WightFibre is a network operator operating on the Isle of Wight, supplying broadband, telephony and TV packages to residential and business customers.
Their ‘point-to-point’ full-fibre broadband network helps make the Isle of Wight one of the best-connected places in the world. Over 10,000 homes enjoy some of the world’s fastest upload and download speeds. However, as remote working becomes commonplace, eCommerce booms and virtual subscription services grow ever-more popular – there’s always room for improvement.
WightFibre has funding of over £100M from private equity and UK Government to ensure the whole island benefits from this new ultrafast technology.
The larger and more sophisticated the internet service provision, the more complex the broadband billing software requirements…
Precision, automation and speed are ‘make or break’ factors when it comes to the efficient billing processes for critical infrastructure such as broadband. WightFibre realise that the ultimate success of the contract will demand quick and accurate billing data processing. PRD Technologies was invited to tender for the role of ISP billing software provider – and our ongoing partnership was born. The agility of our Intelligent Billing software means it can be easily adapted to suit our clients’ specific broadband billing needs. WightFibre wanted an advanced API (Application Programming Interface) solution that is fully automated. Our task as ISP billing software experts is to create a system that has zero or very minimal manual inputs, saving on time and cost at the same time as eliminating the margin for human error.
Getting ready to collect, process and issue over 25,000 invoices per month
PRD Technologies carried out the following actions as WightFibre has continued to roll out fibre broadband implementation across the Isle of Wight:
- Evaluation of a detailed list of very specific rating and non-rating requirements from WightFibre
- Design of a completely automated solution, triggered by APIs, which is an extension beyond the usual scope for a project such as this
- Set up of a bespoke ‘black-box’ system tailored to the client’s unique telecommunications applications
- Building billing portal functionality that runs without manual input, to apply charges to client accounts and associated products, as well as override packages and bundles
- Production of confirmation reporting, management reporting and accounting
- Replacement of current WightFibre billing functionality with MS Dynamics 365 and MS Power platforms
Evolving together on the path to success
As implementation progressed, WightFibre continued their journey of discovery with us. They discovered more about Intelligent Billing’s capabilities and expanded the scope of the project beyond the original tender specifications. This will lead to greater benefits for their business in the longer-term.
- Smooth transition from old platforms to new managed by a dedicated team of billing software experts from PRD Technologies
- Dedicated test and production environments enabled robust development and release lifecycles, fully compliant with all ISO27001 requirements
- Intelligent Billing interacts with other third-party systems used by WightFibre, bringing the systems together in the totally automated environment they require for a fibre broadband project of this scale
- The WightFibre billing team won’t need access to the IB portal because the processing, administration and reporting will be done automatically – and in real time – saving time/cost and reducing manual data entry and processing errors through automations
- API integration enables customers to access billed and virtual real-time unbilled call data via an online portal
“Being a local Island company means homes and businesses depend on us for uninterrupted internet access. WightFibre take that responsibility very seriously – but we don’t stop at simply providing some of the world’s fastest broadband.
“We want to deliver the best possible customer service to every one of our users on the Isle of Wight. Our ISP billing system needs to be reflective of those exacting high standards, maintaining total confidence in our capabilities.
“The innovative and flexible team at PRD has come up with intuitive solutions to solve the increasingly complex challenges we face as a telecommunications provider. We can’t recommend them enough.”
Nathan Swallow, Head of Network Operations, WightFibre
