IoT Billing Innovation: Moving Beyond Legacy Systems

Keith Brody of Evolving Systems

When discussing enterprise software—especially billing—two perspectives dominate: theory and practice. As revenues from traditional telco services erode, exemplified by the disruption of SMS revenue by WhatsApp, communication service providers (CSPs) must move quickly from theory to action, monetizing new services and bundles cost‑effectively.

Telco CEOs often cite slow time‑to‑market for new services as their biggest frustration, questioning how best to seize digital opportunities. The theory is compelling, but a significant obstacle remains: legacy Business Support Systems (BSS) for CSPs are costly, inflexible, monolithic, and slow to change, according to Keith Brody, VP Marketing at Evolving Systems. Recent advances have begun to address this, yet the pace of change may still lag behind the industry’s rapid evolution.

Software vendors frequently invoke a "complexity" argument, claiming that next‑generation BSS will inevitably be expensive and slow due to the intricacy of new services. However, most emerging mobile CSP services follow straightforward paradigms that can be supported by lean IT approaches—often simpler than the legacy BSS systems they replace.

The real question for CSPs is: what alternative exists to legacy BSS, and how can they transition? One approach redistributes traditional functions to new positions within the BSS stack, enabling rapid service launch and monetization without destabilizing existing infrastructure. This "service control" model reduces IT change risks and accelerates time‑to‑market.

Consider a common scenario: bundled services. Rating only occurs when usage surpasses the bundle threshold, allowing bundling and rating to be decoupled into independent modules. Counting can be handled in data‑management applications rather than the costly billing domain, reducing complexity, storage, and load on downstream pricing, rating, and billing systems.

Should operators adopt such architectures? Absolutely. The simplification and commoditization of IT are inevitable drivers of cost reduction and decreased reliance on monolithic systems. In a modular architecture, each component can be individually optimized and commoditized, matching market forces. Since most usage records for common services require only simple rating, off‑loading counting to data‑management platforms is lean and cost‑efficient. These platforms are inherently flexible, enabling quick adjustments and service deployment.

Operators worldwide—from Europe to Asia to North America—are already implementing these new approaches. CRM and product catalogues, which hold critical customer data, will likely remain essential, making orchestration modules that manage control and information flow across components vital. Configurations handled at this orchestration layer—rather than deeper network layers—are far less costly.

As network costs fall and OSS/BSS OPEX and CAPEX remain fixed, change becomes essential. Innovations within the enabling stack are not just desirable; they are inevitable.

Author: Keith Brody, VP Marketing, Evolving Systems