Cognera delivers a Managed Service model to our clients where we can take care of the tedium involved with monthly settlement, billing, and validation services. We maintain, enhance and deliver a variety of services for you to choose from to best integrate with your current or desired business model. There is so much involved in the delivery of our services and we maintain, enhance and deliver a variety of services for you to choose from to best integrate with your current or desired business model.
Billing Services
Cognera provides a complete set of billing capabilities and services to our clients.
- Settlement of market data
- Invoice charge and line item calculation
- Invoice rendering
- Print or electronic delivery of invoices
- Creation of customized upload files for accounting systems
Client Care
Cognera works with a multitude of industry partners including Wire Service Providers and Local Distribution Companies on behalf of our customers. We provide multiple levels of support for your customers and front line staff including dedicated client representatives that work with your organization on a daily basis.
Advisory Services
Whether entering a new market or making changes in an existing market, when you partner with us, we will be there to answer any questions you have. Cognera prides itself on being experts in the utility industry in multiple jurisdictions. We have the knowledge and experience to guide your organization and get you up and running in the market quickly and at a minimal cost.
Revenue Assurance
We take great care in handling your billing services and have built out a comprehensive set of revenue assurance checkpoints and reports that ensure your customers are billed accurately and on time. Our philosophy of continuous improvement creates processes that reduce chances for revenue leakage and loss due to inaccuracy in your billing.
Rate Configuration
Unlike traditional Customer Information Systems, through consultation and modeling in collaboration with you, we can build out any rate or structure you need to ensure risk is minimal and costs are captured.
Invoice Design
We provide complete pixel perfect invoice customization and design services. We are a white label provider and the invoice is all about you. Your brand, your information, your logo and your message.
Payment Services
Cognera has direct interfaces to all major banks within Canada supporting a number of ways to allow your customers to pay as well as providing standard tools for you to enhance collection services.
Application Customization
Cognera systems can be branded and customized to clients’ needs. We provide “out of the box” branding for our customer facing portals as well as fully customized reports. Where required, we are also able to add custom extensions to our system to meet almost any need.
Self-Retail Services
Cognera also provides self-retail settlement and reporting services for those that want a stripped down solution that leverages more of your own in-house expertise.
Multiple Utility Services
Cognera bills multiple types of utility services from traditional electricity, gas and water to waste water, recycling and landfill systems. Contact us to find out more.
Benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS)
Lower Cost to Implement and Operate
Reliable Cost Forecasting
Ease of Access
Increased Security, Reliability, and Support
Greater Leverage of Core Competencies and Intellectual Assets
Continual Technology Enhancements
Lower Cost to Implement and Operate
With a SaaS approach, many of the costs identified in a Total Cost of Ownsership study for a licensed software package can be avoided, especially when the associated hardware, network, data security, disaster recovery, and IT resources are considered. Furthermore, the SaaS model spreads infrastructure, development, maintenance, and future innovation costs over a broad base of clients.
Reliable Cost Forecasting
One of the more challenging aspects of establishing the true cost of implementing and running a licensed software system is identifying all the ongoing, often hidden costs. With SaaS, subscription fees are predictable, which allows organizations to reliably forecast IT costs.
Ease of Access
Cognera systems are based on internet access using a web browser, so no special desktop configuration is required. As a result, IT resources will not be required to deploy Cognera applications within the client’s organization. Employees can access the billing systems from anywhere.
Increased Security, Reliability, and Support
Cognera’s IT infrastructure is located in a top tier specialized data centre. As a result, clients share in the advanced business continuity measures that Cognera has put in place without having to incur the considerable asset expenditures.
For systems support, Cognera has internal resources as well as service agreements with IT support vendors for assistance with servers, networks, databases, data backups, and security.
Greater Leverage of Core Competencies and Intellectual Assets
Cognera systems have been developed as modules to allow for flexibility. This modularity allows you to customize a solution to complement your organization’s core abilities and existing systems.
By partnering with Cognera, competitive retailer clients have been enabled to focus on their core competency of providing creative commodity solutions to commercial and industrial customers.
Continual Technology Enhancements
With SaaS, you avoid having to plan and manage upgrades. In fact, clients of SaaS providers benefit from frequent upgrades to software and the host servers, without the hassle of testing, managing change control, or converting data. Cognera takes care of all operating system upgrades and software patches, as well as all database system upgrades and patches as part of the monthly service fee. You never spend evenings and weekends performing system upgrades for systems provided by Cognera.