Communications Industry Group

Revenue Assurance for Telecommunications CompaniesHow Accenture Helps Telcos Achieve High Performance by Minimizing Revenue Leakage

Indeed, one of the challenges many telcos struggle with is ensuring they are billing for and collecting all the revenue they are due. Accenture research has found telecom operators, on average, lose at least 1 to 2 percent of their revenue because of network and accounting inefficiencies, increasingly complex technology and delivery models, a focus on metrics that do not ensure orders translate into cash and lack of visibility into the customer-to-cash cycle.

Telcos generally are aware of these challenges and, in fact, have attempted to solve their revenue assurance problems through various initiatives. Unfortunately, these initiatives generally focus on the symptoms and do not address the underlying process and technology issues that cause revenue leakage.

Accenture has developed the Accenture Event to Cash Solution, an end-to-end approach to addressing revenue leakage that overcomes the shortcomings of traditional efforts and helps telcos take major strides toward high performance. Telcos that have adopted Accentures

solutionwhich addresses both the business and technology sides of revenue assurancehave realized cost savings of between 2.5 and 3.5 percent in little more than three to four months for a comparatively minor investment. Such results are welcome in any business environment, but are especially critical during todays uncertain times when cost containment is a priority for telcos everywhere.

An end-to-end approach to revenue assurance

Accentures approach to revenue assurance spans four phases, each of which encompasses a set of activities that address specific revenue assurance challenges (see Figure 1).

In the Startup Phase, Accenture conducts a detailed assessment of a telcos revenue assurance function and capabilities, as well as all areas of the company in which revenue leakage can occur. As part of these activities, we benchmark the companys existing revenue assurance maturity level against leading industry

practices, as well as identify and prioritize the main sources of revenue leakage. We also develop a new revenue assurance organization design (including definitions of new business processes, roles and responsibilities) and create a new revenue assurance function strategy that promotes the function to the broader enterprise and helps facilitate the functions integration with other key areas of the company, such as fraud and credit management.

In the Definition Phase, we work with the telco to develop a set of target business results it would like to achievethat is, in what areas it wants to improve revenue assurance and by what degreeand subsequently define new key performance indicators that will help the telco measure its progress toward reaching those targets. Using Accentures established process models, we then design new revenue assurance business processes that will enable the telco to more effectively identify and address sources of revenue leakage. Also during this phase, we help the telco identify a set of short-term initiatives or quick wins to resolve the high-priority issues rapidly so the company can begin

Few communications companies will escape the impact of todays challenging economic times, whether those impacts involve shifting demand, increasing costs or the emergence of new risks.

generating cost savings immediately and gain management commitment to further revenue assurance improvement.

In the third phase, Deployment, the new revenue assurance capabilities go live. During this time, we implement the newly designed revenue assurance business processes and design and roll out the relevant pre-packaged technology solutions that support the new revenue assurance organization and processes.

The final phase, Tuning, involves refining and enhancing the revenue assurance business processes and solutions for optimal performance, enabling the telco to support the ongoing review, detection and repair of future issues that could lead to revenue leakage and bottom-line degradation.

Throughout the four phases, Accenture leverages its proven revenue assurance resources, practices and assets:

Accenture Delivery Methods. Our methods provide the framework to guide our global, multidisciplinary teams on how best to help our clients achieve

their business goals. These methods are the result of three decades of experience in creating and running large-scale projects; they support the entire project life cycle in management, development and operations.

The Accenture Revenue Assurance Solution. Telcos benefit from the assets and benchmarks Accenture has developed through dozens of revenue assurance projects.

Skilled professionals. Accentures global project teams comprise professionals with significant experience not only in revenue assurance, but also in OSS/BSS implementation and the broader telco industry.

By capitalizing on Accentures revenue assurance experience, tools and practices, telcos can achieve immediate and sustainable cost savings while substantially reducing overall risk.

High performance through revenue assurance

Accentures ongoing High Performance Business research initiative has found that

a distinctive trait of a high-performance business is the ability to proactively use a downturn to improve its competitive positionprudently cutting costs while also sharpening its customer focus, driving operational excellence, and carefully acquiring capabilities and assets. A revenue assurance initiative can play a major role in such actions.

Importantly, telcos should avoid initiatives that address only a small portion of their revenue assurance issuesand generally provide only temporary relief. Instead, they should follow the lead of the forward-thinking telcos that have taken a more comprehensive and proactive view of their operations to minimize the instances of revenue leakage and its impact on their bottom lines. These enterprises have adopted the Accenture approach to revenue assurance and have generated sustainable, positive business results quickly. In the process, they also have helped build the distinctive capabilities that can enable them to control costs in todays uncertain economy and position themselves for high performance when economic conditions ultimately improve.

Figure 1. Accentures approach to revenue assurance encompasses four key phases and leverages Accentures extensive resources and capabilities.

Services

AssessmentFunction OrganizationDesignFunction StrategyDefinition

Accenture Delivery Methods

Accenture Communications Solutions Revenue Assurance Assets

Skilled Professionals

Foundation

Key Performance Indicators DefinitionBusiness Processes DesignQuick Wins Definition and Implementation

Solutions and Services Design and ImplementationBusiness Processes Deployment

Business Processes TuningSolutions and Services Tuning and Enhancement

Startup Phase Definition Phase Deployment Phase Tuning Phase

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For more information, please visit us at www.accenture.com/RevenueAssurance.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 215,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unpar-alleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the worlds most success-ful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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