Sept/Oct 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

There are numerous challenges to contend with that can slow down op- erations, inhibit growth, and negatively impact the customer experience. Tax laws, for instance, can be very difficult to navigate, especially when enter- ing into new markets. Providers also tend to struggle with deployment and activation challenges. Managing and billing subscribers can be very bur- densome, too. The list of pain points goes on and on, and they tend to vary across each provider. There’s one challenge that almost all providers have in common though, and that involves meeting the complex and ever-changing demands of today’s cus- tomers. Purchasing requirements have spiked in recent years, and today busi- nesses expect features such as instant service activation, flexible consumption, unique product bundling and price opti- mization. Customers also want a single bill, as opposed to numerous invoices for disparate services. These are now deal breakers for many businesses. As a result of this shift to a custom- er-centric market, many UCaaS provid- ers are turning to cloud-based solutions such as OneBill for help. OneBill is an advanced lead-to-revenue platform that manages the entire UCaaS lifecycle. The platform enables real-time provi- sioning and activation for UCaaS ser- vices for vendor platforms, via SIP trunk or hosted PBX platform, or SIP terminal. “Provisioning is a huge problem for our customers, because they tend to work with a lot of different providers,” explained Sunitha Shetty, vice presi- dent of strategic accounts at OneBill. “Right now, they have to work with a variety of systems which aren’t neces- sarily automated or integrated. We have that automation built in. That’s a key differentiator, which most plat- forms out there do not really offer.” OneBill’s elastic, scalable subscrip- tion models make it possible to gener- ate predictable, renewable and appre- ciating revenue streams, said Shetty. “We do more than just billing and invoicing,” added CEO and founder JK Chelladurai. “We take care of the entire lifecycle from creating a lead all the way to recognizing revenue. At the same time, we streamline taxa- tion challenges and help with rating different types of calls like toll-free or international. We help our customers monetize metered transactions.” OneBill can configure complex CDR transactions without coding and compute both pricing and taxation automatically, while also calculating charges at scale. The platform has out-of-box API integrations with three different tax agents including SureTax, Avalara and CSI. OneBill also features a robust internal tax engine. “Taxes can create a lot of problems for communications service providers,” Shetty explained. “Outside of the U.S., they are pretty simple. Within the U.S., though, they are very complex, and busi- nesses selling UCaaS can really suffer.” Solutions such as OneBill are prov- ing to be very helpful for international agents who might know the tax codes of their own regions but are unfamiliar with the U.S. Rather than taking the time to learn U.S. tax codes, which change across each jurisdiction, provid- ers can instead streamline the process using a cloud-based platform. The solution is very flexible, too, as it of- fers an API that can connect into just about any network including T-Mobile, Sprint or Vonage. Plus, OneBill has out-of-box integrations with numerous leading provid- ers. For example, the company works with Bandwidth for DID provisioning. OneBill also is built into various softswitch services including Bicom, NetSapiens and 2600Hz. And for de- vice provisioning, the company works with 888VoIP. What’s more, OneBill offers a com- prehensive channel management ser- vice that providers can use to oversee agents and reseller partners. This will benefit companies who are working with many different partners, streamlin- ing a process that can otherwise be chaotic and difficult. OneBill can track commissions and manage settlements. “If customers are selling not just di- rectly but also expanding their channel network, our platform has the ability to automate that,” Shetty said. Transitioning to a new, cutting-edge billing system can help providers com- pete more easily in the ultra-competi- tive UCaaS market. One company that has experienced success working with OneBill is Rick Minyard, CEO of Sage Communications. “Our old billing system was very rigid, and customization was virtually non- existent,” said Minyard. “It was quite im- portant that we developed something that allowed us to easily add new products, change elements of existing products and adjust pricing and labelling of vari- ous elements on the invoice. In a word, we needed something that was flexible. In working with the OneBill on-boarding team, we have achieved this goal.” o SellingUCaaS?Let Do the Heavy Lifting W hen it comes to selling UCaaS, closing is often the easy part. It’s the backend work that tends to give communications providers the most trouble. By Gerald Baldino Core Communications 46 Channel Vision | September - October, 2019