TELECOM EXPENSE MANAGEMENT
CIO Magazine identified telecommunications management as the leading CIO frustration. Effective telecom expense management not only lowers costs but also provides an invaluable asset inventory and improves vendor relations. These factors lead to faster IT responsiveness and improved system availability.
Telecom Expense Management (TEM) typically applies to the following areas:
• Local telco (voice business lines, DID….)
• Long distance (intrastate, interstate, international)
• Wide area network (MPLS, frame relay, ATM, leased line)
• Internet access (DSL, cable modem, leased line)
• Cellular (voice, data)
• Maintenance (PBX’s, routers….)
• Other (Dark fiber, CATV, wireless….)
TEM usually leads to a 5 – 10% cost recovery on vendor bills plus 20 – 50% cost avoidance from Request for Proposal (RFP) based procurements. Effective TEM requires active and on-going participation from both client Information Technology and client Finance (Accounts Payable).
TEM usually starts by gathering raw data, producing the contract, physical and financial (accounts payable) inventories and then resolving glaring gaps and deficiencies on these. Once the inventories are audited and reconciled, they are stored in the Open TEM Atlas Group database. At this point, the monthly business process of bill reviews and approvals can be started to make sure that on-going vendor bills correspond to contracted rates and terms. Atlas Group prepares the following monthly reports for client review and network optimization:
• Network element inventory by site
• Carrier services allocation pie charts
• Visio data and voice network drawings
• Cellular inventory and user profiles
• Cost or usage exception reports
• Historical cost trend analysis
• Department budgets spend vs. spend reports
• Lists of credits or substantial non-recurring charges
• Savings worksheet
• Contract
These reports are reviewed with client Information Technology department each month to identify areas for optimization, procurement or other changes to the client IT operations that will impact pricing. For TEM engagements of over one million dollars annual spend, Atlas Group partners with Invoice Insight to provide the TEM database. The Invoice Insight solution allows electronic vendor invoice feeds (e.g. EDI), electronic dispute initiation, automatic payment links to the client’s accounts payable system.
TEM is a business process that is repeated monthly. The typical TEM process is illustrated below:
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Other TEM benefits include:
• Cost clarity
• Network inventory
• Cellular inventory
• Contract inventory
• Cellular plan management
• Recommendations for optimization
• Vendor dispute management
Atlas Group offers additional support services to help clients with physical inventories, Request for Proposal based procurements, network optimization and database integration.