'Billing is Everywhere'

Summary

Billing is usually provided in a centralised manner and is based upon what has been done upon the network (of whatever size or type). By separating the complexities of the 'physical' network and the billing for that network, the billing processing can be better understood. This is not to say that all billing is the same or equivalent. Billing for a telecommunications company is considerably more difficult than the billing for basic water consumption.

What is Billing?

Once a business has defined who its customers are, the services it is willing to provide to those customers, it needs systems to charge those same customers for the services rendered. The collection of the resulting charges and subsequent request for payment is what billing is all about.

Viewed as an end-to-end process, billing:

Captures the billable events, i.e. the details of access and services provided
Calculates specific charges against the billable events
Aggregates the charges for a 'customer',
Deducts charges against a pre-paid balance, or asks for payment
Determines the ongoing entitlement to network access

Captures billable events - This is the touchpoint between the business' operational network (e.g. a tollway, water distribution or telephony network) and the billing process. The richness, timeliness and accuracy of the data captured here drives the subsequent billing processes. Billable events can include charges for access as well as for the actual consumption or use of the biller's network.

Calculates specific charges - Once the billable events have been captured, a financial value must be placed against them. The precise value can depend on the customer's details (e.g. business, residential), special features of the event (e.g. a 'reverse charge' phone call), captured event details (e.g. call duration, call destination, quantity of electricity, Megabytes downloaded) - in short, all the information available about the specific customer, his demographic segment's characteristics, and any special and standard pricing arrangements.

Aggregates the charges - After charges have been given a financial value, they are periodically collected and formed into a bill. The bill may allow discounts on aggregate totals and taxes applicable to the nett charge.

Seeks payment - The bill, representing the consolidated, discounted and taxed charges, is sent to the customer for payment using the biller's approved methods. If charges are prepaid, the customer's balance may be reduced by the bill's total.

Determines the ongoing entitlement to network access - A prepaid customer may have his access to the network terminated when the prepaid balance is consumed or his balance may be recharged via (say) a credit card to enable continuing access. For postpaid customers, if the requested payment is not made, ongoing access may be denied or financial penalties applied.

Examples of Billing

Listed below are examples of common billing businesses. The billing systems in each are tuned to their specific operational needs, but at their core each contains common billing processes.

Utility Billing (e.g. gas and water) - Gas or water obtained from the pipeline or dam/reservoir is piped through distribution pipelines to the customer. At each customer's location, a meter measures consumption of the gas/water and the meter value is periodically read, and the readings are passed to the billing system.

Electricity - Electricity is generated (from one or more sources) and is directed into the transmission grid for distribution to the customer. At the customer's location, a meter measures consumption of the electricity in two categories: peak and off-peak (e.g. water heating) which may be consumed by the customer using separate electrical circuits. The meter values are periodically read and passed onto the billing system.

Road Tollway - The tollway has a number of entry, exit and transit points that are monitored (e.g. by overhead gantries). The gantries have cameras which record license plate details, and devices that interrogate the vehicle's electronic tag (if present). The arrangement of the gantries allows trips to be determined by a matching approach based on the combination of electronic tag/licence plate and a bounded time period. Tollway variations can include measurement at entry and exit points, or discrete measurements based on specific crossing (e.g. bridges).

Mobile and Landline Phones - Phone calls are made from the originating location (A-Party) to the terminating location (B-Party). Transmission between the originating and terminating locations may use one or more technologies to complete the connections. Records of the calls and other services performed are made at the exchange(s) and passed to the billing platform.

Internet Service Providers (i.e. ISPs) - Using dialup or broadband (e.g. DSL, Cable), a customer connects to an ISP's infrastructure and uses its proprietary services, and through their connection, the broader internet. The customer gains access using a username and password. The ISP can measure the customer's use of its services and the internet (since all ISP-related activity is enabled and supported through its systems). Records of activity can be made and passed to the billing platform.

Cable / Satellite TV - TV programming signals are broadcast from a central location via cable to connected households where set-top boxes decrypt the chosen signal for the customer's TV. Satellite TV is similar, the signal is sent to the satellite before being broadcast to customers' dishes, which follow a similar decryption process to present images on the customer's TV.

District Heating and Cooling - Based on the season (necessitating heat or cold as desirable), a geographically restricted entity (often a town or city) plumbed with pipes carries heated or cooled water to its houses and businesses. The heat for the water can come (through heat exchangers) from industrial waste heat or underground thermal sources. The cooling sources include the bottom of large, deep lakes or nearby ocean depths.

Email Service Provider (e.g. www.fastmail.fm) - Rather than using an ISP's 'free' email, customers use this specialised biller to provide specialised ISP-independent email services. This can be billed as a yearly charge for basic provision of email (of a certain capacity), with scope to purchase additional 'email' products including larger storage capacity, 'permission' for larger email mailing list sizes and bandwidth capacity (to send and receive larger emails).

Domain Registry Provider - These specialised billers 'register' internet domains (e.g. www.purebill.com) and provide other domain management services. They typically bill in advance for periods of up to 5 years, and generate reminder 'notices' as the registration period draws to a close.

Website Hosting Provider - The hosting provider maintains a customer's website on the internet where it can be reached and browsed at any time. Hosts often charge monthly fees for a defined bandwidth, feature set and service quality. In addition, customer selected features such as dedicated hardware, higher bandwidth levels and backups can be provided for and billed.

Content Provider (e.g. Apple Computer's iTunes music store, Ovum reports) - Customers establish an account with the provider and purchase from a range of content offerings (e.g. music, video clips, business reports). The content may be categorised by genre or author. Digital content (e.g. music) may be downloaded across the Internet. Charging is performed via a subscription charge and/or per content item with payment performed via credit card, or for larger (corporate) purchases, via invoice.

Tags: Billing