Thomas Lapp <thomas%mvac23.uucp@udel.edu> (09/11/90)
Some snippits from the 3 September 1990 issue of {Information Week},
which talks about long distance carriers AT&T and MCI squaring off on
providing detailed bills...
"Customized billing was a major selling point for the 60 Tariff 12
customers of AT&T. But some of these users have complained about a
lack of timeliness and accuracy in their bills and plan a meeting with
AT&T to discuss the problem later [in September]."
Although Tariff 12 was set up to provide customized services and
Tariffs for large customers, this seems to have proven to be a flop.
Bills are late, or wrong or they don't reflect what the customer is
actually paying for, or have installed. A royal mess.
"For its part, MCI Communications Corp. has lined up users willing to
vouch for Portfolio, a billing package it introduced earlier this
year.
"Portfolio, which is directed mostly at large corporate customers,
does not offer customized billing, but a higher level of detail,
itemization, an analysis. It operates like a standard report
generation service: a monthly recurring fee of $250 includes four
reports, with optional reports available for $50 to $100. One time
set-up fee ranges from $250 to $2000."
Naturally, AT&T has one of its own as well. They call it Detail
Manager and offers users 31 different reports.
Several of the large customers seem to like the MCI option. The
article did not talk with anyone using AT&T's Detail Manager. But
they did say that they liked having detailed billing as it helped them
reduce costs and see where they need to redesign their network.
In a complain about AT&T, Paul Yarick, VP and treasurer of Kansas
City, MO-based Interstate Brands Corp. said, "The biggest problem with
AT&T is their billing -- you can't understand it. With MCI, at least
you know what you are paying for." (IBC also uses MCI's Portfolio).
tom
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