Our title is itself a book's and the first sentence, see that after the comma, is in its front flap by journalist Scott Rosenberg. Let's take some more words from it and share here. Blogging brought the Web's native character into focus---convivial, expressive, democratic. Bloggers have become the curators of our collective experience, testing out their ideas in front of a crowd and linking people in ways that broadcasts can't match. Blogs have created a new kind of public sphere--one in which we can think out loud together. The preceding paragraph is all in the book flap, front and back. It is the simplest answer if somebody is asking what a blog is, then and now. Although we see that as the magnanimous purpose of a blog which is really enticing and challenging. It adds choices and rooms for both sources and audiences without the regular prescriptive cadence. What's common is the responsibility. Whether or not we do it via blog, print and online news, and whoever
We get our fair share to every single centavo in our captured electronic or digital activity-billing, -charges and -payments. All served through ingenuity or creativity, technology and automation--via business intelligence if not systems running artificial intelligence, or simply human intelligence. Fed by the people--authorities, customers, businessmen, financiers, technical and the nuisance induced by very poor technology integration buildup, which huge investment promises a highfalutin development is a great cloak to bleak corporality of technology leadership and operating expertise.
The magnanimous flaw in corporate strategy is obvious. The unspoken possessiveness in profit is loud.
To the contrary, people in technology must be expected to excel at it. They were trained and have been living it. When they fail, it is not about technology but their causal ability on business matter and probably relations to people that is lacking. The essential coupling in between business and technology, their collective design, requirements and specifications is missing big time.
Or nobody sees what a practical solution is and what good it can do to its stakeholders.
Remember the people here. That is all of us, but with a little put on the said following contexts.
How these digital activities above are produced and calculated is a significant factor in making a profit. It is a process involved and designed that must be thoughtfully guarded or managed by the people themselves. It must be an open contract, or at least a promise behind such activities, that a concerned individual or groups can be inspected and scrutinized by the people. It is especially rightful that it would be done by the authorities to ascertain fees and the compute mechanisms being used, in which these are all expected to be free from manipulation. Mechanisms are system capabilities that could be useful in coming up with charges and fees. And where the people who must be able to report (continuous, and if any) anomalies in each account statement and billing or charges it received. One that cannot be conspired by the few whose corrupting actions may have drastic effect on their own conflicting interest, worst is after effect it is bigger than that.
There is a saying that technology need not pampering, need not watching constantly. It must be properly deployed once and for all, every component tested rigorously, then operated and maintained accordingly. That when its people are not looking and the services being used and experienced does not deteriorate in a bit, the result must be good all throughout. This is one of the few important responsibilities that people must be looking out as a priority, if they are going to be concerned on their system's viability and data accuracy. Admittedly, people needs a push or scolding or stern warning (of course this can be avoided with better ownership and responsibility) most of the time.
Who will determine whose ownership and responsibility are those for? This is an important question of skills and abilities that can make or break leadership. But it is also for the subject matter experts or senior staff if they are given the chance to be heard and their ideas considered thoughtfully based on the viability to the objective that is at hand.
It means technology has been employed accordingly to support business operation, and in this subject, collection of fees without questions to illegal and sneaky change in any process, function and feature of the billing system. This method of changing system's operation, without approval, may just be the easiest way to make up for lost income due to wrongful deeds created by the people themselves during the selling of their products and services. How much can any company make with a million of customers using and buying into its services if they only need to recover, say, 10 million in their currency? Customers wouldn't even notice that amount. Even they could just simply ignore it.
When we design and develop business systems the outcome must be reliable and should be a hands off when it's already running the production. It is one of the many criteria that can be employed and on point. It cannot remain a laboratory or training ground, where people can change anything whimsically, in its lifetime or technology people are actually unworthy because they will never be able to comfortably leave operation without any problem. They cannot leave because the operation needs them to operate. Whatever reality they are in, it would be apparent to customers whose production is dependent upon their systems, part of which is the billing system. But to all intents and purposes, billing system must remain pristine.
Laws and policies exists, with these we can enforce them strictly with due diligence and, when these are absent or abused, create them and have them suited and make their applicability useful to varying situations. We must not tolerate mistakes and inefficiencies and never add to the suffering of the customers. A dilapidated service shall be enough but that must not be without penalty. Unless it is completely and satisfactorily demonstrated that it has been fixed and working properly, requiring a payment with any service that is problematic must not be allowed.
Customers are penalize when they cannot pay on time. A lot more when they can no longer pay. They are blamed for such mistakes. Providers of services cannot allow the same to happen to them as those of their customers even if errors are their own doing, messing up customers services and experience. Isn't that wrong, a violation of business code and moral conduct? Unfair!
It's scummy if the services we provide cannot actually deliver. It's gross to make money out of that.
Then there is billing and when these sellers cannot collect, they will use their companies-of-collectors-lawyers to intimidate and force their customers to pay as if everyone of them are the same. The scripts used are copycats. Complaints of bad services and collection practices are everywhere, look at social media. Complaints, informal or not, deluged or few, we must look at it and fix it--the right thing to do for the sake of all stakeholders and the number one reason to be in business, for customers to stay because of the need for the services if they have any option at all. Customers would normally dispute on problematic charges but because of a seemingly intentionally made up error, by the providers or its people, they would still demand for their collection even if its clearly questionable. These should be easily ascertained if it's the making of and designated fault. Is it a business-as-usual for enterprises to accumulate assets even to the detriment of customers and their satisfaction? But the world with its vibrant of enterprises, no matter the size, is proof that such an abuse, a secretive one until its discovery, is not tolerated. Or this particular defect's reversal can attain quality, the same to that of what is acceptable by stakeholders. We cannot make it a business norm to continuously fail the people.
If point-of-sale system is popular for the brick-and-mortar customers, the billing system is virtually for every customer that needs to buy products and services that may, either payment is done in real-time or in the near future. This is specially true for merchandises, commodities--and with a huge number of buyers, facilities and services or know-how, that which these are considered the basic necessities in an un/obstructed way of life, digital or the usual convention, physical.
Hoping it's not the case for the widely popular credit recording and reporting system. It would be a mess if debts, turned up via billing or financial systems perpetrated by failed and untrustworthy collection methods are automatically injected to it without thorough understanding and verification of facts. It now creates a lot more, adding to the existing, problems within the whole financial system. Instead of a solution one that can be used as a model, for others among the many disparate systems of either finance, revenue or accounting, for improvement.
Dependable data built by financial, sort of, institutions and service providers must be the goal. These companies have no excuse for anything less than a trustworthy billing.
And to achieve the so-called progress in the society if we are so serious about it.
The billing system, let's have the mention of treasury, are few of the components within any organization's financial system. If properly done and use, surrounding activities and the money itself can flow so easily to where they need to be. With that customer satisfaction can be guaranteed even without speaking about it and extrapolating sine qua non that made it.
The trustable design and processes that makes up for the whole of billing transactions must be demonstrated by means of fulfilling varying system or organizational requirements, purposes and policies. The audit which is a formalized activity and who performs such exercise within the company by its designated business units or mixtures of competent personnel or independent third-party, will have big impact on how things are being handled by, and for, every involved party. It can be the catalyst for integrative services of facts, more effective decisions and actions which could be useful to meeting, if not a model for beginning or roll out of, organization's perfect economy.
Want the system to be honest? This is the center of it all with the lightning fast, sprying and startling digital world. It may just be the beginning of things and a lot more that is beautiful if we do it sincerely.
A finality is needed for a billing system regardless of the nature of a business. We need to begin somewhere dependable then we can get settled just a bit. Afterwards, work continues for the better, not break it off.
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