ISP Billing Software Buyer's Checklist: What Kenyan Providers Should Ask Before Signing Up

Bring these to every demo call — a vague answer on any of them tells you something.

On M-Pesa and payments:

• Paybill, Till, or both?
• Is reconciliation automatic, or manual?
• Where do unmatched payments go, and how do we resolve them?
• How fast is reconnection after payment — seconds, or a manual trigger?

On network integration:

• How do we connect a MikroTik — site visit, VPN, firewall changes?
• Can we manage multiple routers/sites from one dashboard?
• PPPoE, static IP, and hotspot — all supported, or only one?

On operations beyond billing — the question most vendors hope you won't ask:

• Does the platform schedule and track field installation/repair jobs, or is that a separate app?
• Can we track inventory — routers, cables, antennas issued to customers?
• Is there a built-in support ticketing system, or do we still run WhatsApp support manually?
• Can we monitor which routers/sites are online in real time from the same dashboard?

On growth:

• Does pricing scale sensibly with customer count?
• Can we add reseller/agent accounts with commission tracking if we grow through a partner network?
• Can we export our data if we ever need to leave?

On support:

• Kenya-based, reachable by phone/WhatsApp — not just a ticket queue in another time zone?
• What's the response time for a critical issue?

Most billing-only platforms will answer the M-Pesa and network questions fine, then go quiet on the operations block — because they were never built to answer it. That block is exactly where Beam was designed to stand apart, since field jobs, inventory, support tickets, and network monitoring live in the same dashboard as billing rather than being left for you to solve separately. See What Features Should an ISP Billing System Have for the Kenyan Market? for why each of these matters.