The requirement for online charging solution has been rather straightforward: as telecom firms have been acquiring customers, a market of increasingly varied services has been emerging. Using convergent charge is a strategy that will assist create simplicity and flexibility through a centralised means of payment. Billing and charging are essential parts of any telecom infrastructure. Today's typical telecom client uses a wide range of services, from phone to data. There is a need for a centralised and standard method of invoicing and charging with such a variety of services. Additionally, centralising it contributes to a smooth and effective client experience. It might also be used to take advantage of other chances. 

For the changing demands of the 5G economy, convergent charging solutions are designed. As a result, CSPs are better able to leverage these new income sources and give their consumer and business clients a better experience. It also enables real-time rating and billing capabilities. Convergent Charging solutions enable CSPs to efficiently monetize 5G while supporting all existing and future services and offerings. It may be deployed across operator-defined Container as a Service (CaaS) environments or public clouds because it was built on a cloud-native design employing microservices.

What benefits does online charging solution offer?

With the use of online charging solution, telecom operators may provide and control a range of services, such as phone, video, data, and multimedia, and bill clients on a postpaid or prepaid basis.

Telcos may streamline their billing and charging processes with a convergent charging solution to save operational costs and increase revenue. Additionally, they can charge for multi-play service offers and bundle services while still generating a single bill that transparently represents all consumer use.

This contrasts with the previous method of operation, in which communications service providers depended on several various invoicing and charging systems for a range of various use cases. The charging function in these surroundings was disorganised, unclear, and far from as effective as it could be with convergent charging.

Realtime charging solutions have gained popularity among telecom operators due to its several advantages, which we'll discuss in this section.

1. BROADER PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Leading telcos have expanded their product and service offerings to customers in recent years, mostly due to 5G. With a convergent charging system in place, telecoms may increase the range of products and services they provide. As a result, they may better segment their consumer base and provide new goods tailored to each section to boost sales, engagement, and loyalty.

2. IMPROVED OPERATIONAL AGILITY

Markets nowadays are volatile, and consumer mood may alter drastically overnight. Online charging system allows carriers to launch goods more quickly while spending less money to do so. 

Telcos become more agile as a consequence and can react quickly to changing circumstances. As a result, businesses can speed up innovation and deliver the products that customers want.

3. BETTER CLIENT EXPERIENCE

Telcos may improve the customer experience by lowering the likelihood that any customer would be surprised by a bill that is significantly larger than they anticipated by providing them with access to real-time account information and usage statistics. Convergent charging also lessens the likelihood that billing errors reach clients, reducing the irritation that comes with attempting to get a charge fixed.

Additionally, convergent charging enables telecom operators to send clients detailed invoices directly to their smartphones, therefore reducing paper waste, a concern of many modern consumers. Furthermore, the technology allows telecom operators to automatically apply multi-service discounts, which contributes to keeping consumer bills precisely where they should be and not a cent higher.

All things considered, convergent charging has the potential to be genuinely disruptive in a time when the customer experience is a critical difference.

4. LOWER OPERATING COSTS

Convergent charging assists telecom businesses in cutting costs on a variety of levels. Convergent charging allows carriers to first combine several charging systems. As a result, fewer administrative personnel are required to handle numerous systems, which lowers expenses as well. Convergent charging systems also lessen billing mistakes, which frees up telecom operators from paying for bill analysis, bill correction, and customer support services.

Convergent charging, when considered as a whole, aids carriers in lowering operational costs and increasing their profits.

5. Increasing Revenue

Convergent charging, on the other hand, enables telecom operators to increase income by making personalised offers to consumers at the times when they are most likely to interact with them. Convergent charging can significantly affect a telecom operator's total profitability when combined with lower costs.

Convergent charging: How does it operate?

A real time charging solution offers telecom operators the resources they need to manage account balances and regulate services in real time by enabling them to: 

• Alert customers when their account balance is about to be depleted so they have the choice to pay for more services.

• Before offering services, authenticate subscribers to ensure sure they have adequate money in their accounts.

• Connectivity should be cut off once a consumer has used up all of their credits to prevent unintentional overcharging and a surprise fee.

• By interacting with people at the most profitable periods for upselling and encouraging them to try new services, you may boost your income.

Telco operators may improve operational effectiveness, decrease revenue leakage, and foster consumer confidence by combining different charge and invoicing systems by sending customers a bill that very plainly itemises all the services they've used during that billing period.

Convergent charging in the 5G era

Telcos must spend money on convergent charging technologies if they want to take full advantage of the 5G future. It's that easy. 

Additionally, these answers must be found instantly. Telco operators want real time charging solutions that are supported by data platforms that allow them to make choices in 10 milliseconds or less to fully realise the benefits of 5G. 

Each client event may be handled immediately if the proper underpinning data platform is in place. Telco operators may thus make decisions like whether a client has enough credits to use an extra service or whether to take advantage of an upselling opportunity automatically.