Mediation is the process of transforming raw data usage information into information we can use to calculate charges, proactively address billing errors, prevent inaccurate invoices, and notify customers about usage thresholds. 

Billing for usage is all about the process of converting raw usage data into information that’s usable for calculating invoice charges. This process allows businesses to bill by usage, consumption, or pay-as-you-go, turning raw data into invoices. 

As with any complex billing system, however, there are challenges in data mediation, and they tend to increase as the number of data sources involved in a customer’s billing increases. It is essential to find a flexible billing system that can interface with disparate data sources and is optimized to handle complex mediation requirements. 

How does Automated Billing Mediation work?

The mediation process starts by translating raw data into actionable intelligence so that companies can make informed decisions. The billing data, once transformed and quantified, must be revealed to customers so they can access it. This requires the creation of easy-to-understand invoices, customer portal, or API that serves as the customer’s window into their usage data and billing information.

Although a legacy billing system may be able to handle some mediation needs from a few data sources and configuration rules, it will fall short or become extremely costly in sophisticated and high-volume situations.

The only way to mediate complex data dependencies, leverage more sources of data, and scale up with growth while keeping costs under control is with an advanced mediation platform that can automate the process in real-time.

Therefore, it’s important to switch to an automated billing mediation system as it helps to extend your pricing strategy and enables you to eliminate errors associated with manual processes. 

Benefits of Automated Billing Mediation

1. Fully transparent processes

Delayed, inaccurate, and incomplete customer data is a nightmare for all businesses. Accurate data is essential to ensure timely, sound decisions. Automated mediation technology not only improves the accuracy of data but also ensures transparency in these processes.

An automated data mediation, data reconciliation, and normalization system is the key to making sure you have proper visibility into where your data is at any given time.

2. Real-time updates

Automated mediation provides a real-time view of data and usage events, unlike legacy systems which often have a lag time due to manual mediation processes.

One of the most significant benefits of implementing an automated mediation and reconciliation process is that it allows your organization to get accurate insight into transactions in a timely manner and provides the tools to resolve errors and identify if usage thresholds are met allowing you to avoid potential billing surprises with your customers.

3. Support Multiple Formats

Usage data is generated through multiple sources that need to be stored in a format that is easily recognizable by the mediation engine. An automated mediation platform has the functionalities necessary for reading and interpolating data from multiple sources, meaning no additional time is needed for developers to prepare data.

By providing intelligent mediation between your various systems, you can leverage both the format-agnostic nature of automated mediation and the vast capabilities of a modern billing engine. In effect, smart billing platforms can mediate all usage data, no matter where it comes from or how it’s formatted – automatically.

4. Error Prevention

Automated mediation engines can identify and correct errors in billing data as soon as they happen, ensuring your business receives accurate billing statements. 

The ability to resolve problems proactively is crucial when it comes to billing, particularly because data reconciliation is such a time-consuming process. By identifying incorrect information and data integrity issues as they happen, a robust mediation engine can speed these processes up significantly. 

Automated real-time billing mediation also helps businesses to identify and prevent fraud as it happens,  and intervene.

5. Process Large Volumes of Data

Manual approaches to managing data don’t scale with organizational growth. The friction needed to move large volumes of data around a business can lead to the processing of inaccurate information. Automated billing mediation is designed to empower fast-growing organizations by automating business processes and resolving issues without human error, leading to more precise billing and reduced time needed to resolve errors. They do so by processing massive quantities of data at high speeds.

To enjoy the benefits of an automated mediation you need a billing platform that supports customizable mediation rules that will allow the most accurate data to be delivered consistently. With LogiSense’s enterprise billing software, you have access to a powerful mediation engine that was built with simplicity in mind.  This allows our customers to easily map their complex usage offerings and reap the financial gains from their data. Whether you are looking to acquire new customers, retain existing ones, expand into new territories or simply maintain payment consistency globally, LogiSense offers a single mediation solution that is flexible and scalable

If you're ready to increase your payouts and reduce churn — without spending months or years writing custom billing code — we invite you to schedule a demo with one of our billing experts today.