Summary
A leading telecom operator in Thailand leveraged Mechsoft’s expertise to &v-highlight;modernize its legacy billing system&:v-highlight; without replacing it. Using our &link-/products/decision-management-platform;business rule engine&:link-/products/decision-management-platform;, we enabled &v-highlight;rule-based billing,&:v-highlight; dynamic plans, and automated decision-making. Due to which it became possible for the company to launch new marketing offers in days instead of months while &v-highlight;retaining their existing system&:v-highlight; and investments.
Overview
The client, a major &v-highlight;telecom provider in Thailand,&:v-highlight; required a quicker method to introduce dynamic plans without dismantling their legacy billing infrastructure. Their marketing team was prepared with ideas, but the old platform was unable to accommodate fast changes or real-time regulations. Mechsoft intervened with a &v-highlight;Business Rule Engine&:v-highlight; that gave the current system more flexibility by enabling teams to quickly create, update, and implement new billing rules. This allowed the operator to maintain their competitiveness, roll out offers in a matter of days, and prolong the life of their current system &v-highlight; without having to buy an expensive replacement.&:v-highlight;
Business challenge
In a competitive telecom market, all players offer similar services — what differentiates them is how creatively they package and price those services.
The client’s &v-highlight; legacy billing system&:v-highlight; supported parametric configurations but couldn’t keep pace with the demand for dynamic, ad-hoc, and customizable billing plans.
&v-highlight;Marketing teams often had to wait months for new plan rollouts due to: &:v-highlight;
- Time-consuming &v-highlight; custom code development,&:v-highlight; testing, and parallel runs.
- Inflexible parametric software that couldn’t handle complex, real-time rules.
- Competitive pressure to launch new offers faster.
&v-highlight;Replacing the existing billing system with a new one seemed the only option. But it meant: &:v-highlight;
- Scrapping years of investment in the current system.
- High costs and long implementation cycles.
- &v-highlight; Risk of disruption during migration&:v-highlight; and testing.
The challenge was clear. Enable dynamic billing and automated decision-making without replacing the legacy system.
Solution approach
Mechsoft proposed an innovative and cost-effective solution: integrate a custom Business Rule Engine (BRE) layer on top of the existing billing system.
1. Discovery & Analysis
- Conducted a deep audit of the legacy &v-highlight; C-based billing&:v-highlight; system.
- Identified that the core engine and database needed to flexibility and intelligence.
2. Architecture & Integration
- Designed an architecture where the Business Rule Engine extended the intelligence of the existing system.
- Introduced a modern &v-highlight; admin interface&:v-highlight; that allowed telecom managers to define, modify, and deploy billing rules in real time.
3. Custom Rule Engine Development
Developed a &v-highlight; custom object-oriented rules &:v-highlight; language tailored for telecom administrators.
&v-highlight;The BRE included:&:v-highlight;
- Custom Rule/Scripting Language
- Own Compiler
- Own Interpreter
This enabled the legacy billing engine to interpret new rules dynamically, without code changes or redeployment.
4. Dynamic Billing Enablement
- Allowed admins to create &v-highlight; plan hierarchies, &:v-highlight; inherit existing plans, and introduce new offers instantly.
- Automated rule execution enabled &v-highlight; real-time decision-making &:v-highlight; and on-demand pricing flexibility.
5. Seamless Integration & Deployment
- The solution worked with the same codebase and database, &v-highlight; ensuring minimal disruption. &:v-highlight;
- No heavy parallel runs or system downtime was required.
Key features implemented
- &v-highlight; Business Rule Engine overlay &:v-highlight; compatible with any legacy billing platform.
- Rule-based billing for rapid plan creation and inheritance.
- Automated decision-making for real-time offer evaluation.
- &v-highlight; Dynamic billing flexibility &:v-highlight; for marketing-driven innovations.
- &v-highlight; Custom scripting language, interpreter, and compiler. &:v-highlight;
- No-code plan definition through a simple admin interface.