VicTrack deploys CSG's configure, price & quote platform

Victoria’s public transport infrastructure manager VicTrack will deploy US-based, business support software provider CSG’s configure, price and quote (CPQ) and order management platform. 

VicTrack will use the system to automate its telecommunications wholesale sales to improve cost-effectiveness and efficiency for end transport, government and wholesale customers. It replaces a spreadsheet-based CPQ process.

CSG head of Asia-Pacific business Ian Watterson said “by supporting critical rail operations, including ticketing, communications, signaling and video surveillance, the state of Victoria is providing services that keep the heart of the city, its people and businesses, moving.”

“VicTrack’s focus is on broad transformation and CSG’s ability to automate our systems and create faster more efficient solutions for our customers is a game-changer for our business,” VicTrack executive general manager telecommunications Bruce Moore said.

In a statement sent to iTnews, Moore said: "We are transforming our telecommunications network, in part by automating systems and creating more efficient solutions for our customers.

"The new Telflow configure, price and quote (CPQ) software enables us to quote, qualify addresses and provide pricing much quicker with all the related information in one place.

"The value of high speed CPQ is that our customers, who are wholesale carriers, can be more efficient in dealing with VicTrack, allowing them to focus on their own customers’ requirements."

The state-owned enterprise has used CPQ to estimate future network demands and necessary upgrades.

VicTrack’s process and deployment times have been cut by 30 percent, according to a statement by CSG. 

CSG said CPQ’s ability to estimate periods of low transport user demand would create new revenue opportunities for VicTrack.

During these periods VicTrack will be able to divert surplus network assets to other carriers to support them in providing services to the rest of Victoria.

CSG said CPQ is part of its broader CSG Encompass platform, which it describes as a SaaS, open, integrated and modular system.

VickTrack’s deployment of CSG is the latest in a series of initiatives to automate how it operates and maintains public transport infrastructure. 

VicTrack has been rolling out a $69 million Transport and Government Secure Network program since 2020 to improve the transport system’s reliability, cost-efficiency and security.

In March last year VicTrack signed a $50 million deal with Xerox to install IoT sensor devices across the network to monitor bridge health.

In September last year, VicTrack signed a decade-long deal with Aussie Broadband, which saw the two organisations provide each other with mutual access to their fiber networks. 

The Transport and Government Secure Network will conclude in 2023.