I agree with you, Tom, and I have thought of the need for this for years. I
prefer to think of it as an ACCOUNTING system, rather than a billing system.
Reconciliation with the different 'islands of operation' and different
directories, user lists, systems to provision, etc. is cumbersome and just
gets out of sync.
Mark Nash
Network Engineer
UnwiredOnline.Net
350 Holly Street
Junction City, OR 97448
http://www.uwol.net
541-998-5555
541-998-5599 fax
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom DeReggi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY.
To be more specific, automation and linking between every computerized
system a WISP may need.
If you are interested, I'll send you an Outline that I made that is the
basis for an internal application we have just started to create. I wish
there was someone else out there that would have created it for us, for we
didn't have to. It going to be tough to get teh ROI, based on our
subscriber size, but we have no choice but to spend the development
dollars.
Its not jsut linking to technical provisioning servers but also linking to
other data bases to track things.
We currently have a different method or spreadsheet for tracking each type
of information that we need to track, and its becoming very incumbersome
making sure each sheet gets updated. There 10 places to record customer
information for example. I believe tracking customers needs to start in
the billing system, and from there its logical to tie it to the other
systems, that way it prevents lossing track of syncing data or missing
information entered in for some one. Part of the problem is the flow and
what part of your staff needs access to what features, and at what time
they ahve relevant info.
Here are just some of the things needing tracked.
Commissions for Property owners.
Commissions for resellers.
Radio inventory (where at).
Radio configurations
IP configurations.
Contact info. (reseller, accounting, technical, building engineer, what
management co)
Automated List server for each product client subscribes to. (Alert based
on cell site, mail, web sector, reseller, etc.)
Stage in provisioning.
Stage in sales process.
Automate mail configuration.
Billing info.
Terms of colocation
Firmware (what radios and indoor Linksys routers have currently, and which
need updating, who owns it)
Configurations also get very complicated to track, because every customer
configured slightly different.
(What cell, what sector, what building, what VLAN, What relay site,
bridged or routed, reboot devices, pingable or not, password info for all
devices, )
Common access to this data from resellers, ISP, and building management.
What data can each entity see?
Does this data get linked to property owner, address, client, etc?
Linking downtime, to billing credit.
Real time QOS info. (preferrably linked to a view for resellers, client,
and ISP.)
What security concerns open up, if an outsourced billing system gets
linked to internal servers and technical management systems.
Monitoring needs to be linked to the customer contact and billing info.
A lot of this data is logical to attach to the client record at time of
provisioning. It would be awaste to recreate that for a seperate technical
system. My logic is that a billing system itself is very easy to create.
Just run a report againt the client base. Whats difficult is linking the
billing system to a full featured accounting system. If the outsourced
system is a complete accounting system, its a stronger reason to use the
outsourced product. However, most aren't because accounting systems are
two complicated, so most people use quickbooks. So if an ISP needs to
create all those other technical databases, and using quickbooks, why not
jsut run the billing report from the their own database?
So the outsourced solution needs to be very powerful, and that is hard to
do when every one does business a little bit differently. Even commissions
is a difficult thing. For example I'm only obligated to pay management
companies commissions on funds collected, and funs collected may depend on
if there is a reseller and if any credits were given for downtime. All
this stuff links back to the customer record.
I think a software developer that figures out a way to track all these
relationships effectively, will make a killing, but no one has come even
close yet. The best ASP product I've seen today, is an application made
by Delaware.net which is similar to salesforce.com, except it links to
more things (phone/Email/etc) and works the way a small WISP office
executive would work, as far as tracking how calls need to be handled the
full cycle from phone call comming in to handled through tech. It does
not have WISP technical or billing modules yet, but it handles many of the
component needed to run an organized business. Thats a product I'd like
to see evolve to handle more needs WISPs would need.
The question I have is, with all the things to link to (Email systems,
support tracking systems, accounting systems, phone systems, notification
systems, provissioning systems, billing systems, etc) how can it be
effectively taken out of the office?
I'll give you an example of a problem... What do you do when you have a
global outage, and the phone is ringing off the hook with 1000 inquiring
customers? How about a telemarketer machine, that will automatically start
calling the customers, based on emergency contact info listed in the
customer database? How is the dialer machine going to get the data if the
Internet service is down and your customer data is elsewhere?
At minimum an outsourced system needs a system that replicates a copy of
relevant data on customer premise for access.
I'm not saying an ASP solution won't work, I'm jsut saying, there are many
challenges that the ASP providers leave out that are required for doing
business, and as a result not always effective.
Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband
----- Original Message -----
From: "KyWiFi LLC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Friday, July 07, 2006 2:25 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
Tom, what exactly are you wanting to automate between
your billing solution and technical backend?
- Shannon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom DeReggi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
ASP model accounting software is all good and fine if all you want to do
is
use the application. But what happens when you want to start automating
and
integrating the billing solution to your technical backend?
Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband
----- Original Message -----
From: "KyWiFi LLC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:38 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
It will be 100% web-based so you will not need to install anything
as it will all reside on the ISPBuddy.com's servers. So, you'll be able
to manage your ISP business from anywhere you have a computer and
Internet access (dial-up or broadband, doesn't matter). The billing
module will integrate with Authorize.net and LinkPoint to start and
others will be added upon request and if feasible.
- Shannon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Javier Arigita" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
Hi Shannon,
is your web solution meant to be installed in one server in our offices
or
is it a solution similar to fon (external billing and so on)?
Thanks,
Javier
On 7/6/06, KyWiFi LLC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi Javier,
The web development company I own is creating a web-based
business management system for ISP's. You can subscribe to the
system's launch notification list at http://www.ISPBuddy.com It
is going to offer numerous features, including WISP monitor and
billing processes and it will be affordable. I'm already using it to
alert me when devices become unresponsive and it automatically
logs in daily and backs up the settings for all of our access points
so we have them readily available in the event a restore is needed.
If there are special features you have in mind, contact me offlist
and I'll see what we can do to accommodate your requests if the
features aren't already planned.
Shannon D. Denniston, Co-Founder
KyWiFi, LLC - Mt. Sterling, Kentucky
"Your Hometown Broadband Provider"
http://www.KyWiFi.com
Call Us Today: 859.274.4033
===========================
$39.99 DSL High Speed Internet
$14.99 Home Phone Service
- No Phone Line Required for DSL
- FREE Activation & Equipment
- Affordable Upfront Pricing
- Locally Owned & Operated
- We Also Service Most Rural Areas
===========================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Javier Arigita" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 4:39 AM
Subject: [WISPA] WiSP info needed
I plan to create a WiSP using Alvarion equipment in a rural area in
Spain.
I
want to offer data and in the future voice as well. Do you now any good
WiSP
monitor/billing software?, is it expensive?
Thanks in advanced.
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