IBM and SAP are partnering to help telcos modernize their billing systems with an offering designed to achieve up to a 40% cost savings.
IBM and SAP are supporting CSPs by delivering access to SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management as a service on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications.
Over the past several years, the advent of 5G has introduced further complexity as CSPs identify new revenue-generating services and usage models. Industry leaders are also recognizing the opportunities that 5G presents. By combining 5G with new capabilities in advanced network slicing, edge computing and artificial intelligence (AI), it will allow for new use cases and industry vertical opportunities customized to each business need. For example, an autonomous vehicle can be supported by very low latency while an HD video camera can be allocated high bandwidth.
By offering SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management as a service, IBM will help clients streamline their billing processes, providing end-to-end support and a managed billing service. Originally designed for telecommunications, the open hybrid cloud architecture is designed to meet clients’ needs across any industry — whether related to security, data privacy or innovation.
IBM will provide CSPs with a hybrid cloud-based option that can transform their billing operations with a comprehensive solution designed to handle microtransaction billing with highly secure data privacy and isolated workloads. The SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management offered as a service is a configurable packaged application that can dramatically reduce the manually intensive implementation and support demanded by traditional billing systems. The offering will be delivered with IBM Cloud for Telecommunications — an open, hybrid cloud architecture that leverages Red Hat OpenShift and IBM Cloud Satellite to enable clients to deploy IBM Cloud services anywhere — on the cloud, on premises or at the edge — while addressing unique industry regulatory and security requirements. IBM Consulting will serve as systems integrator, helping clients to implement and manage the offering and help ensure security and interoperability across hybrid cloud environments.
Carl Kehres, General Manager and IBU Head for Telecommunications, SAP
We’re excited to extend SAP’s relationship with IBM in a way that brings choice and value to the telecommunications industry. This offer allows hundreds of CSPs who are constrained by legacy systems and approaches a new way to consume SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management. Many CSPs don’t want to operate their billing environments. Now, they can have IBM operate billing while they focus on serving their customers, driving out cost and complexity and growing their business by launching new products and services.
