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XACCT, Convergys Announce Strategic Alliance To Enable Carrier-Class, Usage-Based IP Billing And CRM Services
From TMCnet.com
April 6, 2000
The integrated solution is designed to enable IP service providers to move
quickly from concept to deployment as they roll out new services. Using
XACCT's software platform for real-time usage data collection and
aggregation, automated user account provisioning, and pre-payment
processing, Catalys' complex billing and CRM functionality enables service
providers to differentiate themselves in a highly-competitive market. These
capabilities will allow service-specific, usage-based pricing models for a
wide variety of IP-based services and applications such as VPN, VoIP and
Video-on-Demand.
"We recognize the need to bring highly-scalable, carrier-class billing and
CRM capabilities to the Internet marketplace. The integration of Catalys
with XACCTusage will provide our clients with advanced functionality and
enable innovative revenue-generating programs and services to be implemented
quickly and cost effectively," said Bob Marino, president of Convergys
Information Management Group.
"Catalys' carrier-class capabilities are complemented by XACCT's open
technology platform that is designed to enable quick integration with a wide
range of existing and emerging business applications, such as service-based
billing and user self-provisioning."
"Convergys is well positioned to deliver front-office and back-office
business infrastructure and services to the IP service providers," said Eric
Gries, CEO of XACCT Technologies. "We believe that the business-critical
information generated by XACCTusage will help enable Convergys and its
clients to realize higher customer retention through innovative and flexible
product offerings that evolve with their customers' needs."
Convergys' Catalys is designed specifically for next-generation IP service
providers looking to leverage IP networks to deliver high-value services and
applications to end-users. By supporting self-care and automated
provisioning, Catalys allows service providers to benefit from instant
service activation/deactivation for enhanced revenue capture and real-time
fraud management. Backed by world-class contact center and data center
operations, the Convergys' Catalys solution is well positioned to rapidly
enable new services for IP service providers. The integration of Catalys
with XACCTusage strengthens Convergys' commitment to bring its world-class
capabilities to the IP space.
"The marriage of Convergys' billing and customer care products with XACCT's
infrastructure solution will provide significant advancements in CRM
outsourcing," said Katrina Menzigian, program manager with IDC. "Carriers'
needs for advanced CRM capabilities continue to rise. By providing its
clients with value-added services that enhance its traditional customer
interaction services, Convergys continues to demonstrate leadership and
vision in the CRM services market."
The XACCTusage platform provides a single point of interface between the
back-office Business/Operations Support Systems (BSS/OSS) and the network
infrastructure, for usage data collection, automated user account
provisioning, and pre-payment processing. XACCTusage's multi-source,
multi-layer architecture, and business policy-based record synthesis
capabilities enable it to extract comprehensive usage information from
numerous network devices from all layers of the network -- from physical
layer to the application layer -- in real-time and synthesize it to produce
meaningful billing records called eXtensible Detail Records (XDRs). XDRs are
analogous to the Call Detail Records (CDRs) generated by the telephone
switches. The XDRs are used by the billing applications to create
service-specific usage-based bills for a wide variety of IP-based services
and applications, such as VoIP, Video and VPN.
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