7 months in…
I've been digging into the world of Telecom Expense Management and have written one benchmark report, Slashing Telecom Expenses in a Looming Recession as well as a number of market alerts, sector insights, and analyst insights ranging from mergers to the use of personal cell phones in the workplace to contract negotiation tools.Along the way, I've seen how Telecom Expense Management has really progressed to a new animal where a lot of the value proposition doesn't relate to direct expenses. Custom Bill Payment Terms, Service Level Agreements, Service Orders, Business Process Outsourcing, Network Visibility, and Call Accounting are just a few of the functionalities that are standard issue in several current solutions.Although I love my work, it can be frustrating because there are so many different value propositions going in a lot of creative directions and I simply lack the bandwidth. Back when I did this as an end user, I remember building home-grown tools to create automated chargebacks and automated invoice exception detection, then having to manually do the dispute resolution myself on behalf of the large customers I used to have when I worked for a now-defunct CLEC. It would have been much easier to use a number of tools that exist now. I look on these integrated solutions with envy when I think of my days cobbling together SQL tables.At the same time, it's even more frustrating to see how Telecom Lifecycle Management isn't a staple in the corporate landscape. The ROI is almost always in the hundreds of percent for a new installment, since these solutions cut 15% on average, and the resulting visibility can double the savings if you follow up with the right practices. Given that telecom expenses average around 1.2% of a company's total revenues (with LOTS of variance based on verticals), it should be a no-brainer. For a billion dollar company, that means cutting 2 million a year. This ain't rocket science.Ultimately, what I'm trying to do is bring analyst resources and access to the end user. I think I've made a good first start at understanding the business side of this and learning which vendors are most responsive to end user feedback. Now, it's time to bring that challenge back to telecom departments and help to make sure that RFPs and customizations align with the varied business alignment challenges out there.
September 25th, 2008 - 00:32
I understand your frustration. TEM should be a staple based on the ROI delivered. In fact probably more than an ERP, CRM or other type of software automation for workflow processes. Although one thought is that TEM is still a young concept and needs some maturity prior to becoming widely adopted . I think many large enterprises may be waiting for a market leader to emerge or maybe it’s just the long sales cycle and TEM will become adopted by all enterprises in the near future.
As you say who doesn’t want a double digit return for a 1-3% investment?
Keep up the good work! I for one enjoy all the research put out.