Telstra launched the new Ericsson Digital BSS technology which they designed, implemented, and tested jointly. It is a “complete front-end digital transformation,” Ericsson said, and Telstra’s prepaid customers will be the first in the world “to benefit from faster and more intuitive prepaid digital subscription experiences.”  

Offering choices to customers is an essential part of customer service.  If the consumer wants freedom of subscribing and unsubscribing to service packages being offered, the billing engines and infrastructure also needs to be designed to support this. Providing options to consumers keeps service providers on a competitive edge.  

With the new Ericsson Digital BSS technology integrated by Telstra, prepaid customers can enjoy an easier and more intuitive digital experience with faster service activation speed, at more than 50 percent of the legacy systems.  The goal of this customer-centric initiative is to boost customer control and convenience, improving their digital experiences.

Shailin Sehgal, Telstra’s Product Enablement Technology Executive, said: “Our T22 vision is to fundamentally change the nature of telecommunication products and services in Australia by eliminating pain points for our customers and this implementation is another step we are taking to help us achieve this.”  

She boasts of how activations for new prepaid customers will now take “less than a couple of minutes” compared to the legacy solution which takes around 10 minutes.  “The traditional CRM experience has been replaced with a digital and customer-centric experience in an integrated end-to-end prepaid solution.  Working with Ericsson has allowed us to have a simplified product set up and enable faster time to market,” she said.

As for Mats Karlsson, Ericsson vice president and head of solution area BSS, “For Telstra’s retail prepaid transformation, we set out to achieve efficient operation with reduced total cost of ownership, superior omni-channel customer experiences in all channels and a transition to digital operation.  We are delighted to have achieved these goals.”

He added, “User feedback is very positive across the board – all delivered by a joint Telstra/Ericsson team that showed how quickly excellent results can be achieved when ecosystem partners work closely and speedily.”

Ericsson’s Digital BSS includes: Ericsson Charging, Ericsson Digital Experience Platform, Ericsson Catalog Manager, and Ericsson Order Care.  An end-to-end pre-integrated prepaid solution with contextual and optimised omni-channel experience was delivered by Ericsson. And these offerings stretch on customer segments, payment methods and channels.

This roll-out will definitely slash the activation time of prepaid customers of Telstra. It allows Telstra to offer simple, easy to use products and experiences.