We all know how tight margins are in the Channel, especially with such strong competition, rising costs and ever-shrinking budgets…
To help your 2023 start off in the right way, we’ve outlined our ‘10 steps for the perfect bill run’. The aim is to help you optimise your processes and maximise your margins.
There are two main stages to creating the perfect bill run;
- The first encompasses all the pre-invoice checks which can be completed during the course of the month.
- The second covers your review of the draft invoice run before you officially post and distribute to your customers.
Pre-Invoice Checks
The first stage in any bill run is to gather all the necessary customer information and usage data. We have prepared a number of reports within ZOEY to ensure no charges are missed.
Step 1 – Service and Call File Reconciliation
Ensure all relevant call files are included in your bill run. Our Call File Reconciliation wizards summarises all the call files that have been loaded from each of your respective suppliers for the current invoice month. The report indicates the total value of unbilled charges for each of your suppliers and whether there is any unallocated usage for the month.
Step 2 – Usage Charge Reconciliation
Ensure that all usage charges have been accounted for. Our Usage Charge Reconciliation wizards help to identify any rejects received from your suppliers. These will be services where usage charges have been billed from your supplier but are yet to be passed on to your end customer. These charges are likely to have been rejected for a number of reasons including missing services, missing tariff classes, missing rate cards, network mismatches or erroneous CDR’s.
Step 3 – Supplier Reconciliation
Ensure all supplier charges are being billed for. Our Supplier Reconciliation report helps to identify any fixed charges received from your suppliers that as of yet are not being passed on to your end customers. These charges are likely to have been rejected as the respective service has not been inputted into ZOEY.
Step 4 – Supplier Change Reconciliation
Ensure that all fixed charge changes are appropriately reflected within your billing system for the respective invoice period. Within ZOEY, we have created wizards to help identify all pro-rated charges received from your suppliers. These pro-rated charges will relate to new connections, disconnections and one-off charges.
Step 5 – Credit Reconciliation
Ensure you have identified and applied all credits that are due to be invoiced within the respective invoice period. ZOEY’s Credit Reconciliation wizard helps ensure that all credits are appropriate and in line with what the business expects.
Step 6 – Periodic Charge Reconciliation
Ensure you have factored in all periodic charges. Our Periodic Charge Reconciliation wizard helps to identify any one-off, quarterly, annual, and bi-annual charges due to be invoiced within the respective invoice period.
Once these steps are done, your draft invoices are ready to be run.
No matter how many customers you service, ZOEY’s Cloud-based architecture ensures your run is done in minutes – not days! Book a demo today.
Invoice Checks
Before sending out the bill run, you need to check your invoices are accurate and complete. Any errors or discrepancies should be corrected at this stage.
Step 7 – Monthly Variance Analysis
It is important that you understand and can explain any changes in your monthly bill run compared to the previous period. Any unexplained changes may be a result of unidentified errors or missed revenue.
ZOEY’s Monthly Variance Analysis report summarises by customer, the total fixed and usage charges due to be billed this month. The report can be filtered and sorted to identify the biggest monthly changes by customer account. In addition, you have the ability to drill down into the report and identify on an individual service level the reason for movements. The report will highlight for you any charges billed in the last invoice period and any charges due to billed in the current invoice period.
Step 8 – Margin Analytics
It is equally important to review your margins for your invoice run and our Margin Analytics report does just that.
The accounts tab helps to analyse by customer, the total revenue, costs and profit due to be billed this month. You have the ability to drill down into the report and identify on an individual service level respective wholesale and retail charges.
The charges tab helps to analyse by customer, all fixed charges due to be billed this month. This tab identifies for you any loss-making charges, unallocated charges and high margin charges – each of which may be an indication that your billing is incorrect.
The usage tab helps to analyse all usage charges due to be billed this month. This tab identifies for you any loss-making calls, and in addition provides usage charge margin analysis by network, product and call type which should help to highlight any incorrect billing.
Step 9 – Credit Terms & PDF Messages
Your invoices should include your credit terms and payment details. With ZOEY, our reports detail your current credit term set up and display the date that your DD’s will be collected. In addition, you can add bespoke messages onto your invoice PDF’s if you want to issue some base-wide communication.
Step 10 – Post Invoices
Now, you’re ready to send! ZOEY even includes a checklist to make sure you don’t miss a single step!
Whether you are a seasoned invoicing specialist, or a new Channel player, Tekton Billing’s decades of experience, combined with ZOEY’s extensive interactive reporting, can help support your short- and long-term growth into 2023 and beyond.
Get in touch to learn more about how ZOEY can help you accomplish the perfect bill run!
