Connectivity is essential to modern life; for many, the right to connect is akin to a human right. However, with the current cost of living crisis, many consumers and businesses are struggling to keep up. 

Communication providers want to play their part in supporting the nation’s most vulnerable, but for many, their hands are tied due to technology and billing roadblocks.  

Following a summit led by Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries in June, major communication providers have pledged to support their customers who are struggling to pay their bills. Although government intervention is primarily aimed at the consumer market, the spikes in costs are also impacting small businesses and sole traders, to whom connectivity is likewise essential. 

Whilst participating providers can do their part and waive switching fees and/or penalties, many are held back from doing more by legacy billing solutions whose role ends once an invoice is created and distributed. The lack of automation in the lead-to-cash process means forward-thinking providers and those keen to act on their social responsibilities are unable to offer payment plans, accept partial payments, schedule temporary social tariffs and easily accept ad-hoc payments. 

The only option for many is an unworkable combination of manual tasks, disconnected processes and offline spreadsheets, making the process exorbitantly expensive and a logistical nightmare.

At Strategic Imperatives, we have significantly extended our billing reach and capabilities beyond traditional solutions. Our award-winning billing solution, Elevate, bridges the gap between legacy channel billing and solutions enjoyed by network operators and large communication providers. Our customers process over one million monthly direct debits, maintain customer balances in real-time, manage payment mandates, and fully automate bill-runs and the entire lead-to-cash process. 

Elevate’s ability to manage payments and customer balances in real-time enables our customers to easily offer payment plans, upfront deposits, partial payments, instant bank payments and temporary social tariffs.

As a service provider, being socially responsible is a highly effective strategy for maintaining customer loyalty and enhancing reputation -not to mention, it’s the admirable thing to do. 

Whilst there is a will for many service providers, they lack the way. In other words, they lack the capability of an agile and flexible billing platform that can deliver.

From a recent Which? article:

“An estimated 3.5 million households reduced their spending on other essential items, such as food and clothes, in the last month to afford their connectivity services in April 2022.” 

If, in this economic climate, your customers are faced with the choice between connectivity and other basic necessities, Elevating your billing platform can help you ease their decision, and potentially future-proof your business.

By Dania Aymach

Marketing Executive

For more information on how Strategic Imperatives monetisation and billing solution, Elevate, can transform your business, visit our Elevate web page or contact us on 0333 800 4800.