BOSTON--To be successful in business often requires an MBA degree, but at Fall 2006 VON, Vertek introduced an MBA program for business partnerships. The hosted Managed Business Assurance program ensures the profitability and viability of partnerships formed for the delivery of new digital content services.

Vertek Corp. is a provider of business solutions, process outsourcing and business consulting for the telecommunications industry. The company has joined its professional services staff, analytical tools and best practice methodologies to provide service providers with an operational model for managing all aspects of third-party partnership relationships.

In addition to managing partnerships for digital content, MBA also focuses on any partnerships between two or more companies, including those around MVNO services and IPTV services, as well as warranty and CPE management.

MBA objectively monitors revenue, costs, margins and the overall operational health of partnerships and strengthens inter-company process management capabilities for the delivery, maintenance, and billing of convergent offerings.

Brad Soutiere, CEO of Vertek, said in a statement that, unfortunately…partnerships sealed in the boardroom can quickly become unraveled in the back office.

Thomas Nolting, senior director of financial assurance for Vertek added that 18 years of working inside telecom has given the company a reputation that it delivers. “It’s not just about technology,” he said. “It’s about methodology.”

The MBA program was designed in conjunction with a Tier 1 ILEC in the U.S. It was designed around helping business partners get a handle on how their relationships work in real time. It identifies compatibility issues between partners’ internal systems, their order management models, and even simple differences in interpretations of terms can contribute negatively to service and billing quality.

“We don’t just take the data, run it through our system and print out reports. We manage the data,” said Michael Haggerty, director of financial insurance at Vertek.

The program focuses on three core areas: reporting and analysis, service and operations. The first provides insight into partnerships by tracking and trending invoice settlements, disputes, high level performance metrics and goals, data synchronization and subscriber base analysis as well as tracking and key financial information. The service area manages the monthly data receipt, normalization, analysis, and reporting updates. It also resolves issues between partners. The operations area provides defined methodologies and procedures for new partners implementation, existing partner maintenance, hosted software platform releases and best practices.

“Splitting the difference on these issues doesn’t work. There really is a right view of the world,” Nolting said.