The Tentacles of Interconnect Voice
If you have read any of our blogs (thanks mom), then you probably have a solid sense of how we view the interconnect voice marketplace. In short, we think it’s complex. In fact, it’s one of the most complex activities that a Communication Service Provider engages in on a regular basis. There is no “set it and forget it” approach to it. Which is kind of counterintuitive because the cost of phone calls has continually declined over the past 20 years due to technology advances (VoiP, Softswitches, explosion of bandwidth, etc.). Anyway, it is crazy complex. Consider the core functions of interconnect voice:
Call Routing
CDR Rating
Rate Sheet Management
Invoice Generation
Credit Management
QoS Management
Reporting & Analytics
Revenue Assurance
This 8 armed or 8 legged, tentacled monstrosity of interconnect voice covers a lot of domains within a carrier's operations of voice management. Because of these tentacles, migrating to a new interconnect voice management platform is not a simple “plug & play” change. Rather it takes enormous effort and coordination between carrier and vendor. This is the reality of interconnect voice in 2016. GCS spends a lot of time with prospective customers seeking to understand where their challenges lie, what their goals are and, ultimately, what the right path is for them and their interconnect voice management platform.
Our GCS Dynamic Management Solution is a next generation platform that leverages our patented Dynamic Routing Engine. This completely eliminates the old world of static routing tables or the anachronistic Least Cost Routing (LCR) in voice call routing. Because our platform is next gen, it leverages SIP and NGN technologies. This means CSPs can build business policies that are actively managed in the Routing engine and respond to network or business conditions in real-time.
But, to embrace our technology and our solution, means carriers have to be ready and willing to evolve and modify the way they operate.
No more creating LCR files.
No more scheduled Routing file updates.
No more time spent on troubleshooting vendor networks.
No more time spent blocking & unblocking because of credit risks.
No more looping.
No more being arbitraged….
That is a big change. That is an organizational change. That is changing someone’s job. That is changing the way the carrier manages their interconnect voice on a day-to-day and even call-by-call basis. That is not easy. That is hard. The benefits are worth it, but because these tentacles of interconnect voice go everywhere it requires commitment, perseverance and will.
So, before you begin to look at interconnect voice platforms. You might want to ask the tough questions internally. You know, questions like:
“ Are we ready to do this?”
“ Do we really want to change how we operate”?
“ Are we sure this is necessary”?
“ Is it going to be worth it”?
“ Can we just survive as is, without making these changes”?
Ask yourselves those questions. If you conclude that you are ready, then engage with solution providers (like us). And don’t be shy about asking us how we are going to change the way you operate. We’ll tell you. We’ll let you know where the pitfalls are and what to watch out for as you begin the process. Interconnect voice management can be performed better. But because of the tentacles, it’s….sticky!