Advantage Communications Group Gives Customers Automated Bill Payment Services

Advantage Communications Group, the agent-turned-telecom MSP, has expanded its life cycle expense management service to allow clients to consolidate and automate their bill payment.

New York-based Advantage enhanced its Command Center platform to include automated bill payment services. The service streamlines payable information into a payment engine. The engine sends payments to different suppliers whose services Advantage has helped source for the customer. Payment occurs in the preferred manner, which includes virtual credit card, enhanced Automated Clearing House (ACH) and check. Clients can then view settlement data on Command Center.

The platform already included invoice, inventory and contract management services. But now it reportedly saves customers time on administrative tasks and saves them from late fees and interest charges. Clients can also avoid disconnects that non-payment could prompt.

“Traditional payment processes result in payments frequently getting misapplied, which can cause a domino effect of unnecessary reconciliations and service disruptions,” Advantage Communications Group senior director of client experience Andy Alarcon said.

Advantage’s Andy Alarcon

Advantage’s Diane Miller

Advantage chief operating officer Diane Miller said the upgrade tackles the “final mile” of network and telecom expense management. That last stage, she said, is fraught with friction and challenges.

“Advantage’s automated bill payment service closes the loop on invoicing, accounts payable and general ledger processes by executing the payment and capturing and presenting all payment information within Command Center,” Miller said.

Background

Advantage started in 2001 as what one might call a traditional telecom broker. However, its founders said they envisioned their business model less around the particular technologies they would source and more so around the services they could ultimately provide to their clients. The company has historically earned the bulk of its revenue through commissions on the technologies it recommends, and commissions will remain pivotal.

But Advantage over the course of a decade built up platforms that would allow it to oversee the entire telecom life cycle, which includes design, sourcing, installation, maintenance, expense management and optimization. Customers largely get those life-cycle services for free, with the caveat that they source their carrier services through Advantage.

Moreover, the company has expanded to establish itself as an international player, with offices in Europe as well as New York. In addition, its provider portfolio spans six continents.

Advantage in the summer announced a new partnership with Extreme Networks. Extreme’s elite customers will use the Command Center portal as part of the Extreme platform. Moreover, they will turn to Advantage to help sourcing their SD-WAN network transport underlay.