billing software solutions

Transcription

1 aurora billing software solutions Complex billing made simple

2 welcome a Aurora Kendrick James Limited (Aurora) provides Billing Software Solutions to telecoms and ICT resellers, managed service providers and carriers throughout the UK and Europe. We specialise in delivering accurate and simple solutions that help streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase profitability for typically complex billing products, such as mobile, fixed line data and cloud. Our mobile provisioning, billing and in life management solutions are aligned with three of the major UK mobile networks. Our flexible approach means we can design and deliver solutions around our customers individual needs, size and growth plans, as well as in line with and at the same pace as a perpetually evolving telecoms and ICT market. As such, we are committed to reinvesting a significant proportion of our development resources into ensuring that our technology remains future proof. People are at the heart of everything we do at Aurora and we are exceptionally proud of the long term relationships that we have built with our customers by understanding their own customer challenges and commitments and thereby continually progressing our service, support and technology to meet their requirements. Aurora was established in 1997 and was acquired in 2009 by Alternative Networks PLC (Alternative), a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses in the UK. Aurora operates as a standalone profitable business within the Alternative group. affinity

3 Affinity a Affinity, Aurora s billing software solution, is a powerful, modular business software solution enabling our customers to run their entire reseller operation through the platform. Affinity has the capability to provide fully converged billing across a range of complex product areas including fixed line, mobile, data products, cloud services and utilities. Affinity allows resellers to get up and running quickly, to bill complex products simply and accurately and scales with your business, supporting increased product range and allowing you to create and maximise business opportunities. Affinity has extensive provisioning integration capabilities with some of the largest carriers including Openreach (WLR), mobile integration with Vodafone, O2, Transatel and Telenor plus a range of CPS providers. Affinity modules include; Affinity Sales Affinity Fulfilment Affinity Billing Affinity Finance Affinity Online Affinity SERVICE A range of configuration options within the suite of modules ensures that Affinity can be tailored to meet your exact requirements. Our in-house development team can also develop bespoke solutions to integrate the system into your business.

4 the Affinity SUITE a The Affinity suite comprises a range of modules grouped into a number of functional areas to support the reseller operation. The solution can be taken as an overall package or as a sub-set of the modules, depending on business requirements. For resellers with established in-house systems that require integration with the billing system, Aurora offers a suite of APIs to integrate into Affinity ensuring that Aurora is able to offer a flexible solution tailored to your exact business needs. Affinity Service Affinity Service provides you with functionality designed to ensure you are able to provide your customers with first class service and support. Affinity SALES Affinity Sales boasts a complete sales cycle management process, enabling management of target prospect lists, capture of business intelligence data and a suite of management reports. Affinity online Affinity WebPortal provides an online portal for customers to access their current and historic billing information, and get reporting and other billing details, for example, call itemisation. aurora Affinity Fulfilment Affinity Ordering provides a structured framework to take the sale through the delivery process from internal approval through the fulfilment and provisioning process to billing. Affinity Finance Affinity Finance offers an integrated sales ledger for simplifying all financial processes including direct debit instruction collection management, credit control and ledger activity tracking. Affinity billing At the heart of the Affinity software suite, providing fully converged billing across a range of complex product areas including fixed line, mobile, data products, cloud services and utilities.

5 Affinity SALES Affinity Sales boasts a complete sales cycle management process, enabling management of target prospect lists, capture of business intelligence data and a suite of management reports. Sales teams can build up opportunity pipelines against both potential new customers, and existing customers. Prospects and opportunities can be assigned to a sales team or dealer and a suite of reports facilitate the management of these details. When a prospect is converted to a customer, or an opportunity to an order, there is no need to re-enter a customer s information or duplicate any data, ensuring complete accuracy and optimum efficiency. Functionality PROSPECT & OPPORTUNITIES MANAGEMENT Create, edit and assign prospects Capture detailed prospect information and report upon this to create target lists Record detailed product sales opportunities against customers or prospects Convert prospects to customers without losing history Suite of opportunity reports OUTLOOK INTEGRATION Integrate with Microsoft Outlook calendars for sales appointment bookings DIALLER INTEGRATION Integration with supported telephone systems

6 Affinity Fulfilment Once a prospect has been converted to a customer, Affinity Ordering provides a structured framework to take the sale through the delivery process, from internal approval to integration with a fulfilment and provisioning process to track the implementation of the sales order, through to billing. A letter generation capability allows contracts, order forms and communication letters to be generated and sent to customers or internal implementation teams. Affinity has full provisioning integration capabilities with some of the largest carriers including Openreach (WLR), mobile integration with Vodafone, O2, Transatel and Telenor plus a range of other provisioning options including LLU and CPS providers. In addition, Affinity can integrate with hardware suppliers for direct fulfilment of orders to end customers. For customers managing Field Engineers, Affinity provides a range of tools to manage appointments, and for engineers to view and track their job activity via web-based tools. Functionality ORDER PROCESS MANAGEMENT - Create order from opportunity - Generate order documentation INTEGRATED WLR3 - Full TPI integration with Openreach for wholesale line rental provisioning and assurance - Fully integrated with billing system for creation of charges without the need to re-key INTEGRATED CPS PROVISIONING - Supported providers MOBILE ORDER ENTRY SYSTEM (MOES) - Full provisioning integration with Mobile Service Providers (Vodafone, O2, Transatel, Telenor) - Fully integrated with billing system - Tariff package management - Kit fund management HARDWARE AND MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT - Store hardware and equipment against a customer - Record supplier details and associate supplier(s) with hardware items - Stock maintenance contracts or create from scratch - Flag hardware as maintained or non-maintained - Raise ticket against hardware items - Generate supporting documentation with equipment details associated with a ticket - Quote Sheet - Job Sheet - Integrated billing of equipment and maintenance SUPPLIER INTEGRATION - Integrate the Affinity order management process with supplier systems to check stock levels and place order with the supplier ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT - Capture information about engineers, including skills - Assign required skills against appointment types - Book engineer appointments (integration with Outlook calendar) - Assign engineers to appointments based on matching skills - Track engineer activity (e.g. time on site) - Engineer login to WebPortal to view appointment lists and record appointment details - Includes facility to capture job sign off signature via a compatible device

7 Affinity Billing The Affinity Billing engine is at the heart of the Affinity software suite, providing fully converged billing across a range of complex product areas including fixed line, mobile, data products, cloud services and utilities. Affinity Billing offers a range of functionality which ensures accurate billing of complex products and removes the need for re-keying of information, thus improving operational efficiency and eliminating human error, increasing average revenue recovery by 10%. Functionality such as automated processes, including CDR loading eliminates the need for manual processes. Affinity Billing also offers a superior white label web portal which is unparalleled within the industry. It has the facility to brand dealer invoices and web billing, has the capability of creating partner wholesale billing and manages the billing to end customers, all branded within a partner s name. The WebPortal has exceptional user experience and will differentiate you from your competitors. Functionality CDR COLLECTION MANAGER - To automate download of CDR data from supplier FTP sites - Reporting of metrics and trends to highlight issues or anomalies relating to CDR delivery - Traffic light notification system for at a glance status update - Optional configuration to tee up load jobs for user to initiate AFFINITY BILLING ENGINE - CDR loading, rating and bill production & delivery - Range of billing and tariff management options for usage and service charges - Accept CDR data feeds from most carriers - Invoice design based on Affinity templates or bespoke design - Ad hoc billing options - Automated processes BILLING MANAGEMENT REPORT SUITE - Revenue and margin analysis - Fraud and exceptional usage reporting - Customer margin and profile reporting - Tariff margin reports ONLINE BILLING PORTAL WEBPORTAL - Access and password management - Unbilled usage - Billed products and calls - itemised and exportable - Monthly aligned graphical and data-based reporting - View current and historic Invoice PDFs USAGE ALERT MANAGER - Set usage rules to highlight high call spends, bundle usage and calls to specific destinations - Alert notification of breaches - Information relating the breaches is displayed via the WebPortal - Rules managed by customers through WebPortal PARTNER / SUB-RESELLER BILLING - Facility to brand invoices and web billing in the name of dealers, whilst also providing the dealer with access to their customer web billing - For partners that have their own in house billing capability, the Affinity system can create a wholesale invoice to your partner with supporting billing data - Facility to provide wholesale billing to partners, whilst also managing the billing to their end customers, all branded in the partner s name NEXUS MEDIATION - To pre-process CDR data to condition for rating (relevant for data received directly from switches or similar)

8 Affinity FINANCE Affinity Finance offers an integrated sales ledger and standard configuration simplifying all finance processes including direct debit instruction and collection management, credit control and ledger activity tracking. Visibility of customer accounts ensures transparency of costs throughout the finance cycle and it can even create one-off reseller branded invoices and credits. Custom processes are also easy to configure ensuring you stay on top of cash flow and customer payments. Functionality INTEGRATED SALES LEDGER - Ability to create one-off invoices and credits from within the system - reseller branded - Simplified collections and DD processes using existing DD file templates - Reminder letter templates for debt management - Ability to use outstanding balance information across the system - Share information through the system for greater visibility of customer accounts to managers and staff

9 Affinity online Affinity WebPortal provides an online portal for customers to access their current and historic billing information, and get reporting and other billing details, for example; call itemisation. The portal provides hierarchical access for multi-site end customers, allowing cost centres to view only their own contribution to an overall corporate bill. For dealers and resellers the portal offers an holistic view over all customers with a range of reporting and drill down capability. The portal is branded in line with the reseller, but can also be configured and branded (or co-branded) for dealers and sub-resellers. Functionality ONLINE BILLING PORTAL WEBPORTAL - Access and password management - Unbilled usage - Billed products and calls; itemised and exportable - Monthly aligned graphical and data-based reporting - View current and historic Invoice PDFs WEBPORTAL TRANSLATIONS - Facility to translate WebPortal into multiple languages WEBPORTAL LINE TEST - Facility for end customer to perform line test direct with Openreach, via Affinity WebPortal - Optional configuration to create ticket in Affinity where fault is identified WEBPORTAL SELF CARE - Facility for end customer to perform CLI management activities directly through Web Portal, including sub-site management, CLI descriptions PERSONAL CALL TAGGING - Facility to allow end users to mark call usage as personal, allowing reclaim of costs NETWORK MANAGER - Facility to process and report upon Openreach raw call data

10 Affinity Service Affinity Service provides you with functionality designed to ensure you are able to provide your customers with first class service and support. Agents can log faults through the ticket and task management system and you can check your performance through SLA Management ensuring complete visibility at all times. Full integration means that customer communications can be managed and tracked within the system. Functionality TICKET & TASK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - Create, edit, prioritise and assign tasks and tickets - Checklist mechanism to capture detailed stages for repeat tasks/processes - Repeat mechanism for recurring tasks (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) - Create template tasks and tickets SLA MANAGEMENT - Create and assign SLAs against different entities within the system - Assign tasks and tickets against defined SLAs - Suite of SLA management reports TASK & TICKET INTEGRATION - Configure MS Exchange mailbox monitoring to automate generation of tasks and tickets on receipt of inbound s - Facility to track dialogue within Affinity tasks and tickets

11 our solutions a In the Bureau model Aurora takes responsibility for hosting the platform, which users can access over an internet connection from any location, and for full technical support of the system. Aurora provides a named, experienced Billing Manager (with a supporting Administrator) who is responsible for the production of the monthly billing run in accordance with customer instructions, working closely with their own customer services team. Aurora s highly experienced and knowledgeable billing team compliments your in-house teams and operations to ensure a highly effective, efficient billing operation. Aurora can also provide a cost effective fulfilment service where customer invoices need to be printed and posted rather than delivered via the internet. Fulfilment is carefully managed by the Aurora Production team and we can intelligently sort and print mail to optimise postage and fulfilment costs. In the Rental solution we configure the Affinity system and then deploy the software into your IT environment and business operations. Aurora can offer a range of architectural specifications to meet your needs, from simple installations through to highly available, fully resilient solutions. In this option the customer takes responsibility for the day to day billing operation, along with the management of the IT infrastructure. Aurora operates a comprehensive support service to meet the customer s needs and provides help and guidance on using the Affinity software platform. The Rental model traditionally suits resellers with a well-established IT infrastructure and expertise, and a dedicated billing team to undertake the billing operations.

12 our solutions a Aurora offers a wide range of customer support which is available to both Bureau and In-House customers. We have a dedicated support team that provides technical support for any system queries or issues. The team comprises industry experts and software engineers to ensure we are always able to answer your query in a timely manner. We provide a range of account management services to provide regular service reporting and updates about Aurora. We have a dedicated training resource and offer a variety of user training options ranging from regular complimentary webinar training to bespoke on-site training to meet customers exact needs. We offer a comprehensive resource centre to our customers that contains system user guides, industry updates and product update webinars, plus how to videos of training sessions. Aurora attends a range of industry forums and events to ensure we remain at the leading edge of all developments in the channel, and provide regular updates to our customers on these matters. For over a decade Aurora has been a leading provider of Consultancy services to many of the market leading Service Providers, ICT Resellers and Corporates. Aurora has extensive consultancy solutions including Telecoms Audits, Billing Analysis & Tariff Optimisation, Telecom Expense Management Strategy and Procurement Projects. These solutions can be commissioned on an ad hoc or project basis. Please get in touch to find out more.

13 business benefits a Affinity enables your business to grow AFFINITY ENABLES YOUR BUSINESS TO INCREASE REVENUE Our top 5 customers have increased revenue by 500% ADVANCED RECONCILIATION CAPABILITIES Over 75% of customers recover 10% more revenue after switching to the Affinity platform Affinity creates business opportunities BILLS COMPLEX PRODUCTS SIMPLY Affinity bills telecoms, mobile, cloud, data products and utilities accurately ENABLES CUSTOMERS TO LAUNCH INTO NEW MARKETS QUICKLY Customers can sell new products within one month when using Affinity Affinity Improves operational efficiency INTEGRATED AFFINITY MODULES On average integrated provisioning brings forward connection dates by 3 days compared to manual processes COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATION CAPABILITIES WITH 3RD PARTY SYSTEMS 90% of our customers utilise our suite of API s

14 aurora 7 Sherwood House, Walderslade Centre, Chatham, Kent, ME5 9UD