We at Hydra develop billing systems for telecoms (Internet, TV and telephony service providers). We ship complex products and the process of building them has some specific aspects. Highly specialized enterprise level instruments have to work 24/7/365 and billing is a critical one. Here’s our take at developing a complex billing system.

Various types of companies face often repeated business processes and handling support tickets which are common for almost any tech company. Moreover, managing typical tasks and providing recurring services are often complex business processes that require cooperation from several departments. Typically these kinds of processes are often performed by employees with little to no experience and poor quality of execution which may lead to major service failures and overall service quality decline.

In Ethernet networks IPoE technology is more convenient for subscribers than usual PPP. It facilitates signups, users don’t have to memorize passwords, if the signal is lost you are still on the line.

Yet migration to new technology often bothers providers — e.g, among our clients not more than a half have migrated to it. Today we will speak about why it happens and tell you how Hydra billing helps facilitate the process.

Billing systems highly depend on databases that often become enormous in table size. PostgreSQL, Oracle and other database management systems allow partitioning, though Oracle Standard Edition doesn’t include this option.

Hydra’s money-making billing had skipped on this issue and decided to come up with how-to’s that could pinpoint potential problems and offer preventive measures. Here’s how we proved ourselves wrong.

Prior to launching our new product called ‘IPoE Portal’ we had come to the conclusion that highlighted the need for automation when switching to IPoE. Here’s our key takeaways for those who are looking forward to do it and would like to do it right.

Multiple companies prefer to keep manual operations in place when it comes to critical business processes. Some combine it with modern business tools and integrate recurring payments model. This contrast of past and future often undermines customer experience together with potential growth of a business.

Most businesses based on recurring payments model involve subscription billing. Moving from single payments is effective only when your clients are satisfied. Subscription churn means recurring revenue cuts and should be dealt with swiftly.

We have been designing billing solutions for telecom applications for 8 years. We’ve made more than 80 successful integrations, but along the way we’ve found that about 50% of companies develop custom tools in order to keep their businesses competitive. Why do people believe they can tailor any tool to their needs? Usually they tell you: “We understand how our business works”.