Article Comment: Billing World: Amdocs, Convergys Set to Square Off as Sprint, Nextel Merge

30 March 2005

This article outlines the difficulties that lie ahead for both the Telcos and their billing vendors as the two companies merge.

• The two large US telcos (Nextel + Sprint) are using different billing vendors (Amdocs + Convergys)
• Both telcos are complex and require high-end billing solutions
• Neither billing vendor is the obvious, 'correct' choice for the merged entity
• Both telcos have recently undergone major change within billing. e.g. Nextel consolidated from a billing vendor that had performance issues (500k account(?)) and was operated across twelve instances. Nextel's staff have recently changed their billing processes / systems and relearnt how to perform their jobs.
• Both vendors have recently signed long support contracts with their respective Telcos - The loser's contract will need to be renegotiated/ended
• The 'losing' vendor will need to assist the movement of their data (customer migrations) to the other vendor's platform.
• Both the 'winner' and 'loser' vendor's company fortunes will be financially impacted by such a large billing decision
• Customer support and responsiveness of the 'winner' outside of the merged Telco may be affected as resources are deployed to ensure success.
• System merging will need to be done with minimal impact to both Telco's customers or they will take their business elsewhere

Tags: Billing, Migration, Consolidation, Vendors