How to choose an ERP/BSS solution that connects sales, billing and customer service

When sales, billing and customer service share the same data, an agent sees the whole customer relationship at a glance and can resolve the matter right away. This guide goes through what to require from an ERP or BSS solution when the goal is one coherent whole across the entire customer journey.

What a coherent whole makes possible

When sales, billing and customer service work on the same data foundation, the agent sees the contract, the billing history and earlier contacts in one place and can answer immediately. Data is entered once and stays up to date everywhere it is needed.

Management gets one reliable view of the whole customer relationship to support decisions, with no separate consolidation work. This is the goal many service companies are building their system landscape toward – either with a single end-to-end solution or by connecting existing systems step by step.

Seven questions worth going through before you decide

1. Openness of integrations. How does the system talk to the other tools in use, and what happens when needs change or a new system is added later on?
2. Customer and contract data in a single view. Does the agent see the data they need directly, without having to check something in another system?
3. Flexibility of billing logic. Does the system support your business's real billing models – for example usage-based billing – instead of forcing the business to fit the system's terms?
4. Rollout support and phasing. Does the supplier have a clear model for phasing the transition, testing and dividing responsibilities, or is the rollout left to the customer?
5. Coverage of reporting. Can the reports that matter to the business be produced straight from the system, without manual work or assembling them in Excel?
6. Scalability. Does the solution bend to a growing customer base and changing needs, or does every step of growth require a new procurement project?
7. The supplier's understanding of your industry. Does the supplier know the specifics of the field – regulation, contract models, the typical questions your customers ask – or is a general-purpose solution offered as it is?

What a shared data model brings with it

A shared data model means the same customer data is available in sales, billing and customer service in real time. A newly sold service appears in billing automatically, and the agent knows immediately which contract the customer is talking about.

"What matters is that data moves seamlessly between the systems – not how many parts the whole consists of."

That kind of coherence can come from one supplier's end-to-end solution or from several well-integrated systems.

How the choice proceeds in practice

• Define the target state first. Where do you want to get to, and which of the seven criteria matter most to your business? That guides which criteria you weight.
• Ask the supplier to show, not tell. How do the seven points above work in practice, with concrete examples – not as a generic feature list.
• Clarify the rollout schedule and responsibilities in advance. Who is responsible for data migration, testing and training, and on what schedule.
• Ask how the solution has worked in a comparable industry. Industry specifics such as regulation, contract models and the customer base affect what works in practice.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start

If the above is the goal you want to build toward, start by listing which of the seven criteria weigh more than the others in your situation. That gives a clear basis for a conversation with any supplier.

Get in touch if you'd like to go through how Softera's solutions meet these criteria in your industry.