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For many companies, the best approach for managing telecommunications expenses and reducing costs, is to outsource the whole process to an experienced TEM consulting firm. Often, in these engagements, the focus is primarily on auditing and cost reductions. And while these activities are certainly paramount to an TEM project, there is another equally important side to these engagements. Most TEM firms can achieve cost reductions and provide standard auditing services for their clients - they wouldn't be in business if they couldn't. But only a few, such as Valicom, bring a truly unique and personalized approach to the TEM engagement. Valicom's project teams pride themselves on learning your business and becoming a seamless extension to your staff. Having this kind of relationship with your TEM firm means that you will realize more savings and cost reductions, while incurring less disruption to your internal processes, and enjoying a more transparent project. So when it comes to selecting the right TEM firm to meet your needs - make sure you consider the culture aspect of the firms in question. Finding a TEM like Valicom can go a long way to establishing a foundation for success for years to come and providing a solid shared strategy for continued cost reductions and expense management.
OK, excluding the wide array of jerky products, what’s the coolest thing about the 7-11? Easy: it’s ALWAYS open.
In all the hubbub over Telecom Expense Management, one subject that gets lost is the topic of openness. In other words, does your telecom management solution truly support the way YOU do business?
Asking a TEM software vendor to perform modifications is fine and, sure, sometimes a few tweaks are needed in order to ensure you can reach your strategic cost reduction goals and get the telecom expense analysis completed accurately and expeditiously. Still, there’s something to be said for understanding what your telecom expense management software was really engineered to do. Some specifics in this regard include:
- Does your telecom expense management system handle only carrier expenses or can it also house peripheral items like phone system leases, hardware specs, and other areas that should logically be grouped with telecom carrier expenses?
- Is your system equipped to handle your current account coding structure and expense allocation strategy?
- Is it flexible enough to adapt easily if your business environment changes?
- If you outsource telecom management functions, can your provider adapt to changing needs for telecom expense reporting and trending?
- Can your telecom software mimic the workflow your company uses to process telecom invoices and related data?
These are all key questions to consider in evaluating telecom expense management solutions and, again, openness is the key to the lockless door at the 7-11. -SAM
www.valicomcorp.com
Mind your features! Opening my personal cellular bill recently resulted in unexpected and unpleasant surprises. You see, I have twin 17-year-old daughters whom, like their mother, love technology…especially their new smart phones with all the bells and whistles. I did not caution them about price point cons for the games, ring tones, data downloads, music, wallpaper, etc. Big mistake. Even worse, I underestimated the amount of texting two teenage girls could amass in one month. Astounding and expensive. I should have told them to mind their features!
You probably see where I'm going with this. You may be responsible for 300 or 1000 cell phones and need to manage texting overages, cute puppy wallpapers purchased, and AC/DC ring tones blissfully downloaded. But, do you really have the time? I’m betting you don’t, so the potential savings go right down the drain each month. Of course, you have company policies in place that spell out allowed features but many employees can't resist the temptation of the VZ Navigator download or they simply either don't understand or choose to ignore their own corporate cell phone plan’s accepted features and limitations. Who has the time to peruse a 500-page cell phone invoice? Who has the time to follow-up on every identified issue from one month to the next?
Here are a few tips for business wireless cost-reduction strategies: - Start by monitoring the monthly invoice dollar amounts. Huge overages should catch your attention but what about the more subtle increases? Trust me, they add up quickly and can ruin your projected annual budget.
- Make the simple change to electronic billing to take advantage of the robust reporting capabilities most carriers offer on-line. Set up your account and navigate your way through the vendor's on-line portal and you'll find a wealth of information at your fingertips: equipment charges, overages, plan information, everything you'll need to effectively audit your invoices.
- Another solution begins with your Carrier Account Manager(s). Request quarterly reporting from them and set up your own parameters so you can get the custom reporting you need. This is a time efficient way to monitor all cellular usage from your carrier.
- Another suggestion, and my personal favorite, is to hire your own telecom expense management firm. They are trained professionals who take care of all the heavy lifting, follow-up, and nagging telecom annoyances you don't have time to take care of yourself. Find a telecom expense management firm who will work with you for a productive partnership and flexible fit.
Just a few easy ways to manage your business cellular expenses, saving you from the dreaded unpleasant surprise of overages, add-on’s, and everything in between.
Quick: what was the most oddly compelling sport in the recent winter Olympics? Those of you who answered Ice Dancing Compulsories, please stop reading and report immediately to the nearest Department of Motor Vehicles for your day of fun and adventure. No, the sport I am looking for here is curling. You know, the ice sport that you compared to shuffleboard until the light bulb finally came on.
While I am among only 20,000 active curlers in the United States, literally millions became hooked on the sport while watching on TV. This phenomenon was certainly not due to the disappointing performance of our U.S. teams. Instead, I believe it can be attributed to the strategic nature of curling. While curling teams compete to eventually position their rocks near the center of the target area, actually accomplishing this goal is difficult and requires a very sound strategic plan. By now you know that it wouldn’t be my blog without an abstract telecom expense management analogy and you’ll be either delighted or disgusted to know that this occasion is no different. Your Honor, should it please the court, I submit that the strategic thinking involved telecom contract negotiation is very comparable to the strategy required to win a game of curling (pause here to allow for the obligatory court room gasp).  The point here is that to impact maximum cost savings for your business and reduce telecom expenses across the board, there needs to be a systematic approach to telecom contract negotiation. Certain activities need to take place and those activities need to happen in the proper sequence. So let’s say you’ve got some contracts that are up for renewal. Here’s a look at a solid plan that will effect significant reduction of telecom expenses:
- Get an accurate inventory of your environment. What circuits, lines, plans, etc do you currently have in your shop? Calculate voice and data capacity based on this result.
- Determine your long term technology strategy. Are you looking to move to Voice-Over-IP? Are you going to leverage MPLS to create a WAN for your organization? These types of questions will impact your telecom contract negotiation strategy.
- Analyze your usage. Do this both in terms of “average” and “peak” usage. Compare the results to the findings in step #1 to see if you are currently under or over provisioned.
- Complete a telecom audit of your environment to ensure that you’re currently paying what you should be paying. If you are paying for unused or erroneous services, this is likely to continue to be the case with any new contract you sign.
- Document required services. What do you really need? This will often be different than what you currently have. The results of all of the above steps will play into this.
- Perform market benchmarking study to figure out what you should be paying. You’ll want to understand the best pricing carriers can offer in your area for the services you are attempting to procure. Telecom Expense Management companies can be of assistance here by bringing this type of benchmarking data to bear.
- Develop a contract strategy. What terms and conditions are important to you? Consider not only pricing but exit clauses and flexibility based on your anticipated business needs.
- Put the contract out for bid. Create a competitive situation with multiple vendors whether or not you actually would consider changing. Create a comprehensive Request For Proposal (RFP) with an effective decision matrix that will enable a direct comparison between vendor proposals that are based on the requirements of your business.
- Evaluate the results and sign the new contracts.
When performing these tasks, take care to do these things the right way. This may mean getting help from someone specializing in telecom audit and telecom expense management. Keep in mind that the contracts you sign will be ones you’ll live with for three years or more. A little bit of strategy truly can make a difference of Olympic proportions. Good curling. www.valicomcorp.com -SAM
By Sandy Thompson I have seen more organizations auditing their telecom use for significant corporate cost savings which often will result in a newly revised corporate cellular policy. Opening my own personal cellular bill has often resulted in unexpected and unpleasant surprises. I have twin 17 year old daughters, whom like their mother - love technology. Especially their new smart phones with all the bells and whistles. Thinking that they would not be cell phone savvy I did not caution them about the games, ring tones, data downloads, music, wallpaper, etc. Big mistake. And an even bigger mistake I under-estimated the amount of texting two teenage girls could amass in one month. It was astounding and expensive. You probably see where I'm going with this? You may be responsible for 300 or 1000 cell phones knowing you can't manage every texting overage, cute puppy wall-paper purchased, and AC/DC ring-tone blissfully downloaded. Not to mention the surprise roaming charges! Of course you have company policies in place but many employees can't resist the temptation of VZ Navigator download or they simply don't understand their own corporate cell phone plan features and limitations. Who has the time to peruse a 500 page cell phone invoice? Here is your lifeline for business wireless cost reduction strategies: - Start by monitoring the monthly invoice dollar amounts. Huge overages should catch your attention but what about the more subtle increases? Trust me, they add up quickly and can ruin your projected annual budget.
- Make the simple change to electronic billing to take advantage of the robust reporting capabilities most carriers offer on-line. Set up your account and navigate your way through the vendor's on-line portal. You'll find a wealth of information at your fingertips. Equipment charges, overages, plan information, everything you'll need to effectively audit your invoices.
- Another solution begins with your Carrier Account Manager(s). Request quarterly reporting from them and set up your own parameters so you can get the custom reporting you need. This is a routine and time-efficient way to monitor all cellular usage from your carrier.
- Another suggestion, and my personal favorite - Hire your own telecom expense management firm. They are trained professionals who take care of all the heavy lifting and the nagging telecom annoyances you don't have time to take care of yourself. Find a telecom expense management firm who will work with you for a productive partnership and flexible fit.
These are just a few easy ways to manage your business cellular expenses.
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