telecom management: six questions you need to ask liz carroll manager – legal solutions...

Telecom Management:Six Questions You Need to Ask

Liz CarrollManager – Legal Solutions503.292.3640

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Six Questions

1. How do we manage our telecom environment today?

2. Where do we use manual processes or Excel?3. What are we paying in relation to the market?4. What skills and tools do we have in-house?5. What are the different TEM business models

available?6. Who are the key stakeholders and what are their

concerns?

Telecom Management Made Simple© 2014 vCom Solutions Inc. Proprietary and Confidential

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1. How do we manage our telecom environment?


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What’s next?

We understand the model … what’s next?

2. Where do we use manual processes or Excel?3. What are we paying in relation to the

market?


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Sample Assessment


SOURCING

• Use multiple carries and vendors• IT negotiates with carriers directly• Limited time for benchmarking• Review contracts every five years

SERVICE

• Contact each carrier’s technical support line for trouble tickets

• Escalation procedures change frequently; causes delays

PROCUREMENT

• IT staff places orders with carriers• Testing and deployment is time consuming;

we are not experts in this

INVOICE MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING

• Accounting staff processes invoices, consults with IT on significant variations

• Code invoices manually to allocate costs• Load each charge into AP

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

• Inventory is tracked in Excel – call carriers for technical specs and manually enter them into Excel

• Limited visibility and reporting

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

• Create monthly high level report – hard to aggregate charges across carriers due to different nomenclatures

• Review trends, but limited knowledge to identify savings

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Poll – What percent of incorrect telecom charges are in the carrier’s favor?• 28%• 50%• 64%• 85%


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Poll – What percent of incorrect telecom charges are in the carrier’s favor?• 28%• 50%• 64%• 85%


According to Gartner, 85% of incorrect telecom charges are in

the carrier’s favor.

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4. What skills and tools do we have in-house?


Network architecture and designContract negotiationInventory, billing, and dispute analysisProject management of service implementationsTechnical support and escalation expertise

Skills

Inventory managementInvoice management toolCost allocation automation toolBusiness intelligence and reporting

Tools

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5. What are the different telecom management business models available?


PAY FOR TEM SOFTWARE

• Purchase license

• Monthly subscription

PAY FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

• Benchmarking services

• Carrier contract negotiations

• Historical bill audit

• Project management

• MACD support

DISTRIBUTION/BPO

• Professional services and

software subsidized by

distribution of carrier services

OR

“TRADITIONAL” MODELS “EMERGING” MODEL

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Poll: What is the cost of processing a telecom invoice?• $25 - $30• $45 - $50• $65 - $70• $80 - $85


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Poll: What is the cost of processing a telecom invoice?• $25 - $30• $45 - $50• $65 - $70• $80 - $85


According to Aberdeen, it costs $65 - $70 to process an invoice.

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6. Who are the key stakeholders and what are their concerns?


Telecom

IT

FinanceExecutive

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Finance

• Cost savings– ROI

• Efficiencies in processes– Automated cost allocation– Automated AP posting– Electronic invoice approval– Streamlined invoice management

• Visibility and control– Trending reports– Forecasting and budgeting

telecom management made simple

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IT

• Cost savings– Free up IT budget for other projects

• Efficiencies in processes– Single portal to manage multiple carriers– Team augmentation– Specialized tools– Automated cost allocation– Streamlined invoice management

• Visibility and control– Centralized inventory management– Streamlined management of orders and trouble tickets


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Executive

• Cost savings– ROI

• Efficiencies in processes– Free up IT, procurement and finance resources for

other core projects

• Visibility and control– Business intelligence across all phone and data

services– Enables reconciliation of technology to spending– Improves accountability and visibility over major

operating expense


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Next Steps

1. Evaluate your current environment using our assessment

2. Identify areas of improvement3. Ensure you have the proper team in place to

manage your telecom environment4. Engage key stakeholders


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Contact


Liz CarrollManager – Legal [email protected]

telecom management: six questions you need to ask liz carroll manager – legal solutions...

Documents

telecom environment

vcom solutions

confidential whats

carriers directlylimited

manual processes

technical specs

model whats

excellimited visibility