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One of the more common issues, that may be Managing the problem
fraud or process failure, is that of pre-paid to post-
paid conversion of customer accounts. Where The first item on the agenda is to get pre-paid
customers are converted to post-paid in network recognised as a risk area. Unless there is an
systems, but not made ‘billable’ within the post- acceptance of loss and potential gain to the
paid billing systems, there is a gap that is business, support to management control will be
sometimes not examined. In one case, major hard to come by. Investigating some of the issues
internal fraud developed around this specific theme outlined herein may help identify some specific
resulting in 11% revenue loss. examples, but a full risk assessment is
recommended to really pin-down the problems and
And as more services become dependent on credit devise cost-effective controls. However, common-
-cards for payment (especially on-line), credit-card sense should prevail and a simple and structured
(payment-card) fraud starts to have an impact and approach will generate good results.
charge-backs to the Service Provider offset
revenues. Systems-automation of key aspects such as
Revenue Assurance or Fraud Management should
How do you know if you have a also be considered within the strategy – being a
problem? real-time value service requires real-time detection
and response. Clearly, prevention should also
Unless you look specifically, often you will not find prevail and including appropriate inputs to the
out easily that there is a problem. However, broad design, build or change of pre-paid services is
profitability analytics should provide indicators to essential to manage risk and control losses.
loss that should then be used as a basis for root-
cause analysis. Customer and agent complaints Given the thin margins that many pre-paid services
should also be analysed to help identify potentially operate on, Business Assurance activities should
systematic charging errors or fraud problems. be considered fundamental to the operation.
Unprofitable or low-margin services can be turned-
There are specific audit-points, reconciliations and around with a solid approach. Unfortunately, many
reports from platforms/systems that will help organisations will focus on market growth over
identify specific issues and that may be profitability; the answer is to balance both
established at little or no cost to the Service acquisition and Business Assurance activities to
Provider. However, in-depth proactive scrutiny is really bring in the value that is possible.
often required to identify specific risks and
controls. Including pre-paid as a high-priority in the Please refer to the Services, Solutions and
Business Assurance framework is a must. Packages pages of our web-site for a more
detailed perspective of the components that might
be deployed within a strategic plan. Alternatively,
Contact Us to discuss your precise needs.