GRAPA Grinding to a Halt?

I check out the postings on the so-called Global Revenue Assurance Professional’s Association (GRAPA) now and then. It pains me that Papa Rob and his family have set up a “professional” association just to promote their own services as consultants and trainers… and that so many people believed the hype. However, each month I look at GRAPA’s site, the less activity I see. Looking today, I see nobody has posted to any of their forums since 19th September. Bizarrely, you can still see the pattern of a few individuals registering with the site every day, but very few logins by anyone after they first register. Do people register just so they can say they are a member of a professional-sounding organization? Or are the rumours true: that GRAPA registers some people as members without their knowledge or consent. Either way, what would people do if there was a real professional organization: one that refused membership to people who lacked the necessary knowledge and experience? Some of the people who are currently members of GRAPA simply would not be allowed to join a real professional organization. Exclusivity is a vital component of any profession, or there can be no professional standards.

If you ask me, revenue assurance is not ready to be a profession. Based on this evidence, the phrase “revenue assurance” may be permanently tarnished – instant ‘professional’ status guaranteed and fancy-looking certificates hung on the wall of anyone who pays a modest fee. This is not a route to attaining professional status, but the reputation damage done may become an insurmountable obstacle to it. The sooner GRAPA grinds to a complete halt, the better.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalnshttp://revenueprotect.com

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), an association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers. RAG was founded in 2003 and Eric was appointed CEO in 2016.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press.

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