Revenue Assurance in the Caribbean

Revenue Assurance in the Carribean

R Mattison’s Podcast

Do I have this right? You want me to fly to a small Caribbean island with clean white beaches, palm trees, steel drum bands and teach a course in Revenue Assurance. Are you kidding? When do I start?

Yes, I truly suffer in my job, but working in Trinidad must be placed on the “Man, Do I Love my Job” list. The invitation to teach our Xtreme Revenue Assurance for TSTT was an honor, and frankly, I could not wait. The hotel I was in was on the beach, with beautiful scenery, steel drum bands and passing cruise ships. Even more phenomenal was the training facility itself. Chaguaramus is an amazing national park facility with tropical birds, flowers and trees.

In this idyllic setting, where it seems one’s biggest concern is remembering to put on sunscreen, it is easy to dismiss that telcos in Trinidad face the same issues as every other telco on the planet. Carriers in the Caribbean face a unique combination of geographical, regulatory, technological and market conditions that keep them very busy. Like everyone else, these carriers are facing challenges with interconnect, bypass fraud, roaming leakage, and an incredibly high rate of new technology deployment (3G, 4G, Wimax, IPTV, GPRS, and tonnes of content offerings) while working on their own unique set of service offerings as well. The result is a tremendous need for revenue assurance.

I was impressed by the level of professionalism and expertise exhibited by the team. Many people wanted to pursue certification in Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, and so they had to take the standard tests. We found is that as a group, the Caribbean Islanders scored an average of 5 points higher on the tests then the global average. (I would love to take the credit, and claim that my teaching was responsible for these scores, but I think that a more realistic theory is that these people are very sharp and very dedicated.)

So, how can you explain this? Several things come to mind. I think living and working in an environment like tends to motivate smart people to stay and make a career. What “smart person” would not choose to work on a Caribbean island given the choice of options?

Because the islands are relatively small and somewhat geographically isolated, it is critical for the telcos to cross-train everyone into many different jobs. This means everyone has a much better understanding of the overall picture than someone working for a bigger telco who may be limited in his or her experience. Perhaps most importantly, these managers clearly place a high premium on ensuring employees continually upgrade their skills and knowledge.

Whenever I come upon a situation like this (a group of highly motivated, and above average people), I think it is important to take a step back and really understand why. The better we understand how this happens, the easier it is for us to understand how to get other telcos to learn from the experience and duplicate the critical conditions.

While it is unlikely we will convince our CFOs to move revenue assurance departments’ headquarters to Hawaii, Bali or the Seychelles, I think the commitment to cross training and continuing education is one that all managers should pay attention too.

If dis-enfranchisement, “silos of information”, cultural and operational isolation create an environment for the propagation of revenue assurance leakage and fraud, then re-evaluating our HR values and organizational policies and approaches can certainly deliver major improvements in our overall organizational risk at minimal cost. Even if we cannot get the HR department to embrace these policies for the entire organization, we can take heed and utilize them in our own staffing and management decisions.

Interestingly this issue came up recently in our Capetown Training. One of the attendees kept asking me to tell him if revenue assurance people should be finance, IT, network or operational people. I believe the correct answer is all of the above. The best revenue assurance person is the one with the most well rounded view of the telco, the environment and the financial risks. No single person, with a single background can do that as effectively as a person, or group, with a clear understanding of all the different aspects of the problem.

So, if you want to get a job in revenue assurance in an environment that is friendly, challenging and well rounded, then my advice is that you check out the carriers in the Caribbean. And if you get the job, do not tell me, I will be much too jealous.

Until next time, this is Rob Mattison saying “be Safe”.