The Copper Wire

The introduction of new technologies has a profound impact on how corporations manage and deal with these services throughout the organization. What was used in the past, does not mean it will work in today’s environment, especially when dealing with multiple forms of communication (VoIP, wireless, instant messaging, etc).

This is one reason why last year marked a paradigm shift in the way companies manage telecommunications. An increasingly more complicated mix of telecom services has made it imperative that an organization go beyond spreadsheets or standalone software to manage invoices telecom and track inventory. The introduction of next generation telecom expense management solutions now provide companies with a solution that allows companies to manage services from procure to pay through an automated system. But perhaps even more important is what companies can do with the data.

The data that is accumulated provides a blueprint for conducting advanced analytics associated with Business Intelligence solutions. The data is proving to be a goldmine in terms of forecasting and budgeting that give organizations a better idea of the impact of what is needed with regard to network migrations and overall costs for services. Indeed as the types of telecom services increases in sophistication, so do the solutions used to manage them.

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Last month Verizon Business announced its eBonding initiative which will allow clients to order services directly through a Web portal. This eliminates having to place phone calls or keep track of e-mails when an order is placed. Clients can now order services through their third party telecom expense management provider, enabling them to have a centralized place to order services from all their carriers. Not only is this extremely important as the two major carriers look to provide enterprise clients with an easier way to order and change services, but also marks the use of Web services. Now can companies can extend their TEM systems to provision services more efficiently and accurately.

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It is no secret that managing corporate communication networks has become extremely complicated. Gone are the days where a communications network was simply managing a single telephone system from Ma Bell. Now involved in the communications mix is data, video conferencing, IP telephony, and wireless services that make up the “corporate communications network”. Without a proper way to manage all these services, costs can easily spin out of control.

That is where telecom analytics can play a critical role. While it is a widely viewed perception that the cost for telecom services is viewed as decreasing (long distance as a flat fee is just one example), the fact is companies are consuming more of these services - which means companies are spending more. Telecom expense management solutions enable a company to understand what it is spending, analyze where it needs to add bandwidth or remove bandwidth. In addition, it provides insight into how much a company is paying for services such as wireless, which are not a fixed cost.

Even more important is the fact that “dashboards” provide network managers with immediate insight into total spend and spend broken down by vendor. In addition, the types of reports that can be generated are virtually limitless. Finally, having this type of information at your fingertips proves to be a powerful combination when negotiating new contracts and migrating to new network technologies.

Now these are just some quick examples of how companies can cope with the changing communications landscape. With cutting edge corporate communications technologies emerging everyday, the management of these services becomes even more important.

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In Michael Lewis’s book “Moneyball” he writes about how a team like the Oakland A’s can compete competitively with limited resources against big market teams like the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and LA Angels. While these big market teams outspend the Oakland A’s for players by a huge margin, the Oakland A’s are repeatedly making the playoffs and are considered perennial World Series contenders - up until this point.

By taking an approach that relies on statistical analysis tilted toward obtaining players that have certain traits such as having a high on base percentage (that means they walk a lot) and a game day strategy that is focused on not giving up outs (no stealing bases or sacrifice flies) the A’s have found a way to cut costs by not spending money on superstars, and a gane day strategy that allows them to compete competitively.

While the world of managing telecom and IT expenses is not as glamorous as managing a major league baseball team, companies are finding these same principals can apply. By using a strategy that is centered around centralizing telecom spend across the entire organization – the end result is having more visibility to telecom spend. And companies that are doing this are seeing tremendous results. Not only can they compare costs across differebt carriers, but are able to drill down to see the details behind costs like circuits, routers, etc. Another real advantage is the ability to catch billing errors as they happen, which enables companies to short pay invoices.

In the end, by using a telecom expense management solution to gain enhanced visibility to telecom spend, companies are in a better position to make more intelligent decisions about the types of services they need to purchase. This not only leads to increased savings over the long run, but has a direct impact on the bottom line. And that is the equivalent to making the playoffs year and year out on a shoe string budget!

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With telecom technologies advancing rapidly corporations more and more are looking to telecom expense management solutions. These solutions provide a centralize place to view all vendor invoices, along with maintain an accurate inventory of all services (cell phones, leased lines, routers, etc).

For a company, its communications network is a critical component to doing business. While new technologies facilitate provide tremendous advantages, not having an effective way to manage these services can quickly leave companies in a maze of confusion and hinder the adoption of next generation services. Telecom expense management solutions are helping to bridge that gap and provide a clear example of how complex communications networks can be managed.

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