M2M, Utility and Energy

M2M (Machine to Machine communication) market is a logical next step of the mobile telecommunications development. As cellular communications become more and more ubiquitous, and data (especially ipv6) becoming the first class citizen and foundation of the telecom networks, it is only a matter of time for all man made devices, especially mobile and remote, to start communicating with their counterparts. Utilities, including residential, with their vast grids and necessity to collect information from them, and, possibly, control them, are on the fore front of M2M adoption.

With each day, global energy consumption is increasing, while its production is getting more decentralized and state and international regulatory authorities are introducing more rigid requirements and restrictions.

Therefore, energy companies need an adaptive OSS/BSS solution that, on the one hand, will enable them to implement tariff policies of any complexity and, on the other, ensure a convenient tool for settlements with end consumers.

Management of a complex decentralized infrastructure calls for an optimized system architecture that can be easily scaled allowing an increase in the number of customers while maintaining a low TCO.

The following critical problems can be solved through billing systems in the field of energy and utility:

  • „registration and accounting of a large number of “heterogeneous ” (by the nature of utility service use) customers and not just control but full-scale interaction with them (activation/deactivation operations and so on);
  • „calculation of consumption of energy and other utility resources, taking into account possible losses and a transportation component, as well as charging for the resources consumed;
  • „collection of data for dealing with debtors (accounts receivable);
  • „collection of data for analytical reporting that provides for identification of “bottlenecks” in a company’s activities and allows finding out where efforts should be applied to enhance business efficiency.

CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution is a powerful and flexible platform designed to solve the above and a great number of other problems that any energy company may face in today’s market conditions.

While your competitors try to keep afloat under ever-changing market dynamics and discuss bills with their customers, CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution will help you boost your revenue and customer satisfaction with timely and accurate bills and offer of new services.

Originally designed as a billing solution for telecommunications, where availability and performance requirements are very high, CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution ensures real-time billing and linear scalability from tens of thousands to tens of millions end users.

The use of smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which allows reading intervals to be reduced to minutes, real-time billing and spending control become key factors when an energy company chooses a BSS/OSS solution.

KEY FEATURES

A fast and flexible tool for tariff policy setup

Rapidly changing market conditions and regulatory requirements call for frequent changes in tariff policies and other billing system operation parameters. The flexibility of CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution allows you to change these parameters on-the-fly without source code modification.

Prepaid, postpaid, and hybrid schemes

CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution supports a variety of settlement schemes and payment methods. The use of a single database and a unified rating engine enables you to easily switch between schemes and tariffs.

Real-time spending control

Pricing and discounts in real-time mode allow utility companies to most efficiently leverage decentralized energy generation. Real-time adaptation of tariffs and pricing depending on availability and demand ensures return on smart grid investments.

Comprehensive billing modes

Utility and Energy Solution support automated batch billing, manual bill review, bill correction/adjustment, cancel/rebill, and current/final bill.

Powerful billing rules

The solution can handle virtually any billing calculation and business process across commodities, geographies, segments, and jurisdictions.

Discounts and bonuses

Integrated promotion capabilities allow for regular campaigns as well as instant promotions considering targeted bonus, bundle or discount. Offering off peak bonus instead of running expensive peak load turbines will generate significant savings on standby power plants and reduce the CO2 footprint.

Customer care and selfcare

Supporting multiple notification and self-care channels CBOSSconvergence Utility and Energy Solution exceeds regulatory requirements for a 24/7 accessibility of the customer account and data.

Reporting

Reporting functions supply customer information portals with real-time consumption data, invoice information and statistics.