African Telecoms Billing And Revenue Assurance

Westin Grand Hotel,
Cape Town, South Africa

As the African telecoms market continues its rapid growth, new technologies are introduced, mobile networks updated and innovative services are launched, a wide range of new billing, RA and fraud challenges are facing African operators. These challenges are further compounded by increasing convergence and the volatile economic climate.
In order to ensure revenue growth from the latest technological innovations and adequately address the potential effects of the current economic downturn, African operators need to develop and adapt their billing, RA and fraud strategies, processes and systems.

This year’s event programme will analyse the key challenges in the area of billing, RA and fraud, providing detailed insights into their complexity and the strategies African operators are adopting to optimise their systems, internal processes and business cultures in order to effectively assure revenue from a rapidly growing subscriber base, convergent services and new business models.

The Forum will feature two conference days and two training days, featuring 4 training sessions on key RA, billing and fraud issues. All four Forum days will provide delegates with valuable and actionable insights that they will be able to use and integrate into their daily work.

Key Speakers

Riaan van Rensburg,CIO, VirginMobileSouth Africa

Kehinde Matilukuro, HOD, Billing Operations & Maintenance, Zain Nigeria

Michael Katende, Billing Supervisor, MTN Uganda

Douglas Jardine,Senior Specialist, Vodacom South Africa

Johnson Bareyei,Manager, Billing Solutions Support, Information Technology Division, Etisalat (Nigeria)

Nagwa Saad, Sector Chief – Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management, Telecom Egypt

Ade Banjoko,Chariman, GSM Africa Fraud Forum

Chijioke Obuna, Head, Carrier Relations, MTN Uganda

Nixon Wampamba,Head of Revenue Assurance, Zain Tanzania (Panel Session Moderator)

Event Agenda:

Pre-Conference Training Sessions – 31 August 2009

08.30 Registration and coffee
The training sessions will begin at 09.00 and continue until 17.00 with appropriate breaks for refreshments and lunch. Registration and refreshments open at 08.30.

09.00 -12.30    Developing A Revenue Assurance Strategy For3G Services And Content Models
§   Understanding how the extension of the content value chain
beyond the operator’s own systems and services extends
the operator’s responsibility and impacts revenue assurance
-             managing the risk represented by third party players in the content value chain
§   Identifying the key sources of revenue leakage associated with 3G services and content models:
-             lack of visibility in terms of content as well as transactions
-             inherent complexities in the relationship between operator and content providers
-             market pressure for faster product roll-out
§   Outlining the detection techniques developed and the solution implemented:
-             analysing the current state and limitations of OSS/BSS
-             understanding flow of data through systems
-             understanding billing methods
-             traffic monitoring and Anti-Spam platform deployment
§   Mapping your business processes and their interdependencies – identifying system and process changes needed to meet RA requirements for 3G services and content models
§   Understanding the importance of developing the right skill set to detect RA control violations
§   Automating RA monitoring and reporting – using active testing of new services to enable instantaneous detection of potential revenue leakage
For updates on training session leader, please visitwww.iir-conferences.com/atbra

12.30 Lunch

13.30 – 17.00    Developing Strategies For Combating Internal Fraud Agenda
Led by Neural Technologies
§   Examining current trends for internal fraud and analysing the nature of its development in recent times
§   understanding how the current economic downturn has led to an increase in internal fraud cases
§   Identifying different types of internal fraud
§   Implementing integrated internal security policies and education processes across all systems and business units to mitigate risk from internal fraud:
-             promoting fraud awareness
-             monitoring and training of staff
-             implementing whistle blowing policies
-             conducting regular customer data analyses to identify suspicious patterns
§   Developing a prevention strategy that minimises the ability of staff to steal information and bypass internal controls
§   Understanding the importance of effective management systems in preventing internal fraud – sourcing systems with the required functionality
§   Updating vetting and screening processes for key staff to minimise the risk of infiltration fraud
§   Estimating the revenue leakage implications when deploying 3G networks and services if internal fraud is not capped

Conference Day 1 – 1st September

08.30    Registration and Refreshments

09.00    Chair’s Opening Remarks

09.10    Leveraging Your Existing Billing System To Enable Convergent Billing For Next Generation Products And Services
Kehinde Matilukuro, HOD, Billing Operations & Maintenance, Zain Nigeria

09.50    Examining The Latest Developments In Interconnect Billing And Accounting In The African Telecoms Market
Chijioke Obuna, Head, Carrier Relations, MTN Uganda

10.30    Developing The Required Real Time Charging And Billing Infrastructure For Content Services

11.10    Morning Refreshments

11.40    Assessing The Viability Of Business Process Outsourcing For Your Billing And IT Functions
Riaan van Rensburg, CIO, Virgin Mobile South Africa

12.20    Roundtable Discussion Session: Identifying And Addressing The Billing And Revenue Assurance Challenges Resulting From Convergence

12.50    Lunch

14.00    Elevator Pitches
Lunch will be followed by elevator pitches in the exhibition room from sponsors and exhibitors. Delegates will then vote for the most effective and interesting pitch.

14.30    Understanding How To Optimise End-To-End Post Paid Billing
Michael Katende, Billing Supervisor, MTN Uganda

15.10    Afternoon Tea

15.40    Addressing The Complexities Of Integrating An M-Commerce Solution With Your Existing Billing Infrastructure In Order To Profit From The Mobile Money Market

16.20    Implementing Revenue And Fraud Management Best Practice Across Billing And Customer Care Systems: Designing A Near Real Time Tool To Support Effective Revenue Assurance
Johnson Bareyei, Manager, Billing Solutions Support, Information Technology Division, Etisalat Nigeria

17.00    Chair’s Closing Remarks

17.10    End of Conference Day One

Conference Day 2 – 2nd September

08.30    Registration and Refreshments

09.00    Chair’s Opening Remarks

09.10    Examining The Revenue Assurance Strategy Across The Companies In The Vodacom Group
Douglas Jardine, Senior Specialist, Vodacom South Africa

09.50    Devising A Long Term RA Strategy To Successfully Cope With The Current Economic Downturn And Beyond
Ambrose Nwadike, Principal Consultant, Telecom Advisory Services

10.30    Simplifying Revenue Management – Evaluating Hosted, Outsourced, Managed And “Software As A Service” (Saas) Models
Senior Representative, Connectiva Systems

11.10    Morning Refreshments

11.40    Achieving True ‘Business Assurance’ Through Revenue Assurance, Fraud, Credit And Collection Consolidation
Pedro Mariano Teixeira, Business Development Director – Middle East & Africa, WeDo Technologies

12.20    Roundtable Discussion Session: Safeguarding Against Future Revenue Loss By Embedding RA In The Design, Development And Launch Of New Products And Services

12.50    Lunch

14.00    Understanding How To Implement A Company-Wide Revenue Assurance Mindset, Examining Its Organisational Impact And Evaluating Its Benefits
Nagwa Saad, Sector Chief – Revenue Assurance & Fraud Management, Telecom Egypt

14.40    Building A Fraud And Forensic Unit In An Emerging Market
Ade Banjoko, Chariman, GSM Africa Fraud Forum

15.20    Afternoon Tea

15.50    Developing A Fraud Risk Prevention Strategy Based On Governance, Risk Management And Ethical Conduct
Pat Cunningham, Executive Director, South African Fraud Prevention Service

16.30    Panel Session: Assessing The Impact Of Mobile Commerce On Revenue Assurance Activities And Outlining The Required Changes To The Team Competencies
Moderated by: Nixon Wampamba, Head of Revenue Assurance, Zain Tanzania

17.00    Chair’s Closing Remarks

17.10    End of Conference Day Two

Register Online