A funny thing happened when telcos started taking revenue assurance seriously. They discovered that they were operating their businesses in the dark when it came to cost management, margins and even profitability – not to mention raw leakage. Those old PowerPoint slides of the leaking water pipes and taps we used to see at conferences were a little corny, but a very accurate depiction of what was happening behind the scenes.
After years of depending on internal and external auditors doing periodical checks using data samples and an Excel spreadsheet financial controllers started to use more sophisticated tools and companies like WeDo Technologies were there to help them. The more systems we implemented the more we realized that any data or network system component with a connection could be a source of data that could not only be correlated with other data to keep an eye on leakage, but could also monitor the integrity of those systems.
From this grew the practice we termed ‘enterprise business assurance’ (EBA) and we soon found that all those lessons learnt in the complex environment of telcos could be adopted by other businesses. Even if the type of data differs, whether a company provides services or products, manufactures or distributes, retails or wholesales – similar business processes apply, and all have exposure to risk from poor systems, bad maintenance and malicious acts.
With the enormous amount of data, even ‘big data’, being produced by an ever-increasing number of automated systems in the enterprise, one wonders why so many businesses still depend on those old-fashioned, manual and periodical audits to determine if their business is running properly, or profitably. Even one hour, let alone one year, after a failure, theft, or poorly programmed system fails many thousands of Euros can be lost and customers affected.
Retail, Utilities, Finance or Healthcare: from followers to masters?
Other industries have been quick to learn from telecoms and are adapting the same methodology not only to monitor all aspects of their business but to also act as automated audit systems, working every second to ensure that nothing is lost. What started as a response to the ever - growing digitization of their businesses is becoming an amazing opportunity for differentiation and innovation for these industries.
Sure, they have sophisticated ERP, CRM, billing, point-of-sale, ordering, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and logistics systems at their disposal, but rarely do you see them all coming from one supplier and hardly ever fully-integrated. And again, big data was not there for these industries or the need for real-time business operations.
This is where enterprise business assurance (EBA) comes into its own. By acting as the ‘control dashboard’ for all those existing systems, exactly the same way it has been mastered in telcos, any large enterprise can now experience the same benefits.
We are already working with retailers, healthcare, finance and utilities companies that are seeing immediate results in mitigating risk, improving processes and margins, reducing losses and cutting audit costs.
An EBA Summit, the first of its kind, planned for May in Lisbon is where all these industries, and others, will come together in a process of discovery and sharing on just what can be achieved through EBA. I extend a personal welcome to you to come and network with peers from other industries and learn all about this exciting opportunity to make your mark and bring real value to your own company.
This article was first published in TelcoProfessionals.com. You can find the original version here.
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