I again (happily) found myself providing training for another corporate, multi-national revenue assurance group. The room was full of revenue assurance managers and team members all working for the same corporate group, but traveling from a dozen different countries around the world. It fills me with a sense of respect and admiration where I see the incredible level of sophistication, dedication and enthusiasm that these professionals exhibit.

Sitting in this room, it is clear that Revenue Assurance continues to be an exciting, challenging and ever expanding career path for those of us who have “The Right Stuff”. Just in case you think I am exaggerating about how exciting and critical revenue assurance has become to telco organizations, I have got to tell you that the organizers of this event provided me with a little “bonus” this week. They told me that I would not have to teach for the first hour, because the CEO for the entire corporate group was going to fly in and provide the kick-off for our one week training and certification event.

Some of you may be surprised that the CEO of a large corporate multinational telecommunication group would travel all that way to spend an hour addressing a room full of revenue assurance geeks. But that would mean you have not been paying attention. In the past year, we have had more than than six onsite training events where the CEO, the CFO or both have opted to kick off the event , and impress upon the revenue assurance team how much they were being counted on to help the company make its objectives in the coming year. I’ve actually had it happen where the CFO to stops by for a visit, listens in on what we are discussing, and then decides to stay around for the rest of the event.

But how do you explain this? Why have a bunch of “CDR Jockeys” suddenly come to find themselves at the leading edge of so many telco operations? It’s simple. They need us. These C Level executives are coming to understand that what we have to offer, is what they need. C Level executives are beginning to see that revenue assurance represents one of the single biggest strategic tools in their arsenal.

At one event in Latin America, the CEO of the group spent over two hours, detailing for everyone in the class what the future direction of the company was going to be. He took the participants through painstaking detail, reviewing plans for major technology upgrades (NGN, WIMAX AND LTE), new product and service delivery plans (launching dozens of new products in three short months). Most importantly, he highlighted and impressed upon everyone the critical role that revenue assurance was expected to play in each of these cases.

Talk about “stealing my thunder”. But ,that’s okay. It greatly enhances my credibility when I can tell them, “This is what is important to the CEO”, when the CEO just got through saying the same thing to them a few hours earlier.

In yet a third case, the CEO of the company addressed our class with a surprisingly clear and simple message for the students. He explained that the revenue assurance  team was a critical part of corporate strategy for the next year, and that the biggest things he needed to see, and he expected from his revenue assurance  team were:

Integrity – He spent more than five minutes drilling down on examples of how important the integrity of the people and of operations was going to be in the year ahead, and how critical the revenue assurance  team was to that strategic vision.

Proactivity – He thanked the revenue assurance  managers, and implored them to be more proactive in their zeal for seeking out risks and revenue opportunities.

If I didn’t know any better I would say that he read the GRAPA standards book on his way to the conference. That is the good news. The bad news is that with this high profile attention comes a lot of responsibility. These guys are putting confidence in us, and the want to see results. Of course, we have the knowledge, the tools and the relationships to get the job done.

In the weeks ahead, our GRAPA social networking group is going to be putting together a series of blogs, articles and interviews about GRAPA success stories, to share with everyone the amazing, compelling and interesting successes that GRAPA members are experiencing.

I hope these stories will help to inspire, enlighten and provide direction to many of you.

So, that’s enough for this week, until next time, this is Rob Mattison saying, be safe.

Having goals is wonderful. That is how set up measures for ourselves and assess our progress. However, goal setting can create problems, especially when it comes to choosing role models. What happened to those who regarded Toyota as the example of how to run a car company? What about those who chose Tiger Woods as a role model for the professional and ethical behaviors of “winners”?  Yes, the business of setting goals and selecting a role model to follow can have some serious backlash.

It can be especially dangerous and difficult to choose a role model within telecommunications and revenue assurance.  For the majority of the people I talk to in telecoms and the people clogging the speaker conferences and producing marketing material, the message is simple and clear: To be the best, emulate the big boys.

Do you want to exercise best practice in billing? Find out how ATT does it. Do you want an example of the best at long distance? Let British Telecom be your guide. Conference after conference, vendor after vendor and speaker after speaker the same song is repeated. Since the big telcos do it this way, you should do it this way too. Since the biggest and richest telcos in the world do things a certain way, then copy them, and you’ll become bigger and richer.

Wait a minute! Let me really think about this. The claim is that since the big, successful people do things a certain way, I should too. Their way is the way to success. I have a real, big problem with that logic. Here is the reason.

Let’s look at the ‘big telco’ style of revenue assurance.

‘They’ say:

1. Revenue Assurance is about IT Systems – It is about putting in lots of systems and automating controls. The more computer-run controls, the better your revenue assurance.
2. Revenue Assurance is about doing things the right way, even if it is expensive. In this mode of operation, revenue assurance is like an avenging angel. An agent of change who a) cleans up dirty data b) corrects policy errors c) smoothes out operational problems without regard for the cost. The accomplishment of order is the only goal.
3. Revenue Assurance is about leakage – it is about finding, monitoring, and being absolutely focused and obsessed with little tiny errors in great big systems. Perfection is the order of the day.

But how are those telcos are doing?

1. ARPU’s – Dropping like a stone
2. Market Share – Shrinking
3. Reputation – Eroding rapidly

It seems to me that those are the last models I want to emulate. I am amazed that anyone still gives these people the time of day.

We need to look at the history of telecoms in the past ten years. Who are the carriers we should be emulating? Should we take direction from the dinosaurs behind this thinking and pay to build these systems and engage in never-ending, mind-numbing and meaningless debates? Should we perpetuate the thinking generated by carriers that are so cumbersome and bureaucracy bound that they cannot do anything without a six month study? Do you, in your telco, have time for that???

Maybe we should look at the new market powerhouses around the world: The Zains, MTNs, Vodafones, TIGOs, Orascoms, Qtels, Movistars and the Digicels. Even China Mobile and Airtel Bharti have huge lessons to teach us about how this business can be run profitably.

I propose that these are the companies to be emulated.  These are the people who don’t have time to be obsessed with IT systems. These people know they cannot afford to stand still long enough to have the silly, bureaucratic, political battles about leakage and triple redundancy and the obsessive pursuit of three cents worth of leakage. In other words, in my opinion, these are the carriers who practice telecommunications in the style that has always driven the winners in telecoms:

• Innovation.
• Break neck speed to market
• Change, change , change

It is the commitment to innovation, change and risk that makes a telecom something to be admired, not the size of their IT budget and certainly not hours logged in theoretical discussions about “drip models”. I would not claim that the big cumbersome carriers out there who are bogged down with massive legacy systems, 25 layers of I/T, and enough political process to govern a country do not need to practice revenue assurance the way they the do. On the contrary, I emphatically agree. They really do need to function that way. It is the only way that they can keep up.

What I am also saying, is that the last thing any smaller, leaner, meaner and more effective telco, or revenue assurance team should be doing, is trying to figure out how to do the same thing. Basically, you would be trying to learn how to do the wrong thing.

There is an amusing television commercial put out by Accenture. The commercial shows an elephant crossing a huge chasm by nimbly dancing on a log that goes across the gap. Their message is, you too can be a giant elephant, but we can teach you how to be nimble despite your size. Maybe teaching elephants how to walk across logs sounds like a good idea to you, but I think the chances are good that an elephant is going to be falling to the bottom of the chasm pretty often.

Even more critical, why do you want to be an elephant? Yes, the real key for the revenue assurance professional is not to seek out the worst examples of revenue assurance, and then try to copy them, but to look at your own company, your own situation and your own capabilities, and create your own image of best.

Well, that is about enough time for this week, so I’ll just leave you with this thought. If you want to fly, don’t take lessons from an elephant.  If you want to fly, start learning how the birds do things instead.

Until next week, this is Rob Mattison saying…. Be Safe.

This week we had a break in our training schedule, so Brigitte and I spent a week in Germany visiting family. I love Germany. That should be obvious, since I married a German. Brigitte was born and raised in Augsburg in the Southern part of Germany known as Bavaria.

With its beautiful countryside, rolling landscape, forests and farms Germany is a pretty place and always a treat for me to visit. We called on my in-laws, helped my niece Anna with her English lessons and trigonometry homework, and visited the famous Augsburg Christmas market.

However, whenever I visit Germany, I always take the time to engage in my favorite pastime. What I love to do more than anything else is a little game I like to call Autobahn Hanne (Chicken in German). The way you play is simple; you get a rental car, get on the Autobahn (the German highway system) and see how many times you can get your car going over 200 KPH before Brigitte screams in terror.

That is right! In my opinion, the most brilliant thing the Germans ever invented is the Autobahn, the highway system with no legal speed limit. Yup, in Germany, you can drive as fast as you want, and nobody tries to stop you. Moreover, unbelievably the Germans  have a lower accident rate than many, many other countries in the world, with much more stringent speed and traffic laws.

Now, I know what you are thinking. How did the Germans make this miracle happen, and how can I get in on it? Is it because the Germans are genetically better drivers? Do they have better coordination or cars ? Firstly, the Germans are impatient people. They don’t like to wait, and have no tolerance for people who get in their way and slow them down. Trying standing in a queue at the airport with Germans in line and you will see what I am talking about.

The way that they make the autobahn safe is simple. They have figured out the best places to put the roads. They have organized their laws, rules, highways, on ramps, off-ramps and everything else in ways that make the autobahn not only possible, but also safer than roads without that kind of comprehensive engineering.

However, remember, the Autobahn is much more than just a road and some asphalt. It works because of all the different parts of the process work together. It requires the coordination of disciplines: driving, engineering, law and more than anything else, an attitude adjustment.

On the Autobahn, they have laws and rules–lots of them. In fact, they have rules and laws that you do not have in other countries. For example, when you are on the Autobahn, you must always get out of the way if someone behind you is going faster than you. For the Autobahn to work, people have to learn how to get out of the way. Also, on the Autobahn, you can only pass on the left, never on the right. You see, it is not magical at all. The Germans have a structure and rules that allow them to accomplish their speed without compromising on safety. However, who within the telco environment is qualified to figure out how our product and marketing Autobahn should look?

What are some of the things that get in the way of new product developers and slow them down? Network engineers telling them that the product cannot be supported by the existing infrastructure. Billing systems people telling them that the products can’t be billed the way they want it to be billed. Actually, just about everyone involved in the delivery of services.

This new product development Autobahn requires someone who is expert not at any one aspect of the delivery of services, but who understands how all of it fits together, and how it can be “tweaked” in order to get to where you are going with the least obstructions possible.

Let’s see now. Where can we find someone like that? A person who understands the intricacies of network elements, switches and CDRs, billing and customer service. For many, many telcos, the new “hero of the hour” has been, repeatedly, the Revenue Assurance professional. What? Revenue assurance perceived not as “the guys who slow things down”, but instead as “the guys who speed things up?”

Actually, yes I have personally heard dozens of stories of situations where frustrated CFOs, product developers and market executives have turned to the revenue assurance team to help figure out how to “get around’ design and operational problems and help make things work better, faster and safer.

If you to ask me to identify the one thing that presents the biggest opportunity for revenue assurance professionals, and for telecoms overall, it is the identification and inclusion of revenue assurance as a critical component of every product development team. For those telcos who have figured it out, revenue assurance represents the “backbone” of the new product development operation, with new product development support making up to one half of the entire RA team.

So, the next time you listen to a marketing person, CEO or a product developer talk about creating some insane project and launching it much faster than anyone thinks is possible, take a step back and think about the Autobahn for a minute. Is there a way that your expertise, insight and unique set of skills and knowledge can help them get to their destination?

If so, maybe you are ready to join the ranks of more and more revenue assurance professionals who are finding this to be one of the most interested, exciting and challenging aspects of their jobs. And after that, how long before you to start to develop a taste for Autobahn Hanne (Autobahn Chicken). Why not see how fast you can go before you make your CFO scream in terror? It is an interesting thought isn’t it?

Well, enough for now, until next time this is Rob Mattison saying “Be Safe”.

I once again found myself conducting GRAPA training in the pretty little country of Luxembourg. In my world, ending up in the same city twice in the same year is a real bonus. I did not even have to buy a new SIM, I still had top-up on my “Tango” SIM from the last trip. I think Luxembourg with its castles, cobblestone roads and grand homes in the French royalty tradition, more than many European countries, brings to mind the “olden days”. Yes, Luxembourg clearly speaks to the grandeur of old. It would be easy to imagine fine women in billowing gowns, and aristocratic men in powdered wigs walking the streets.

However, I was not here for sightseeing. This time, we had an entire training center full of experienced revenue assurance managers. I really enjoy teaching the Core Curriculum classes. However, when I get a chance to spend a week with a group of experienced revenue assurance managers I really get excited. Just imagine a room full of men of women whose accumulated experience in telecom revenue assurance is over one hundred years. Over a century of expertise was in one room–amazing.

Of course, whenever you get a group of seasoned revenue assurance managers together, you are going to have some differences of opinion. After all, being cantankerous and assertive is clearly how we have all been able to survive this long in our high-pressure jobs. However, several things about this group stood out. When we teach our manager class, we still spend time on technical issues and techniques for revenue assurance, but we spend the major portion of the class discussing those things most critical to managers, namely:

1. Politics
2. Staffing and Team Management
3. KPI’s
4. Politics
5. Working with network, billing and customer service
6. And Politics

It is interesting to sit down and take a good look at where we have come from, and where we are going, in each of our respective groups. The average size of staff for this class was six, with some dealing with startup scenarios and others dealing with departments that have been in existence for many years. This group, like most other groups of managers we have seen had a couple of characteristics in common and that always upset me, to a certain extent. If I were to write a list of some major shortcomings in the typical revenue assurance manager, the list would look like this.

1. Pro bono work

2. Terminal Uniqueness

3. Dirty Laundry

4. The Search for Revenue Assurance Royalty

Pro Bono Work

In the legal profession, there is a special kind of casework lawyers are expected to take on known as Pro Bono work. Pro Bono work is work done by lawyers for free for people who need it, even though they cannot pay. Lawyers are expected to do this kind of work in order to “give back” to the community and to keep their skills sharp.

In the revenue assurance profession, we all have our own versions of pro bono work–like when the CFO asks you to do this or that analysis. Or when the internal auditors ask for your help on a special report or an operational manager asks you to analyze revenue reports because they know that when you look at them, they will be correct.

Do not get me wrong, I do not think there is anything wrong with revenue assurance teams doing Pro Bono work. In fact, I think it is very important they do this. It is critical to our effectiveness and the management of our relationships and marketing.

The problem I see is revenue assurance managers think they have to apologize for doing this work. They assume this kind of work is not in scope, because it does not involve counting CDR’s or building elaborate and often foolish controls over a process that works just fine without.

No, in my opinion, the problem is revenue assurance managers need to stop apologizing for doing this kind of work, and start looking for it, and including it in their scope. The problem goes back to understanding exactly what we are supposed to be doing. If our job is to count CDR’s and spend too much money on ineffective systems and solutions, then yes, this is out of scope. However, if our job is to help management and operational managers to understand their revenue risks and to maximize revenues effectively, then the more pro bono work they do, the better.

Terminal Uniqueness