The telecom industry’s product and service offerings are often inherently complex, requiring a top-notch telecom billing and OSS platform to simplify the underlying complexity while also maintaining an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. To get the most value out of your B/OSS solution, it is important to understand system capabilities and how to leverage the platform technology to provide an optimal customer experience.
Not all communications service providers (CSPs) have that level of familiarity to make the most of the opportunities presented by the latest billing and OSS platforms. That’s where IDI Billing Solutions’ training services come into play.
Our expert training organization provides a comprehensive CostGuard® Billing & OSS training program for everyone, from new users learning the ropes to more experienced individuals who want to explore advanced features and capabilities. Whether you have just implemented CostGuard, have a business process you are looking to streamline or are interested in expanding your platform’s functionality, IDI’s training team is here to help.
Build a solid knowledge base
Everyone needs to start somewhere with their understanding of billing and OSS platforms, regardless of the specific solution they’re using. IDI’s training team, IDI University (IDIU), provides a variety of foundational learning modules to establish the necessary level of knowledge needed to manage CostGuard before delving into more advanced features and functionality.
IDIU team members, Senior Learning Specialist Jen Perena and Technical Training Consultant Amanda Sard, are responsible for creating that foundation for IDI customers so they can build upon it and expand their expertise as needed. There are many aspects of billing and OSS that users need to first understand before they can really explore the full range of capabilities at their fingertips. That can include simple concepts like terminology, but as basic as that might seem, it’s critical to achieve a level of competency up front so users can get to a place of platform maturity later on. In addition, many of these early training modules are standardized to tackle the most common challenges and pain points that new users face.
After the initial trainings, Jen and Amanda also support their learners by offering refresher classes to clients that have either just completed the CostGuard system implementation or have new employees that recently joined their team. Options include providing recordings of the initial sessions that can be watched at a later time or in some cases holding additional sessions. Given the complexity of billing and OSS processes and the amount of work jostling for the attention of CSP employees, it’s perfectly understandable if some of the necessary concepts and lessons need to be revisited.
Once customers have established a solid base of knowledge around the platform, they can consider more advanced and technical training topics.
IDI University team members Amanda and Jen provide a comprehensive training program.Focus on goals rather than platforms
The IDIU team approaches training from a process perspective to give customers and end users the most value out of their implementations. Rather than focus solely on CostGuard’s specific capabilities, IDIU zeros in on how to help customers leverage their new knowledge and apply it directly to their specific business needs. Training efforts can then emphasize using the tools and features most aligned with their company’s goals.
Like many industries, CSPs may continue running inefficient or ineffective business processes because of long-standing practices or prior system limitations. By scrutinizing existing processes and workflows, they can better understand what changes need to be made and how CostGuard can help. From there, it becomes much clearer where training efforts need to be focused and what those modules should cover.
For instance, do CSPs want to increase efficiencies and standardizations? Or are they interested in creating a unified process for all of their billing requirements? Having a concrete end goal in mind helps steer the training process to deliver the best results.
Provide support for continuous learning
The IDIU team works together to ensure learners have ongoing support before, during and long-after the initial training.
From Jen’s perspective, the more ways you can give people to digest information, the more likely they are to retain it. As such, IDIU offers in-person and remote training opportunities, and provides a variety of supplemental support and learning tools for participants to review and consult when they have free time. Our options include resources such as audio recordings, video demos, presentations, exercises, labs and links to our online learning access points.
Amanda has a similar philosophy toward training, building up users’ confidence and getting them to a place where they can utilize their newly acquired knowledge in a real-world setting. We foster their existing billing and operations expertise and empower them to use CostGuard to develop comprehensive solutions for their business needs.
Combining training with consulting for a better user experience
At IDI, training is paramount to a successful implementation and ongoing success of our CostGuard billing and OSS solution. We provide foundational training and consulting that empowers users to build efficiencies, leverage the robust feature set our system provides and gain the confidence and comfort necessary to master the new functionality.
Think of our training experts as consultants who help organizations run more efficiently, lower operating costs and support their own customers. That approach is reflective of IDI’s culture as a whole. We take a hands-on role with implementation, training and continuous support to deliver tangible results that directly benefit our clients’ businesses.
Our IDI University team is always busy developing new materials and modules that show users how to get more value out of their CostGuard implementation, extending its reach into additional business processes and workflows.
At IDI Billing Solutions, our goal is to empower customers to quickly transform their ideas into growth. We give you the tools and the knowledge needed to address pressing challenges, streamline business operations and steadily grow your revenue. Contact our team today to find out how we can help.
