Apex BI helps Open Access position for growth

Regan Erasmus, Operations Director at Apex BI

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Apex BI has implemented its powerful technology expense management (TEM) solutions to assist Open Access to position for growth. Like many communication service aggregators, Open Access faced a challenge as it managed, and grew, its customer base, specifically: how to ensure it was being billed correctly by network service providers, and how to bill its growing list of customers for the customised service bundles it was supplying.

Aggregators like Open Access procure various products and services wholesale from upstream network providers and or original equipment manufacturers and then repackage them for their customers, typically small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Some of the common services procured on a wholesale basis by aggregators would include fixed and or mobile voice and data connectivity.

Specifically, Open Access partners with various technology companies to provide an end-to-end ICT solution for its clients. These services span cloud and connectivity through to procurement, consulting and business intelligence. In terms of connectivity, it breaks up the large packets of fixed and or mobile voice and data it acquires from upstream network providers into highly customised solutions for its clients, who thus benefit from the wholesale rates they could not obtain themselves. In addition, aggregators such as Open Access differentiate their service offerings by providing a unique customer-centric experience.

“Successful aggregators inevitably reach a tipping point when their customer base gets too big to manage manually, and that’s the challenge Open Access faced,” says Regan Erasmus, Operations Director at Apex BI. “Open Access also wanted to expand its access to upstream network providers’ products and services as well as to offer more options to its customers. But while this would add value, it would also lead to additional complexity from a monitoring, reporting and billing perspective. Open Access needed to be able to monitor the billing from each network provider to ensure it was correct, while at the same time provide accurate billing to its customers.”

To solve the problem, Apex BI implemented Clarity™, its leading-edge telecommunications expense management platform for Open Access. Clarity™ enables Open Access to manage the billing for its wholesale purchases from several network providers, and then accurately on bill its own clients. The whole process is automated, and so is accurate and rapid while also freeing up Open Access staff to handle exceptions and deal with customers. Clarity™ also provides Open Access with on-demand billing files for each of its customers, further reducing its administrative burden.

“Apex BI’s Clarity™ platform has provided the automated back-office platform we need to take care of an increasingly complex billing environment, leaving us free to create amazing, customised solutions for our clients, and then manage them in a totally transparent and scalable environment,” says Mark Sawyer, Head of Operations, Open Access. “Clarity™ is truly the enabler of our business.”