Archive for the Interviews Category

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24 02 2010

Growth in Managed Services

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

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Podcast 11 is dedicated to the topic of managed services – services which might have been performed in-house but are instead delivered by an external supplier. It is a topic that gets considered from time to time by telcos wanting to improve their revenue assurance and fraud management, although it is not so common to see initial conversations progress to completing an actual deal. Indian firm Subex is a market leader in supplying revenue assurance and fraud management software, and also earns a significant chunk of its revenues through managed services for those functions and others. I asked them to talk with me about the current status and future potential for managed services. Vinod Kumar, Subex’s Group President, joined me from India, and Des Rehinsi, their Director of Sales for Managed Services, joined me from the UK. We talked about the reasons why telcos opt for managed services, the factors that drive competitive advantage in this market, and their expectations for future sales from managed services. You can listen to the full podcast at talkRA.com, or by subscribing through the iTunes store.

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16 01 2010

New RA Book by Yelland and Sherick

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link

Mark Yelland joined me for talkRA podcast number 10. Mark has just co-written a new book with David Sherick, entitled “Revenue Assurance for Service Providers”. You can obtain the book from Amazon.com by following this link. The book is also available from Amazon.co.uk and Authors OnLine. We talked about Mark’s experience as a revenue assurance practitioner and how he has translated this into practical advice which is especially useful for the smaller operation that wants big RA results without necessarily needing to buy big RA systems. You can listen to the full hour-long conversation at talkRA.com, or by subscribing to the talkRA podcast through iTunes.

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11 12 2009

Streamlining RA Management: Qtel and Symbox

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link

For episode 9 of the talkRA podcast I was joined by Lee Scargall, regular talkRA contributor and Director of Risk and Revenue Assurance at Qtel, and Paul Lewis-Borman, owner of software house Symbox. Before you wonder, Symbox does not make simboxes. Symbox develop software used to ‘webify’ business processes, and in particular have worked with telcos like Qtel to enhance their revenue assurance management. For all the software created to do revenue assurance reconciliations, many RA departments still pour time and effort into consolidating the status of their work and presenting it to executives. We talked about the ways software can automate the management and reporting of revenue assurance, eliminating manual tasks that add no value and which limit the ability of the RA department to explain their performance to C-level execs. You can exclusively listen to the full 30-minute conversation at talkRA.com, or by subscribing to the podcast at iTunes.

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20 08 2009

Africa and Beyond: Talking RA with Nitin Patel

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link

My guest for episode 8 of the talkRA podcast was Nitin Patel, revenue assurance consultant. He told me about his experiences from different countries, in particular focusing on what he has learned from working on revenue assurance projects in African telcos. Nitin recounted some interesting anecdotes. His stories conveyed some very telling insights about the best and worst examples of how to do revenue assurance, and it was a pleasure to talk with him. You can exclusively listen to the full 30-minute conversation at talkRA.com, or by subscribing to the podcast at iTunes.

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28 06 2009

RA Accreditation and More – Talking RA with Geoff Ibbett

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link

Geoff Ibbett is an independent consultant with tremendous experience in the field of revenue assurance. Over the years he has held a string of senior roles at businesses like Subex, Azure, Connexn and Telecomms Consultancy & Solutions. I asked Geoff to join me for podcast 7, and we talked about the new revenue assurance training and accreditation program Geoff has developed for the TM Forum. We also talked about his work on the TMF’s new leakage framework, as well as his views on trends in the RA software market and about the professionalization of RA. You can listen to this informative interview by playing or downloading the podcast from talkRA. Better still, subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, and you will never miss a future episode.

The first of the TMF’s RA training and accreditation courses will be held in London, England and runs from September 14th to September 16th. Geoff told me there are still some spaces left, so if you are interested in booking a spot, you can find out more by visiting the TMF’s website.

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26 05 2009

Revenue Assurance for International Groups

Posted by: Eric in Interviews, Podcasts

Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link

Lee Scargall, fellow talkRA author and Director of Enterprise Risk Management at Qtel International, joined me for podcast 6. We talked about a topic of increasing importance: how to deliver revenue assurance across international groups. Fewer and fewer telcos are run as stand-alone entities. Economies of scale has made it harder and harder for small national telcos to match the profits of large international groups. Cost reductions and efficiency savings increasingly drive groups to build scale by expanding overseas. At the same time, group-level executives see revenue assurance as vital to ensuring shareholder value is maximized in each national operation. I cannot think of anyone better placed to give advice on revenue assurance in groups. Lee was recruited to Qtel, the Qatari operator with ambitious plans for growth and international expansion, and tasked to implement their group function for risk management, revenue assurance and fraud management. He joined them after performing a similar role across the disparate overseas subsidiaries of Cable & Wireless. You can hear Lee’s frank advice about how to manage group revenue assurance by listening or downloading the podcast from talkRA. You can also hear and subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, meaning all future episodes will be downloaded as soon as they are available.

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