Infonova Product Description Customer Management Rise customer experience with Infonova CRM, Customer Self Management and Ticket Management
Table of Contents 1. Infonova Customer Management... 3 1.1 R6 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)... 4 1.1.1 Virtualization Features... 4 1.1.1.1 Impacts on CRM... 4 1.1.2 What is possible within CRM?... 4 1.1.2.1 CRM Core Service... 6 1.1.2.2 CRM Credit Assessment Management Service... 7 1.1.2.3 CRM Replication Service... 7 1.1.3 Account Hierarchy Functionality... 8 1.1.4 Mobile prepaid capabilities... 8 1.2 R6 Customer Self Management (CSM)... 10 1.3 R6 Ticket Management... 12 Infonova R6 Customer Management 2
1. Infonova Customer Management Building up a relationship with customers is key for all businesses, regardless of size or industry. Especially for Service Providers it s one of the most important things to manage this relationship, collect the right customer information and organize that information for proper analysis and actions. Additionally the Internet is a proven vehicle for turning a company's administrative backoffice cost into the customer's valued front office. Self-management gives customers convenience, control, and flexibility in handling their relationships with a company, and the company can immediately move overhead into variable costs. Infonova Customer Management comprising Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Customer Self Management Ticket Management Figure 1 - Infonova Customer Management Capabilities Infonova R6 Customer Management 3
1.1 R6 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) It is crucial to an operator s success to have steady access to updated customer data and account information because customer data are the enterprise's knowledge of the customer, their accounts, and those services to which they subscribe. They also contain customer/provider/ operator agreements (T&C's) and SLA commitments. Complying with etom (enhanced Telecom Operations Map) standardized CRM functionalities in Infonova R6 CRM necessitates the collection of customer information and its application to personalize, customize and integrate the delivery of services to a customer as well as to identify opportunities for increasing the value of the customer to the enterprise. CRM applies to both conventional retail customer interactions, as well as to wholesale interactions, such as when an enterprise is selling to another enterprise that is acting as the retailer. Therefore the capabilities to support customer data and account hierarchies and the assignment of each single customer to products are key parameters and consequently a key capability within the Customer Relationship Management component of Infonova R6. 1.1.1 Virtualization Features Due to the need to ensure strict capabilities for virtualization and the benefits delivered for white labeling, the distinct separation between the view and access rights to data assigned to a Virtual Service Operator or Virtual Service Provider is stricter than ever before. Within R6, each operator only can view and access the data of the customers assigned to his own domain. Also the differentiation between wholesale and retail billing accounts have been enforced. The maintenance of a VSO account such as address management, the assignment of wholesale billing accounts to the products of a VSO and the assignment to the correct operator role is run in Infonova R6 CRM. 1.1.1.1 Impacts on CRM Infonova R6 CRM differentiates between wholesale (VSP) and retail products (VSOs). Additionally, every customer (service and billing account) belongs to one VSO; the VSP and VSOs are not allowed to access the customer data of other VSOs, since each VSO corresponds to a different company. The customer data includes a customer's profile information like address and phone number, as well as the offers, products and services the customer is subscribed to. 1.1.2 What is possible within CRM? R6 CRM is responsible for the creation and maintenance of customer accounts and assigns products to a specific customer (this excludes the order process and provisioning of customers). However, R6 CRM does not trigger system processes. CRM also verifies and stores customer related data including customized offers, their features, services and charges and provides this data to its users. In more detail, it: maintains billing account state and information Infonova R6 Customer Management 4
opens and closes billing accounts tracks the history of Customer Relationship Management changes maintains service account state (customized offer e.g. product name X 29$) and information maintains personal information about the customer helps maintaining address information (together with Address Management) maintains customer alias, password and security question for Customer Self Management (CSM) maintains the customer default communication method maintains customer barring information maintains authorized parties for accounts receives credit information from Accounts Receivable handles prepaid balances, voucher usages and online call history displays and manages payment and invoice history Billing Account Infonova R6 Customer Relationship Management Login Credential Service Account CRM Core Communication Method Address Information CRM Credit Assessment Management Credit Information History of Changes CRM Replication Account Authorization Figure 2 - Overview of CRM Services Customer Relationship Management holds the following services: CRM Core CRM Credit Assessment Management CRM Replication Infonova R6 Customer Management 5
1.1.2.1 CRM Core Service CRM Core is the service in R6 Customer Relationship Management that is responsible for maintaining billing accounts, their various properties and their customized instances of product offers, services and features. It provides APIs for reading and writing billing account related data. CRM Core holds the following features: Retrieve Billing Account Information provides overview and detail information about billing accounts Manage Billing Account Information creates and modifies billing account configuration Close Billing Account closes a billing account after a predefined period of time and all the services have been disconnected. This bulk process is triggered periodically to close all accounts which have no active services. Disconnect Billing Account in case the customer does not pay the bills the billing account is disconnected; unrequested disconnect. Update Provisioning Status sets the new provisioning status for customized instance objects like offers, services, and features Retrieve Charge Assignment Information provides mapping information for billing and/or service accounts and concurrent charges(this is necessary for rating and billing purposes) Retrieve Service Account Information provides overview and detail information about service accounts Infonova R6 Customer Management 6
Customer Care functionality Check customer detailed information Figure 3 - Maintain Current Customer Contact 1.1.2.2 CRM Credit Assessment Management Service Within Infonova R6 CRM many different payment options can be offered to customers. For the decision which payment options should be offered, input parameters like product offer risk level and customer risk level are used. For this purpose the credit worthiness of customers who intend to order products or services can be evaluated and a risk-assessment on the specific transaction accomplished. 1.1.2.3 CRM Replication Service CRM Replication service is used to transfer data in to and out of CRM. This service is responsible for replicating CRM Core data to other database instances or interfaces for further processing. It is a one-way mechanism which only reads the CRM data and passes them on for further processing. CRM Replication holds the following features: Provide Data for Replication to External Components provides billing and service account information like setup progress, current status and authorized parties Retrieve Credit Information from Accounts Receivable receive information about current customer account balances Infonova R6 Customer Management 7
1.1.3 Account Hierarchy Functionality Infonova R6 CRM provides functionality to set up hierarchies or non-hierarchical groups or networks of billing accounts for companies, subsidiaries, employees and families. This relationship can be changed within a billing period and takes effect at the following billing period and bill run. Within the account hierarchy, any charges accumulated by a billing account can be transferred to any other billing account. However, cyclic transfers are prohibited by the system. A wide range of account billing options can be supported. Invoice line items (product charges at account levels) can be assigned to any other account within the hierarchy and not just to its direct parent account. Post-rated charges (e.g., discounts based on total usage by the account group) can be assigned to any account within the hierarchy, regardless of the account to which the invoice is assigned. As SMB and Enterprise customers are always changing and evolving (business divisions are re-structured or employees are assigned to other departments) Infonova R6 CRM provides a very user friendly, easy to maintain account hierarchy that reflects and supports almost any kind of relationship. Changes of how charges are billed and who pays the bill can be made with a well arranged graphical user interface. 1.1.4 Mobile prepaid capabilities The Infonova R6 functionality has been extended to enable the orchestration of mobile prepaid systems that delivers a range of capabilities dependent on the functionality of the prepaid system that has been integrated. These integrations typically deliver capabilities that include easy management of prepaid services. An operator can view all mobile pre-paid offers and top up the customer s airtime credit or change the service account status. Beside general information an itemized call list can be displayed including called number, amount charged and date/time. Itemized call list can be displayed Figure 4: Customer s Offer Details - Realtime Tab - Call Details Infonova R6 Customer Management 8
List of all credit top-ups Figure 5: Customer s Offer Details - Realtime Tab - Recharge Details Via Infonova R6 CRM the life cycle of subscribers to prepaid products can be controlled easily. After installation of their profile, subscribers have to activate their account. In this state the subscriber can perform all activities assuming there is sufficient credit on the account. If the number of days since the last re-load exceeds a pre-configured value, the account is set inactive and can be used only passively or to call emergency numbers, customer care and the reload service number. Finally a subscriber expires a configured number of days after entering the inactive state. Infonova R6 Customer Management 9
1.2 R6 Customer Self Management (CSM) Infonova R6 Customer Self Management allows customers to manage their accounts, view their online invoices and order new products. Infonova R6 CSM also enables customers to display account and service details. The module gives the opportunity to change products, personal data, configure email accounts, manage web space, change the passwords for mailboxes or access personal and broadcast information directly. Related to the assurance area, customers optionally can enter Trouble Tickets via Infonova R6 CSM. Detailed functionalities are as follows: Order Entry - Customers can buy a product offer and configure/enter all data needed for provisioning Messages - Customer can view messages that can be automatically or manually generated by you Enquiries - Customer can raise an enquiry which shows up in WebAC and check its status Invoice Presentment - Customer can view his invoices as well as has unbilled usage on detailed level Payments - Customer can pay bill(s) and change his payment method Service Management - Customer can view basic service/product offer related data including service features Profile - Customer can view their current details e.g. address, phone number Order Status - Customer can view the status of their order Analysis Usage - Customer can see how a breakdown of their usages before they have been invoiced The access to the customer self management functionality is only allowed to authorized persons and to the subscriber himself with his username and password. Via role based rules the module can be configured to allow or limit the customer management actions that authorized users can perform. Where possible, all standard functionality available to CSRs is also be available for customers, except where there is a commercial conflict (e.g. credit adjustments) or client expertise is required to perform the operation. Subscribers have the option to change certain settings in the personal user profile by themselves. This enables Service Providers to outsource certain CSR activities and thereby reduce costs and increase profitability across the organization. Generally it has been found that enabling the customer to have self empowerment optimizes the customer experience at the same time as maximizing the efficiency of business operations. With the easy to use flexible self service platform, a Service Provider can increase their online sales dramatically. As customers can change products, order products or prolong their accounts on a 7*24*365 basis, sales opportunities have no time limit. Additionally customers can view reporting statistics like their download volume or call statistics whenever and wherever they want. Infonova R6 Customer Management 10
Infonova R6 Customer Self Management offers enhanced feature control; it is fully webbased and driven by a backend content management system. To fit any desired look and feel, it can be customized via CSS formatting. Information Tabs Display of personal campaignes Figure 6: Infonova s Customer Self Management Portal Access to information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week gives customers a holistic self management experience. They can buy a product offer and configure or enter all data needed for provisioning whenever they want. This also includes a status check of their order and the option to change customer information like address or phone number. Invoices as well as unbilled usage can be viewed on a detailed level and a breakdown of usages can be requested before invoicing. Additionally Infonova R6 CSM enables customers to pay their bill(s) and change their payment methods (dependent on the rules applied to the offer). Customers can place orders, change customer details or choose payment methods by themselves via a web interface. Infonova R6 CSM enables service provider to remove large customer service overheads while providing a more satisfying experience to its customers. Via R6 CSM customers have the chance to interact with CSRs. They can open a ticket with special requests and check the status of their ticket. Infonova R6 Customer Management 11
1.3 R6 Ticket Management Infonova R6 Ticket Management covers interactions with customers including enquiries, support requests, and complaints. Tickets can be created by customers via the R6 customer self management system or CSRs on request of customers. Additional data, such as one of the predefined categories, a priority, or a due date can be added to tickets. New tickets are assigned to certain groups of CSRs (based on their category) for processing. The tickets are then processed by CSRs of the corresponding group and closed when they have been resolved. Tickets always refer to one particular customer, are classified by ticket group and have a unique reference number in the system. Enquiries are customer questions or issues which cannot be solved immediately and require further investigation and action (e.g., modem is not working or complaints). Enquiries are searchable and have different priorities. Via the Find an Enquiry screen the WebAC CSR can search, take on, change, withdraw, or complete an enquiry. The Ticket Management systems offers various search criteria like e.g. the enquiry reference, type, priority, status, assigned to, or created by. This enables fast reaction time, and easy enquiry handling. Enter ticket details Check tickets Figure 7: Infonova Ticket Management functionality The Infonova R6 ticket management service is used to control and manipulate tickets. It includes operations such as creating and updating tickets, searching for tickets, assigning and un-assigning tickets to CSRs, and closing tickets. Infonova R6 Customer Management 12
Truly Transformational Solutions Infonova was founded in 1989 and delivers highly automated IT solutions for Telco, Media & Convergent as well as Utility companies. Infonova s BSS solutions have been implemented for incumbent, attacker and cable operators supporting triple & quadruple play service portfolios. Encapsulating decades of knowledge, Infonova s latest BSS product, Release 6 is a fully J2EE concept to cash platform that supports real multi-tenant concept to cash operations for fully convergent and complex business models. To learn more, visit our Web site at www.infonova.com. Contact For more information on Infonova lead to high performance, contact infonova@infonova.com. Infonova R6 Customer Management 13