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MetraTech Helps ACT Communications Slice Billing Cycle
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September 23, 2002 (Computerworld) -- MetraTech Corp.
Category: Enterprise systems
URL: www.metratech.com
Location: Waltham, Mass.
Founded: 1998
Technology: MetraNet, a Web services-based billing system that uses XML technology
Key customers: BCE (subsidiary of Bell Canada), British Telecom Conferencing
How It Works: The MetraNet billing platform enables communications service providers to dynamically offer new services and package existing services in new ways. Customers can integrate the system with their existing infrastructure and third-party applications and provide pricing, revenue sharing and billing capabilities using XML and plug-and-play Web services.
Jim Culbert, vice president of technology
ACT Teleconferencing Inc. is a prime example of how MetraTech Corp.'s MetraNet Web-based billing and revenue sharing system is helping companies solve business problems and cut costs.
In late 1999, the Golden, Colo.-based provider of audio, video, data and Internet conferencing products and services began building a homegrown billing system to help it support its 20 domestic and international call centers, many of which had been picked up through acquisitions. Problem was, these call centers ran disparate billing systems that weren't well integrated. ACT executives decided at the time to go with a "build vs. buy" approach to creating a single, standardized billing system because there didn't appear to be any third-party billing systems on the market that could meet its needs and support multiple languages.
Teleconferencing and videoconferencing "is a difficult business to build" because billing isn't simply a matter of multiplying minutes times price. It involves a combination of tiered services purchased, such as having a "live" operator on a conference call or a Web stream attached to a conference, says ACT Chief Technology Officer Mark Kelly, who works out of the company's Ottawa office.
Enter MetraTech. After a MetraTech representative contacted ACT about its MetraNet system, the conferencing services provider quickly saw the benefits that the XML-driven billing system could deliver.
Since installing the MetraNet system, ACT has been able to shrink its billing cycles from 30 days to one day and receive payments from customers 20 to 40 days faster than before. In addition, ACT has saved "a couple of million dollars a year" through improved billing accuracy, eliminating rebilling and having a smaller support staff to maintain a single billing system, says Kelly. He estimates that the MetraNet system paid for itself in 18 to 24 months.
"If it typically takes 45 to 60 days to render invoices, then you're essentially funding customers for that time and impacting your cash flow," says Kelly. "The more you compress and shrink that billing cycle, the [more] free cash you generate."
"We recommend that customers have a good understanding of how XML fits into their overall IT strategy, say in document management or in B2B supply chain areas," says MetraTech's Jim Culbert. "If the customer isn't up to speed on that, we have a professional services arm that helps out as well."
What's in store
Compared to other billing platforms, MetraNet "is really advanced for the time," thanks to its ability to help customers "see" a breakdown on their charges, says Daniel Longfield, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan in San Antonio.
In the future, the online bill payment industry "is going to be enormous and is going to revolutionize the business," says Longfield, who expects to see the market blossom over the next 18 to 24 months.
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