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In my last blog entitled "To SaaS or Not To SaaS...??," I provided just a few of the advantages of utilizing on-demand telecom expense management software. Those outlined were just the tip of the iceberg. Here are a few others.
 Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, can be easy-to-learn and simple-to-use, while still possessing robust capabilities. Through online training and client support teams, the user can expand their use of the tool as their knowledge increases. Upgrades are installed automatically as they are rolled out, usually at no additional charge. SaaS telecom expense management solutions can scale up or down with the users’ volume requirements. And SaaS TEM technologies come at a much lower price point than more traditional TEM solutions. Thus SaaS is a low-cost way to access the low hanging fruit of expense reduction without the infrastructure, IT support, and high learning curve required with on-premise software.
There is also the issue of deployment time. According to recent analyst research, it can take anywhere from 8 – 10 months to implement traditional telecom expense management applications. This can be dramatically reduced to days or weeks with SaaS because of the ease of deploying a web-based solution vs. on-premise or outsourced options. Custom reporting can be easily configured and installed at any time, as the product is delivered online. In addition, SaaS tools can capture and analyze usage and fixed costs from billing and produce exceptions reports, outlining potential errors and other savings opportunities. Clearview, Valicom's self-service telecom expense management software, offers these benefits and many more!
While there are many benefits, there are some potential drawbacks of telecom expense management software-as-a-service. To learn about these disadvantages and how you can mitigate them, register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR register to watch the streaming telecom expense management webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
When it comes performing a telecommunication expense management audit, it's often easy to get sucked into the process of constantly pursuing more and more data. On the surface, it sounds good - more data sounds like more decision making power, right? Not necessarily.
One of the main barriers to TEM is often time and labor. This is in part due to the challenges related to aquiring some types of telecom data from the carriers.
It's important to review the pros and cons of the different types of data you could get from the carriers for your different services, and determine whether the advantages relative to your audit outway the costs of getting and maintaining the data.
This is a great example of the 80/20 rule in practice. Often, 80 percent of your savings and cost reductions will come from 20 percent of your audit efforts. Always make sure that you aren't spending too much time processing data for the less productive 80 percent.
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.
The coming wave, and how it can totally blow your telecom expense budget....
A new IDC/Unisys report shows that managing the rise of consumer devices and apps in use in the workplace is taking many IT departments by surprise. At a time of slim budgets and tight staffing, the new wave of computers, smart phones, audio players, tablets, and eBooks is adding yet another layer of complexity to an already overburdened department. Many of the remote or roaming staff using these tools, referred to as "iWorkers" "don't often differentiate among activities, devices, and applications used for work and those used for personal pursuits,'' said John Gantz, IDC chief research officer, who authored the Unisys-sponsored report, "A Consumer Revolution in the Enterprise." "The pressure on IT organizations to integrate consumer-oriented devices and applications will only increase as younger workers, who have grown up in a world of texting, social networking, and smartphones, make their mark in the workplace," said Gantz. For example, IDC is projecting that the number of employees using smartphones at work will rise from 90 million at the end of 2009 to 160 million through 2014 in enterprises with 500 or more employees. And the number of smartphones apps will hit 500,000 this year, according to the IDC research. "We're not heading toward an age of total mobility. We're essentially there,'' said Alex Manfrediz, an IDC project manager on the study. "Having mobile devices and access to information anywhere, whether WiFi or not, that is fully expected." Manfrediz said the study confirmed a lot of blurring of the lines between personal and business activities, but understanding the scope was one of the more interesting findings. "Employees are telling us they're doing it significantly and employers are aware of it but feel there is a disconnect" between the level of control and employees wanting more and more access. *
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 The data in this new report only underscores the rapid ascension of telecom expense management as a key business cost reduction factor. All those people, using all those devices and data plans, are going to blow your budget. Big time. Unless you get on top of it NOW!
It's time to implement telecom expense control NOW as part of a mobile phone management plan, including a good wireless policy. Adopting a rapidly deployable, web-based tool like Clearview, which has little to no impact on IT resources, can help save the day. Read more and check out a demo of Clearview.
* Read more on this article here...
Kick the Tires, Honk the Horn, won't cost you a thing....
 We know that you'd never buy a car without checking it out, looking under the hood and taking a test drive. And while Valicom, with our twenty year history and record client satisfaction scores, isn't exactly "Honest Al" over at the local car lot, we'd still like to offer you the same courtesy. In February, we led the TEM industry by releasing our third-generation telecom audit platform Clearview as a Software-as-a-Solution (Saas), giving small to mid-sized businesses a new tool to reduce telecom expenses. It can also be used by telecom expense reduction analysts or telecom consultants to help them deliver results. Now we've made it even easier to try out Clearview by launching a short online demo, so you can see just what you're missing. And Clearview is designed to do just that - give you a " clear view" of your telecom spend. Delivered securely online, it allows you to review your telecom invoices for errors, see wireless expenses - like mobiles phones and data plans, organize all your telecom assets in one place, track changes, additions or deletions, and in general make order from chaos. And in doing so, you'll save TIME and MONEY, which is really the whole point. So if you'd like to take a test drive of Clearview, just head on over to our website and we'll give you the keys....
Sometimes the critical success factor in telecom cost reduction efforts may all come down to the approach or the "framework" used to guide the process. How does your company stack up? Do you have the focus required to target your specific objective? Telecom cost management is not necessarily as easy as it sounds. This process requires a vast amount of industry experience and knowledge.  During a recent webinar, where Aberdeen shared information specific to the TEM industry, they reviewed their methodology for identifying " Best in class", Industry average and Laggards. They refer to their framework as P.A.C.E. Which category do you want to be classified in? Who sets out to be average?
P.A.C.E. stands for:
Pressures: top-down desire to reduction telecom costs Actions:what action are you taking to realize the reduction and control? Capabilities: - Process
- Organizational
- Knowledge Management
- Performance Management
Enablers: 
How much money can your organization stack up using the best in class methodology? Identifying the "action" to be taken, then "acting" on it is the key. Don't miss the opportunity to reduce telecom expenses before the fiscal year end. there is still plenty of time if you take action now! Knowledge is power...
“You can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and expect to be in business tomorrow”
– Unknown Most of us have probably heard this sensible business advice, but are you taking it to heart in your current work processes? Maybe not… 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…
It's all about Mobile Management.
The days of handing a new employee the phone number to your wireless provider are long over and yet, I still see some really relaxed cellular expense management.
Standardizing the devices themselves and limiting choices of cellular phones and Blackberries will help reduce your spend and limit the dreaded "phony envy" amoung employees. And be sure to negotiate with your vendor prior to signing a contract; I love it when vendors offer a free cellular device or a Blackberry for a penny.
Standardize on one provider, if coverage allows. Obviously, the more devices under one contract, the deeper the discount. Granted, the debate over "who's the better provider" can really get heated amoung users, but unless there are big coverage issues due to real-estate expanse, try to stick with one provider.
Standardize features. Is there a business need for texting? A business need for email/internet? Establish a firm protocol and don't deviate.
Standardize equipment. This is a big one, folks. All the major providers offer headsets, BES licenses - you name it, they'll sell it to you. Do negotiate a discount on equipment, as well as the device themselves, but also be sure to shop around. I have a client that standardized on a specific headset, purchased with a 15% discount via the contract. The headset retailed for $49.99 (discount included.) I took the item number off the invoice and did some price shopping. I ended up finding the exact same headset for $14.95 PLUS free shipping. My client now purchases these headsets online for a big savings. Another client was purchasing their BES licenses through their carrier, thinking that because they also got a percentage off, they were getting a good deal. They weren't.
Nothing cutting-edge or earthshattering here - just a good reminder of telecom contract negotiation standards and strategic cost reduction methods.
- ST
I had the privilege of meeting with a Telecom team and their Manager recently. I had been asked by them to come and demo our new Telecom cost management software tool, Clearview-as-a-Service (CaaS).
The team was a really solid group. They ticked off some impressive stats, achievements and successfully completed projects. I was impressed.
During the demo, I began to talk about the bible of all things Telecom - the Customer Service Record (CSR) and how the information pulled from the CSR was absolutely accurate, stored and reported on. I noticed a few of the analysts squirm, but kept going. At one point, the group's manager blurted out "Geez, I don't think we've ordered CSRs in years. We know we should, but just calling the vendors to order them is a huge ordeal. When the CSRs finally roll in, we need someone to translate the data and enter it into our spreadsheets - with the volume of lines we have, it could take one of my people over a month, working full-time to read and enter the data. I don't have that bandwidth or that kind of time."
I like that he was being honest. He understood the value of the CSR - the need to have exact circuit/line numbers, locations, amounts, quantities and on and on - but acknowledged that the job was just too big to accomplish with his current team. In this economy, he certainly was not going to get the approval to hire on more staff, either.
All this CSR information, just sitting out there waiting to be analyzed - and it hadn't been tackled in years.
I wish you could have seen his smile when I told him that we would order all the CSR's, and dump all of their data into our auditing tool for them. Hello accurate inventory! Hello ability to deep dive audit! They took a huge step toward telecom expense control and cost reduction.
I just love a happy ending.... In just 60 days with us, they are going to begin to see a difference. Honesty is definitely the best policy.
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
Within the Telecom expense management (TEM) industry, there are many claims around cost telecom expense control, strategic cost reduction and wireless optimization; all leading to reduce telecom expenses via an effective TEM tool and proper attention to the management of this important business function. I recently read an article published by Avaya Communications (Carolmm), endorsing the need for seeking out a reputable TEM solutions provider. " My point is, you must get control of your telecom expenses in order to avoid a tremendous amount of waste. You might have people on staff that could help, but unless they are trained, and have the skills and tools, they will be fighting a monster in the dark. The best option is to have a professional Telecom Expense Management team be responsible for the task of wrestling your telecom system into submission." I am including the full article for your reference. They have laid out important questions you should be asking yourself for your organization. Your time is worth the quick read. Ask Yourself These Questions About Your Company's Telecom Expenses J. Jeffrey Poirior
Walking around here on a Monday morning, the passion that our telecom audit teams have for their job may not be immediately apparent. But quarter after quarter, Valicom surveys our clients, and finds an increased level of satisfaction with our ability to reduce telecom expenses. We have hit a record 3.79 score, as shown in our latest press release. However, this wouldn’t come as a surprise, if you knew our project management people. They don’t just care about wireless expense management or telecom invoice auditing, they care about the person on the other end of the phone. We’re here to solve problems for our clients, whether through our telecom management outsourcing, or via our new Clearview software-as-a-service. And that attitude IS apparent when you discuss day-to-day operations with our team members. You hear about projects and problems, true, but also about personalities. It’s obvious that there is a deep connection with our clients, a desire to help them do their jobs. We know that our key deliverables are cost reduction and expense management. We can save our clients money, resources and time, and that is increasingly important in the current rough economic climate. That good feeling - knowing that we are helping them make better business decisions and strengthening their bottom line - makes it worth getting up in the morning. Read more in our latest press release - Valicom Reports a Continued Increase in Customer Satisfaction Scores.
Over the last decade, most organizations have reclassified their internal telecom expense management as an IT function and handed the responsibility to an already overburdened IT staff that is generally not knowledgeable about telecom services. In addition, a well-managed internal telecom expense function involves a cooperative effort between the IT/Telecom staff and the Accounts Payable staff. This also requires streamlined, well-defined and automated processes. With the complexities of telecom services including tens, hundreds or thousands of monthly invoices, circuits or devices, using spreadsheets and other manual processes for managing telecom expenses has added to the challenges of in-house telecom expense management for most businesses today. This underscores the need for the automation of TEM processes whether in-sourced or outsourced. According to Gartner, “at the heart of any TEM offering is an automated software platform used by the business or by an external service provider managing a company’s telecom invoices and assets.”
There are also many market pressures that are driving the need for TEM investments for enterprises today. According to Aberdeen, these include “financial regulations (SOX compliance), implementation of new technology, globalization, carrier consolidation and security concerns (wireless e-mail/PDAs with sensitive data that is not centrally managed).” In addition, the economic climate is driving the need for cost reduction in areas that were otherwise ignored in past years. Because of these reasons, it is difficult for corporations to get their arms around their telecom expenses. According to Aberdeen, “most firms manage less than 67% of their telecom expenses.”
Clearview, Valicom's telecom cost management software, is designed to address today's market pressures and client's needs for TEM automation. The system workflow is built to incorporate best practices and tools for greater operational efficiencies, telecom expense control and strategic cost reduction. Contact us today for a free Clearview demonstration!!
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!
How big does your organization need to be to benfit from Telecom Expense control? What tool do you utilize to manage this function? Are you using a spreadsheet? How about telecom cost management software? Typically, there are plenty of soultions out there from pure outsourcing to expensive telecom expense management ( TEM) software that requires a ton of care and feeding.  The fact is with the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology, your options to benefit from TEM software at a fraction of the price of outsourcing, is now available and ready for you to reduce telecom expenses for both wireless and wired. Should you be concerned with Telecom expense management? If an average reduction in annual telecom spend of 30% is important to you, then you should be concerned.  Valicom now offers their Clearview-as-a-Serivce (CaaS) SaaS solution to most companies, regardless of the size of their annual spend. Consider a demonstration of CaaS today to see how you are able to reduce telecom expenses!
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!
Benchmarking is an extremely helpful process for companies as they prepare for a Telecom Request For Proposal (RFP). However, many organizations don’t take advantage of it?
Benchmarking is well worth the effort and cost to obtain assistance from a Telecom Expense Managerment or IT/Telecom Consultant to provide benchmarking on your existing telecommunications services. Not only can it provide you with a clear picture of where your services can be from a pricing standpoint, but also help you make RFP savings estimates by service type. This can further allow you to provide direction of where to apply the most effort during the RFP and telecom contract negotiations to maximize strategic cost reductions. It’s always good practice to have goals for how you would like your pricing and contracts to look when the RFP efforts are completed. Here are some tips on what to expect from the benchmarking of specific services. Local Services: These LEC services, including POTS, PBX Trunks, DID Trunks, Centrex, PRI T-1, Point to Point T-1, Analog circuit, etc., are all benchmark dependant on location. With the local POTS, Trunks, and PRI’s you’ll be able to have a nice range within each state of what the pricing would look like on the low and high ends. Keep in mind that some circuits such as Point to Point T-1’s often have too many variables to get that detailed, such as, the specific end point addresses, mileage between them, and distance from the LEC Central Office. Long Distance: The pricing here is more of a commodity, and typically will have a fairly close range of what can be expected based on your volume. It's especially important to have solid benchmarking on the International and Instate rates, as that is where the vendors often have the most variance in pricing. Data/Internet: This benchmarking effort is largely based on location and discounts provided. There’s typically a fairly large range here depending on service, size, and other specific variables. Wireless: Benchmarking of Wireless services such as, Cellular, Data Devices, Aircards, and Telemetry, is typically based off of a few metrics. Cost per minute, cost per KB/MB, and cost per device. Benchmarking here can be very accurate based on device quantity and discounting structure. I encourage you to take advantage of the valuable tool of benchmarking when you are planning you’re next RFP.
Let the experts at Valicom take your business cost reduction to the next level! Mike Krogman
Project Manager
For those companies that are currently utilizing Telecom Expense Management (TEM) services, or interested in TEM services, are you certain that the your TEM provider is focused on the areas of expertise that you need? Are they trying to be everything to everybody?  When a company is looking for a TEM vendor to have the expertise that leads to telecom expense control through best practices, years of experience and the best tools available, be sure that they are not trying to be everything to everybody. Have you heard the phrase, "the jack of all trades and the master of none? I read quite a bit of information posted from numerous sources. So many TEM, or pure expense management vendors talk about how they can provide Information Technology (IT) and telecom hardware, consulting services, VoIP convergence... oh and by the way we might be able to wash your car if it generates revenue. That approach is difficult to really know who your vendor is and how they might deal with you after the proposal is signed. When your TEM vendor is focused on your success and not distracted, or incented to lead you to a specific carrier or solution, because they will receive compensation on the back-end, then your company is in the best position for a successful engagement. Before you make the selection final, be sure to know who you are dealing with and that they have the focus on exceeding your expectations regarding telecommunication invoice audit and mobile management. Many companies have decided to utilize existing staff that have a great understanding of the company's business and industry and just need a tool to manage telecom expenses. Proper due diligence is the key in selecting who you partner with. Establishing your TEM vendor relationship will become the foundation for success and visible expense reduction. Keep your focus on strategic cost reduction!
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