The last time I spoke with LogiSense (News - Alert) president Flavio Gomes, we spoke about some of the recent customer wins the Billing and OSS provider has enjoyed recently, driven by its dual integration with GENBAND’s (News - Alert) M6 and BroadSoft’s BroadWorks platforms.  In addition we started a discussion on usage-based billing, which is going to take over the mobile billing model, largely thanks to the exponential growth of video content.

“Operators are struggling with how to maximize their ROI, keep the consumer happy, and be fair across the board,” said Gomes. 

Usage-based billing is one option and, while having the potential to upset the apple cart, that cart is driven by a few users – most, as always, fall below the average and won’t feel the impact.  To find out more, I took the opportunity to follow up on our conversation by asking Gomes a few questions about LogiSense and UBB.

Tell me about LogiSense, the company, and its solutions.

LogiSense is a global provider of billing and OSS management software, professional services and solutions. We possess a unique understanding of today’s converged IP Marketplace from our extensive customer footprint of enterprises, wire-line and wireless carriers, cable operators, ISPs, IPTV (News - Alert), voice and video telephony service providers across North America and Europe.  LogiSense empowers its customers with the proven, innovative resources, technical expertise and unmatched support to quickly and cost-effectively design, build, deploy, manage, and monetize their respective solutions. The EngageIP product suite, our flagship solutions portfolio, has lab-tested features and functionality that address every aspect of network usage administration requirements, including billing, cost allocation, customer care, telecom rating and IP services delivery.

There has been a lot of discussion recently on broadband metering and usage-based billing.  What are your thoughts on this issue and what would you tell our readers?

Over the past few months, I have participated in several discussions on usage-based billing (UBB). While consumer perception is mostly negative, I believe usage-based billing will actually help carriers.  Carriers, operators and service providers will be able to optimize network performance and align their investments in infrastructure with user ARPU.  Additionally, it will encourage a greater level of personalization in service offerings and customer support.   Candidly, billing & OSS systems should dramatically impact a service provider’s ability to differentiate itself. The capacity to detect, charge and communicate usage-based information is an absolute necessity for driving cost savings and higher revenues.

Lastly, and most importantly, advanced billing and OSS systems help ensure that subscribers receive the highest level of service and support.

What other trends should we be looking out for?

From the perspective of billing and OSS providers, a real-time billing solution with capabilities to meet multi-technology and multi-service needs, tied around customer usability options, is an obvious first.

Second, is the absolute demand for sophisticated “real-time rating & charging” within the converged IP network. We forecasted this last year and made a significant investment in our platform to address this demand.

Other than that, I expect we will see even more demand from cloud and hosted IP voice and video providers. Analysts across the globe have issued strong statements that the marketplace could exceed $74 billion by 2015. 

What can we expect from LogiSense?

The past twelve months have been terrific for LogiSense.  Hosted VoIP continues to represent a large and growing contingency of our customer base – we recently went live with service providers such as PBXChange and Vibe Communications.  Most recently, we announced a successful deployment with ESCO Technologies LLC (ESCO).   ESCO is the developer of CareConnect, America’s leading managed telecommunications service for senior housing communities.  CareConnect communities enjoy the benefits of advanced technologies such as resident and business digital/IP-based telephone systems, state-of-the-art patient emergency response systems, wander management technology, enhanced satellite television services, high-speed internet service and wireless locator systems. 

Tausha Thorman, ESCO director of business operations, noted that LogiSense and its EngageIP software have made tangible, significant impact on ESCO. 

Also, we will be making at least three announcements between now and the end of October, and plan to attend both ITEXPO West and BroadSoft (News - Alert) Connections.