Last but not least in our six part journey on telecom cost management is one of the biggest hurdles to getting a good deal.   Telecom contract negotiation. 

You MUST negotiate with your vendors, no matter how large or small your firm is.  And preferably BEFORE renewal time arrives.  Do some homework on what you’re paying now, what competitors are offering, and what current marketing specials your vendor is offering.  That will give you some idea of the pricing landscape.  But realize that no one is going to give you a great deal right off the bat.  They have all the cards, and you're just guessing.

That is why it never hurts to get some telecom benchmarking data from a TEM firm, so you know what you should be paying. Then take that information to the bargaining table, or put out a new RFP.  A telecom audit team can help with you with that too, if you want to bring in the big guns.

But the main point, no matter how you go about it, is to never shy away from asking for a better deal – you won’t get anything if you don’t ask. 

These few tasks are just the beginning of a path to strong telecom expense management.  But even baby steps can offer savings, that over time can grow. 

“You can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and expect to be in business tomorrow”
– Unknown



We all know that it’s a lot easier to use tried and true tactics, going down the same path every day, rather than tackling anything different.  Heaven forbid - you might have to learn something new!  But the price you pay for stagnation can be huge.  New techniques arise, best practices evolve over time, fresh technology comes out….  Your competitors are probably on board.  The 25-year old guy in the corner cube who wants your office is probably on board.  You better get on board too, or the boat is going to leave without you. 

So what kind of neat shiny new things am I talking about?  Well, I’ll give you an example.  A HUGE example.   Granted, this doesn’t have much to do with telecom expense management or telecom invoice auditing, but we get to that in Part Two.   This one tool helps to illustrate how the software-as-a-service technology is changing the face of business.  Something you can use to automate workflows, and reduce costs for your business.   But, this example is at work in your sales department…

Ever heard of SalesForce.com?  If you’re in IT or a CFO, I forgive you if you haven’t.  But, if you work in sales or customer service, you’re in trouble if you don’t know.  It’s only the fastest growing, most heavily adopted, and slickest customer relationship management tool out there.  Best part?  It’s web-based.  Delivered online, real-time with a password, it means you can access your data from anywhere, anytime - even at 3 am when your flight out of O’Hare is cancelled for the third time.  At a convention in Singapore?  No problem.  One click, and all your customer data is at your fingertips.   On vacation in Costa Rica?  Just log in and there are all the campaign stats for that email you sent out last Tuesday. 

Sure beats that crummy old rolodex sitting on your desk, doesn’t it? 

And with this new technology comes an avalanche of new best practices, tactics, ideas, collaborative plug-ins allowing access to third-party data and services, and so much more. Probably something you'd want to know about, and be using to save your business money, before Jimmy-in-the-Cube figures it out and you end up working for him. 

So, now that you get a taste of the type of tools available, stay tuned for Part Two to see how it can be applied to your telecom expense reduction tasks.   Whether you’re an IT staff managing wireless expenses, a CFO looking for business cost reduction options, or a telecom consultant wanting a way to increase your capabilities while saving time and money, we’ve got a new toy for you…

During the recent economic downturn most companies had to tighten their financial belt and in a lot of cases take desperate measures to reduce and control cost. This is a process that should be taken seriously at all times and not just during lean years when management has a tendency to make knee-jerk decisions. The easy approach is always to look at human resource costs because this cost is usually the largest and the most visible on the balance sheet. Further, during times of severe need many companies claim to be experts in reducing costs and the ability to create solid cost reduction ideas that can impact the bottom line. When companies are desperate for corporate cost savings they may not have the time to compare and contrast one telecom service provider from the other.

As our economy starts to turn around and companies begin to recover the focus on a partners reputation is becoming more critical. Make sure your telecom expense management firm is value-based and that the values are aligned with your organization. Building a relationship with a telecom cost management company that you can trust to deliver is the key. Trust and integrity are two values that are required in establishing a foundation for any relationship. Be aware of telecom expense management providers that claim to be a cost reduction company just to meet your specific point-in-time financial pain points. Align your company with a proven leader in telecommunication expense management.