The SOLID Blog

Why Billing Reports Should be the Next Process You Automate

Written by Annette Gardner | 18-Nov-2015 11:49:28

When it comes to billing, even the smallest mistake can have the most severe impact on your bottom line. 

ISP Finance departments capture, process and organise volumes of personal, transactional and credit information. Typically, these reside in separate (disconnected) software applications. Add the constant high tempo of transaction and data processing required, and it’s clear how small, yet significant errors easily creep into the billing process. 

Automated billing reports provide transparency, identify profitability centres, eliminate unexpected errors and enable detailed billing analysis. Combined, this delivers key information the finance team needs to shore up revenue leakage and add considerable business value.     

This is why billing reports should be the next process you automate:

Automated billing reports provide transparency through the entire billing cycle

When viewing your business through a financial lens, you need high levels of transparency to identify and eliminate causes of revenue leakage. With ISP automation software, billing reports can be configured to give you only as little, or as much, information as you need. A wide range of reporting templates also make it easy for finance teams to analyse billing trends and spot irregularities quickly.

Revenue assurance reporting reveals profitability of your
products and customers

Building detailed outlines of billing cycles helps identify the most profitable products and gives ISPs insight into who their most profitable customers are. This information can be repurposed to build customer retention strategies around high-revenue customers and identify revenue-generating products and services.

Armed with this data, ISPs can tweak their service offerings and focus on those products that have greater appeal to markets.

Output reports eliminate unexpected irregularities
in the billing cycle

Backtracking when a billing error occurs can be the stuff of nightmares. Once batches are released into the system, stopping them to correct any irregularities creates a domino-effect that holds up the entire billing cycle.

Output billing reports give finance departments assurance that their billing cycles are accurate, predictable and void of any irregularities that may lead to disputes with customers.

Invoice detail reporting allows ISPs to analyse billing information in greater detail

The ability to focus on a particular area of your billing process allows you to hone in on any areas of concern that might warrant closer inspection. Customisable reporting on events, time-periods or customer segments gives you the ability to collate and interrogate information according to the specific data sets you are looking for.

Automated billing reports allow you and your team to add greater
business-value

Billing and collections require volumes of data processing and cross-checking that can be time consuming and prone to human error. With customisable, automated processes that eliminate non value-adding work, time-starved finance departments are able to take a more proactive approach to their roles and find new ways to add value to the business.

With full audit trails that safeguard against irregularities, ISPs are happy in the knowledge that they - and their customers - are protected against inaccurate billing processes and mechanisms that may hurt the bottom line. Automated collection reminders keep everyone in the information loop and provide a more predictable and reliable billing and collections process.

SOLIDitech has been providing automation solutions to leading ISPs for over 10 years now. Our systems are built to give ISPs a boost in agility and productivity with zero compromise on reliability. For more information on how SOLID can help your ISP bring new levels of efficiency to your business, download our Ultimate Guide to Automation.

 

 

 

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