Financial assurance solution introduced for partnering telecom providers

A little over a year ago, Sprint and Nextel merged- but they still have separate billing and customer records systems. Considering that Nextel is my legacy cell provider but I get my wireless broadband from Sprint, I'd love to see one bill. But even now, the systems don't talk to each other.

That enduring inconvenience made me even more receptive to a demonstration I witnessed at Fall VON 2006 yesterday.

This was Managed Business Assurance, a six-month-old offering to the telecom segment from Vertek Corporation.

MBA (not the degree, but the program) focuses on what the 18-year firm calls "Financial Assurance," as well as "Order Management and Provisioning."

Say for example you are in management at a carrier-VoIP, cell, or whatever. Then you partner with another provider who offers services you don't. Or maybe you affiliate with a marketer who expects a piece of the action for every new subscriber you get in a four-state region during the month of November. How will the financial split be managed?

Not very sexy stuff, true, but much more than necessary.