Operational efficiency and a great customer experience underpin all successful utilitybusinesses. To excel in these areas, utility service providers need a capable billing solutionthat is designed for their industry and can be configured to their specific utility billing software requirements.Automating key processes throughout the meter-to-cash cycle is essential, from meter datacollection right through to receiving payments. Utility retailers must also be able to rapidlyintroduce new services that fit household customers’ lifestyles, such time-of-use (TOU) tariffsor prepaid plans. Meanwhile, your industrial / commercial (I&C) customers need morecomplex and customised tariff schemes. Self-service is also fundamental, so that customersfrom all segments can pay bills and manage their accounts online or on their mobile devices.Many utility companies are also recognising the benefits of migrating their billing to Cloudbased services. With software-as-a-service (SAAS), there is no IT infrastructure to district heating billing maintainor software to upgrade. You benefit from any new functionality as soon as it becomesavailable. Pay-as-you-grow licensing models help you run your business operations moreefficiently too, improving the total cost of ownership of business support software andaligning your billing costs with customer growth.We have built Skybill Utility Billing to meet the needs of all types of utility company. Skybill isa fully automated […] read more

Agile methodologies have their limitations in terms of understanding problems and finding solutions and can lead organizations to promote products that are not well-designed and produce waste. Some authors recommend combing agile techniques with methods that focus on discovery to address this problem, with two of the best candidates including User-Centered Design (UCD) and Lean Startup, a combination of which, as of yet, there is no well-documented, thorough research study of how it works. Objective: To define a development strategy that combines software application developer UCD, and Lean Startup; exposing how the three methodologies are interspersed in one development cycle and their impact on the development. Method: We carried out a case study of two software development teams from industry who employ this combination approach and conducted interviews, observations of focus groups, interviews, and a workshop over the period of nine months during which they were housed in a custom-built lab for development. Results: The teams consist of users advocates, business advocates and solution developers; Their approach to development emphasizes the use of experimentation, making extensive use of the build-measure-learn cycle. The combination approach encourages an attitude of problem-solving and encourages team members to work in tandem and be involved […] read more

In the midst of tight budgets and increased increasing competition, outsourcing the development of telecom products can provide Independent Software Vendors and other telecom firms many advantages including access to the most recent technology and expert telecom knowledge as well as lower costs involved in the development process, and assured quality and efficiency. An outsourcing partnership can address the development requirements of the telecom business at any stage of the development/deployment life cycle, from complete telecom software solution development to solution design, testing, implementation, technical support services, maintenance or documentation. How to choose the most appropriate Telecommunication Software Developer? After thoroughly analyzing the motives to outsource to develop their software and determining the benefits to business to be realized through the process, companies are able to move on to the next stage which is to select the company that will provide telecom software development services. Keep in mind the fact that success for outsourcing venture is dependent upon selecting the best service supplier, here are a few of the main factors the decision-makers at telecom companies must be aware of when evaluating and choosing the best telecom software development firm: Corporate profile features such as the location, size along with […] read more