|
|
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
Recently, I have had the opportunity to talk with quite a few companies and their executives regarding their views on telecom expense management (TEM). Some have had previous experience with a TEM provider and others have not. The companies that have had previous experience communicated the following concerns: - The engagement was purely Contingency. This is a model where the company does not spend any money up-front. Instead, the TEM provider receives a percentage of the savings obtained.
- The Contingency approach can cause animosity between the company and the TEM provider. Sometimes large savings are discovered and there can be disagreements regarding who found the savings opportunity.
- TEM providers have not produced the expected results.
- The costs are too expensive.
- The software or tool is too complicated and require dedicated staff to stay current.
- Too many times vendors try to take a "one- size-fits-all" approach.
The challenge for companies that have had a bad past experience with telecom expense management, is to pursue an offering that can overcome the hurdles from the past and create a scope of work that will lead to a successful relationship for telecom expense control. Understanding the specific pain-points within the company, as it relates to telecom cost reduction, is still the key to the initial steps in a successful expense reduction analysis. Please consider reaching out to a representitive at Valicom for a " Clearview" of your company's telecom expense.
It's all perspective, isn't it? I mowed the lawn once last summer. I did a really bang-up job, too, if I don't say so myself. Before I started, I canvassed the yard and picked up all the sticks. Then, I made sure I made nice straight lines in the mowing lanes and even sprayed off the mower when I was finished. I was quite proud of my work and then started in with the weed-whacking. Man, was I ever in for an education.
My husband came home, took one look at the yard and thanked me in advance for never mowing again. I hadn't made sure I made diagonal swipes, the lines weren't sharp enough, and *GASP*, I hadn't collected all the left-overs from our dogs prior to mowing. There were other offenses, but I tuned them out - happy to stick with my weeding and whacking because that's what I'm most comfortable with anyway. I have no problem with leaving the mowing to the resident expert.
Now, maybe you're like me with regard to your telecom expense analysis. Maybe you have the general hang of your telecom project, but you too are blissfully happy taking care of the weeding and whacking of the minor telecom expense reduction - but don't have the resident expert to oversee the whole job. You would never dream of *only* weeding or only *only* mowing your whole yard, so why would you settle for only analyzing a portion of your telecom spend? We all know the devil is in the details, which brings me to my point.
I really DO believe my husband does a far superior job with regard to lawn care.... and HE believes he does a great job - but enter my Father-in-Law whom said the turf looked nice, but that he takes the time to put on rubber gloves and go through the crab grass blade by blade and rubs on weed killer. Wow, that made him the crowned king of resident experts. And here we thought we were doing such a great job. Are you?
Do you have an expert Telecom Expense Management working for you? If not, you better get one, or become one!
ROI…or, if you prefer, Roi. If you have a business bone in your body, you know that ROI means “Return on Investment.” If you have any French blood in your body, you know that “Roi” means “king.” If you have both business bones and French blood in your body, you are one of the rarest forms of humanity who has ever walked the earth. Still, mon ami, enjoy my blog, where freaks of nature are not only welcome, but celebrated. 
French bashing aside, from a telecom cost management point of view, the homographic relationship between variations of “ROI” is perfect. This is because organizations looking to outsource telecom services and reduce telecom expenses, should consider ROI to be king when it comes to reasons to take action. Case in point: your organization spends, say, $5 million annually on telecom expenses. You perform an expense analysis and determine that there’s probably a way to reduce telecom expenses through better telecom vendor management, contract negotiation, and strategic cost reduction. The problem is that your staff has neither the time nor expertise to do this job properly. On this basis, you decide to give up and live with your suspiciously high telecom expenses. Before letting yourself become this example, crunch some numbers. If you’re spending $5 million and saved a meager 5% by outsourcing telecom expense management activities to a qualified firm, that’s $250,000 you’re saving on an annual basis. This is likely enough to cover the costs of outsourcing and, more importantly, is probably far less than you’ll actually get back. Good telecom expense management firms average between 15 and 30% savings if you let them give you the full treatment. Talk about ROI! In the end, the business case clearly supports taking action here. So make the call, crack open your Beaujolais Nouveau, and enjoy your four hour lunch. Bon Appétit! -SAM www.valicomcorp.com
Too often, we have a tendancy to get caught up in the challenges and pressures of running the business, information technology (IT) and telecom, to the point where the organization can make things more complex than they might have to be regarding expenses.  How well is your company performing strategic cost reduction and expense analysis? Do you have total control of your telecom expenses?
The Free Dictionary by Farlex:
control [kənˈtrəʊl] vb -trols, -trolling, -trolled (tr) 1. to command, direct, or rule to control a country 2. to check, limit, curb, or regulate; restrain to control one's emotions to control a fire 3. to regulate or operate (a machine) 4. to verify (a scientific experiment) by conducting a parallel experiment in which the variable being investigated is held constant or is compared with a standard 5. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Accounting & Book-keeping) a. to regulate (financial affairs) b. to examine and verify (financial accounts) 6. (Law) to restrict or regulate the authorized supply of (certain substances, such as drugs)
Sometimes seeing a reminder of a definition like this one for "Control" can help us to refocus on what is important and lead us to make sure that we do have telecom expense control. Does your organization have the proper controls and tools in place to manage this important function?
Valicom is ready and waiting to help you gain control and reduce your telecom expenses now! Through the depth of our services, we are uniquely positioned to provide you with the options and tools to manage and control you telecom expenses. - If you want to totally outsource your telecom expense management, Valicom has the experience and expertise to serve you
- If you are more comfortable outsourcing a portion of the telecom expense management activities; such as auditing, optimization, etc. Valicom has the experience and knowledge to serve you.
- If you feel you have control over this function and only need a tool to enable automation to streamline this important function and associated activites, then Valicom has the experience and knowledge and now the tool to serve you.
The choice is yours... but, make the choice to begin reducing telecom expenses now. The expense management solution you and your company selects will enable you to gain control. Decide to start or enhance your control today.
During my 25 years of experience in running IT and telecommunication in manufacturing, complex services, consulting and government, most of the companies when asked did not know how much they spent annually on telecommunication services. This includes wireless devices, wired devices, data and voice circuits and their total telecommunication related inventory. Knowing the answer to that question is the first step in achieving true bottom-line business cost reduction. When a company is not aware of their telecom spend or is not organized in a way to make this possible then strategic cost reduction is not easily achieved. The key to any process improvement or strategic telecom cost reduction initiative is to understand all the components that make up the telecom expense control. Then you focus on the components that consume the most resources or expenses and generate options that lead to a reduction in annual telecom expenses and improvement in telecom services. This should not be a difficult process with the right telecom expense management system. Does your company have an automated tool that provides expense analysis? Contact Valicom today for more information!
The current telecom expense management (TEM) competitive landscape is made up of TEM solution providers focused on the upper end of the market (companies with over 5,000 employees). According to “The Value of TEM to the Small to Mid-Size Business (SMB)” authored by AOTMP, “there is a common perception of greater effort and cost than financial gain” causing “small and medium size businesses to shy away from implementing a TEM program.” They further report that, “the keys to a productive and financially beneficial TEM program are establishing an inventory of telecom services, features, configurations, charges and service providers, and maintaining invoice accuracy.” This report also stated that, “technology assists in unifying a TEM program. SMB companies can simplify work flow, eliminate duplicate tasks and relate TEM information into usable views via technology.”
Interested in strategic cost reduction?
The research conducted by AOTMP also reported the following top telecom priorities for SMBs:
* Reduce telecom cost (62%)
* Learn/implement best practices (57%)
* Establish greater control over wireless costs (49%)
* Centralize telecom environment control (48%)
* Secure support for increasing staff to manage telecom (24%)
* Increase budget for more technology solutions (18%)
They further report “savings for SMBs with a TEM program with a focus on the TEM program savings activities are positioned to gain 22% greater savings as opposed to those without a TEM program.”
Today there is an answer to address the TEM needs, or Telecom Expense Control of SMBcompanies! Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS), Valicom's telecom cost management software brings the power and control of large enterprise expense management to SMBs, who have historically lacked the internal resources and expense volume to realize benefits. Valicom’s CaaS offering is an easy-to-use, fully integrated, on-demand expense management system that provides real-time visibility into telecom expenses, pinpoints areas of corporate cost savings, while requiring minimal time and resources to implement. Designed to incorporate industry best practices and automated expense analysis functions, CaaS helps clients maximize company cost reduction, create greater operational efficiencies and reduce their dependence on suppliers, all while gaining the ability to reduce telecom expenses. Check us out at www.valicomcorp.comto learn more about CaaS and how your company can benefit from this innovative TEM solution!
Telecom Expense Management; a necessary requirement in the quest to achieve strategic cost reduction. Regardless of the size of the company, all businesses are always looking for ways to understand, validate, control and reduce business expenses. Companies that recognize the need for telecom expense control can choose between the following methods: - Manual Auditing - this approach usually involves an individual performing research and basic auditing tasks on thee own with a learn-as-you-go approach.
- Software Auditing - in-house employees use specialized software to optimize usage and billing. Historically this has included software provided by vendors that have an impact on the company's Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. Some software providers will also offer a Web interface to a hosted model.
- Enterprise - analytical tools automatically reconcile detailed billing, inventory and payment processing. These type of systems usually require significant care and feeding and due to the complexity require dedicated staff.
- Outsourced or Managed services - many options are available to companies to manage specific TEM life-cycle activities and cost allocation.
The size of the company can sometimes dictate the TEM tool selected. There are many software directories available on-line to observe the many options to consider. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the latest technology available to provide TEM tools and expense analysis without the high-cost of complex software that requires significant dedicated focus and support, significantly reduced cost and no impact on existing IT infrastructure. The iconic, most notable example of the SaaS technology is SalesForce.com. This tool has enabled companies in all industries to utilize powerful Sales tools to manage their sales and lead generation activities at a fraction of the price to develop their own, or to purchase costly software that needs to be modified to suite specific business. Valicom has announce the launch of their TEM software solution utilizing SaaS technology called Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS). For more information and the opportunity to experience the automation and benefits of this tool, please contact us!
Subscription-based Telecom Expense Management software is here and ready to be leveraged by your business to reduce business costs and specifically, telecom cost reduction.  If you are not familiar with this technology model, please take some time to understand how significant this change is. Imagine if you can leverage the knowledge and experience of 20 years of Telecom expense analysis, cutting-edge automation and the rapid realization of 30% budget reduction all without impacting your existing Information Technology infrastructure. Would this be of interest to you and your company? Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS) is the SaaS tool you cannot be without. Valicom has listened to the voices of business that no longer want to have to purchase more software to add to the complexity of their IT infrastructure. Telephone expense management is one of the low-hanging fruit of opportunities that cannot be ignored. Utilizing an automated tool for auditing and analysis will provide the visibility and validation required to properly manage this function. Cellular telecommunications will only continue to be more difficult to interpret and understand. Why not engage the experts at Valicom to jump-start your learning? Start your learning curve by contacting the experts at Valicom today for your free 30-day trial.
Telecom invoice. How do you feel when someone wants to talk to you about a Telecom Invoice? Either you are familiar with it or you're not. Whether you are writing an expense report to justify your monthly telecom expenses, or managing the company's entire Telecom expenses, you know you will need to be able to interpret the bill. Knowing enough to be able to identify errors in the billing, cost reduction opportunities and optimization options is imperative while conducting expense analysis in reducing business costs. Did you ever hear the phrase "you don't know what you don't know"? When it comes to telecom expense management why not reply on the experts at Valicom? With Valicom's new Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS), you receive the powerful tool and training to manage telecom expenses, coupled with the confidence and benefit of 20 years of expertise. Clearview will likely be the best telecommunication software Sign up for your free-30 day trial today. Wouldn't you like to see 30 days of your telecom invoices loaded into Clearview-as-a-Service to see how your company can reduce telecom expenses? 
Like many of you, I often wonder what the world would be like without Danny DeVito (I have a somewhat liberal definition of the word “many”). I shudder to even consider a universe without the immortal Billy Barty. Or that dude who played Webster. Different Strokes without Arnold, you say? What ‘chu talkin’ ‘bout? The fact is that the "little-guy" is an irreplaceable part of our nation’s social fabric, and similarly, small and medium sized companies continue to form the backbone of our economy. Why then do telecom expense management companies – and telecom carriers for that matter – keep ignoring the little guy? It’s like the theme song to the telecom industry was written by Randy Newman.  I’ve been lucky enough to work on solving telecom issues for companies of all sizes and can assert in no uncertain terms that companies of all sizes have a need for telecom expense control, telecom audit and expense analysis, and other telecom expense management services. The problem is that, if your organization spends, say $500,000 annually in telecom carrier expenses, you’re probably being ignored. You’re not big enough to get special pricing from carriers so you look outside for help. The problem is that the telecom expense management companies you contact act the same way. There seems like there should be a way to get best-in-class pricing and related telecom cost reduction services in the hands of the middle market place at price that works for companies of this size. The good news is that this town is big enough for both Dr. Evil and Mini Me. Telecom cost management software is now available in Software-as-a-Service models. These solutions are easy to adapt, easy to use, and most importantly, priced in a way that eliminates the traditional barriers to entrance by small and medium clients. Also, these organizations can opt to add on services like invoice payment, telecom contract negotiation, and other expense management services for little more than the shirt off Verne Troyer’s back. In fact, in many cases, organizations of this size can even get contractual guarantees that their return on any investment in telecom expense management services will exceed the fees they pay for those services. No longer shall the little guy be without a voice in the telecom world! Getting started with this is as easy as a web search. So get out there and claim your gold at the end of the rainbow. www.valicomcorp.com -SAM
What tools are you using to reduce business costs? I was always taught by my Father that it is always best to have the right tool for the job. Having the right tool allow you to be successful each time you do the job, in the most efficient way.   Telecom expense management is no different. Sometimes we need to look at the process of how we perform work and consider if there are any alternative methods. Some would call this thinking outside the box. To acheive true telecom cost reduction, a complete understanding of the entire process is required. Starting with the collection of Customer Service Records (CSRs) from all appropriate carriers will serve as the foundation of identifying telecom assets. Gathering all telecom invoices, performing telecom auditing, cellular optimization and telecom contract negotiation are just some of the activities that require a fresh look to make sure that your company has the best tool for the job. Traditional telecom expense management (TEM) business process outsourcing (BPO) services are appropriate when a company determines that Telecom expense management is not their core competency. Howerver, when a company determines that they are good at telecom expense analysis and telecom auditing, the question then becomes; are the Excel spreadsheets we have the right tool for the job?". With the economy in the early stage of recovery, IT and Telecom budgets will continue to be tight. So now is the time to review the tools your company uses to reduce business costs. Valicom announced its Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS) , or Clearview SaaS application in February, 2010 to be the best tool in the tool bag; to gain control over telecom expenses and enable you to manage these expenses like never before. Visit our website http://www.valicomcorp.com/ and sign up for your 30 day free trial. Let us load your data, train you on the process and share the secrets of Telecom auditing. Checkout CaaS and see for yourself! You will find that this is by far the best telecom cost management software available to the middle market today. http://www.valicomcorp.com/index.php/Clearview-as-a-Service.html 
A common concern I have encountered when talking with businesses is the gap between the accounts payable tasks and the telecom responsibilities in performing effective telecom expense management functions. The telecom teams are tasked with evaluating and making the most efficient and effective use of telecom technologies and the accounts payable team is responsible for processing and paying bills. Telecom auditing for reducing business costs falls squarely in-between these two functions. For many, telecom expense control tends to slip through the cracks. The accounts payable employees are generally not trained on how telecom works in order to effectively perform telecom audits and the telecom employees are focused on higher level tasks.
To help businesses close the gap, Valicom has developed Clearview® software as a solution. Through telecom expense management best practices training, cost reduction techniques, automated work-flows, and the intelligence built into Clearview®, the accounts payable personnel can learn how to easily and effectively perform cursory audits of telecom invoices and trending analysis. The IT teams can use the Clearview® technology to access inventories for telecom expense tracking, performing higher level telecom expense management analysis and technology assessments for greater telecom expense control. To experience the benefits of how this works for your company I invite you to try Clearview® for 30 days. Through this free trial offer you can work with the Clearview® system populated with your invoice and inventory data and view the various reports that bring greater visibility into your telecom expenses. As a result, you will receive actionable savings recommendations that are identified from three current months of telecom invoice and inventory information.
With today's ability to support mobile, remote, out-of-the-office workers, individuals and companies need to understand the activities or processes that should be considered to ensure efficient and cost-effective solutions to enable proper management of devices used for remote operations. We have all heard about the concerns involving corporate versus personal liability. Telecommunication Expense Management (TEM) encompasses a series of decisions to be made, including activities associated with wireless expense management. My philosophy has always included a process-oriented approach to managing processes and functions.
Due to the complex nature of telecommunications and the numerous options for wireless devices, features, voice and data plans, taking the time to understand and define the acceptable process to your company is the foundation of true wireless expense management. Not to mention, enabling the remote employee to focus on producing work instead of having to become an administrative expert. Who performs the expense analysis in your organization?
TEM companies have made it their business to map out all relative activities and have created automated work flows to provide the most efficient tools that lead directly to pure telecommunication expense reduction. If you do not have an effective process in place consider employing a TEM provider that can positively impact your business and lead to rapid cost reduction. Ask questions within your organization and I would be interested to hear about the effective process your company utilizes.
|
