IBM goes Global (with TEM)
Wait, doesn't IBM always have a global product for every possible technology in existence? Until February 20th, the answer was "apparently not." IBM announced last week that it is launching a global Telecom Expense Management solution complete with 6-8 weeks of consulting and followed up with a fully outsourced suite of services. The solution is going to be powered by Rivermine, which IBM started working with last year.
Considering that Rivermine is already one of the leaders in the TEM industry in its own right after its merger with BBR and that it both follows and advocates a lot of best practices regardless of who you ask, working with IBM just gives their combined solution more of an advantage. Any time that a name like IBM Global Services starts pushing its way into the industry, you know that business has reached the big time.
Industry analysts estimate that TEM is going to become a billion dollar industry this year. With big dogs like IBM joining Verizon in this game, it's going to be interesting to see how the pure play TEM players react. Considering that the sector is growing 25-30% per year, there's still room for the pure players, but some of these niche providers need to either step it up and provide best-in-breed or own their niche markets if they don't want their generic offerings to be overwhelmed.
