Simplify Interconnect Billing

Every carrier needs a solid revenue assurance strategy to succeed and behind that strategy, the tools to provide the data integrity, visibility and audit trails.

The billing, settlements, and dispute management functions in Telarix’s solution are highly automated and designed to mutually support each other.

The strength of the billing/settlement product begins with its tight integration with iXLink®, the neutral information exchange that takes in price lists and invoices. iXLink® gives the billing and settlements process a major revenue assurance boost as it validates data upon receipt, normalizes that data, and removes the errors that always come from whenever human hands touch high volumes of data. Traditionally, lack of automation has made auditing one of the most overlooked components of a comprehensive revenue assurance strategy.

• Vendors overcharge on average 4-9% of the total invoice value.
• 50/50 settlements of disputes are often taken because carriers lack the compelling evidence to win disputes
• Large discrepancies between payments calculated by sending and receiving parties often due to inaccurate or missed charges

The system is designed to validate whether bills and declarations match up to price lists and rated traffic. This also bolsters the system’s dispute management side. If a partner raises a dispute, you can immediately narrow that down to actual records.

Some of our customers report their disputes on rated traffic have dropped significantly because data entry and timing problems are caught and negated long before they enter the billing stream. What’s more, if a partner raises a dispute, iXBill enables you to immediately narrow the dispute down to the records in question.

Conversely, using thresholds, the system automatically suggests places where you should dispute.

With greater automation, billing and declarations are simpler and more accurate because you are merely approving the bills before they are sent and the errors that come from integrating spreadsheets and home-grown databases go away.

Another big benefit is improved visibility. For instance, Finance is now able to see what the sales department sold, what the routing team routed, and how the carrier partner rated the traffic, all of these factors are a huge part of the profitability equation. You can compare that directly to the invoice received or the invoice or declaration you are about to send out.

In other words, Finance enjoys a view of its P&L without having to wait for input from the middleware of five different systems.

Other advanced features of the billing/settlements suite include:

• Multi-currency – iXBill supports all international currencies and conversion as needed into a common currency as needed for internal reporting
• Combined Invoices – Charges for various services and traffic streams, such as hubbing and bi-lateral traffic, can be combined on one bill.
• Shortfall Management – When you bill on commitments, you can automatically move forward commitments not met to the next billing period.
• Reoccurring and Non-Reoccurring Charge Management - Automatic charge generation and residual traffic management.
• Close Bills at the CDR Level – Rather than close a bill for a particular date, iXBill allows you to close an account at the more accurate CDR level. This feature is highly useful when it comes time to re-rate customers or isolate errors.

iXBill®

iXBill is a robust and highly flexible interconnect billing system that greatly reduces revenue leakage by ensuring that every call detail record and usage event is captured, rated and invoiced correctly. Integrated with iXConnect, iXBill manages all the interconnect agreements you have with carriers and content partners in one unified billing – and operating -- platform. It also supports a myriad of agreement types and rating scenarios including multi-party settlements and complex revenue sharing partnerships. iXBill works seamlessly with iXLink®’s Bill Distribution serve to manage the distribution your invoices to your partners.

iXAudit®

iXAudit is an end-to-end audit and dispute management system that works in conjunction with iXLink® Bill Receipt to validate interconnect invoices, reconcile charges and manage the settlement process. iXAudit also serves as a vital data repository for every partner’s invoices and declarations, providing expedited workflow when it comes time to deliver supporting data to justify or counter disputes. Finally, iXAudit seamlessly integrates with your back-office financial systems, making General Ledger, dispute accounting, and payment processing more efficient.

iXLink® Bill Receipt

iXLink’s Bill Receipt Service verifies electronic bills as it rapidly uploads statements and invoices seamlessly into downstream systems including iXAudit. Automated error handling pinpoints data validation anomalies and sends confirmations to buyer and payer via multi-media alerts.

iXLink’s Bill Distribution

iXLink® Bill Distribution converts bills into your company’s preferred formats. In this way, it promotes the faster conversion of accounts receivable into cash. iXLink® Bill Distribution also expedites the settlement process through email tracking, notices, and multi-media alerts. A secure web portal enables logging and tracking capabilities for all transactions.