September 3, 2010

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Savings Impact and Benefits

Explore the benefits users and organizations realize through the adoption and implementation of Telecom Expense Management projects and initiatives.

IT Infrastructure & Operations Leaders Key Initiatives: Mobile and Remote Working
Favored TEM Attributes from a user survey (in order of priority): "1) Invoice Audit and Processing, 2) Sourced Data Management, 3) Inventory Tracking, 4) Reporting, 5) Expense Allocation, 6) Bill Payment, 7) Order Management, 8) Dispute Management, 9) Consulting"
Phillip Redman, Gartner

Business Management Case Study: How Cisco IT Reduced Telecom Costs Through Centralized Invoice Tracking
Cisco Systems recognizes the following benefits from their Telecom Cost Management initiative: "In its first years with manually managing the invoices and initial spending reports, dramatic cost savings resulted from the identification of billing errors and changes to spending habits within the Cisco user base. The automated telecom billing solution is now well established in the U.S. and continues to trim telecom costs from quarter to quarter. Since its inception, the [Cisco] Telecom Cost Management program has delivered an overall 15 percent reduction in networking, telephony, and PC vendor services spending. Several years ago, these services accounted for more than US0 million in operating costs, and therefore the 15 percent reduction translates into millions of dollars of trimmed expenses. This savings can be considered even more dramatic when considering the technology and business changes that have taken place over the same time period: 1) Headcount has increased. 2) Major technology innovations have been introduced, including numerous improvements to the network infrastructure, the introduction of IP telephony, and the migration to a companywide mobile desktop platform. 3) The numbers of service providers has increased significantly, with many more services now offered to Cisco employees. For example, when choosing a network access solution, an employee has almost twice as many options available today compared to early days of the Telecom Cost Management program."
Pam Lisotta, Cisco Systems

More Turning to Telecom Expense Tools
"But saving money is only one aspect of TEM. Another is helping customers mine the vast amount of data that's included with their invoices. For one national retailer of office supply products, that data mining capability has made it possible to flag third-party billing scams. The telecom manager, who asked that her name and company not be published, says there has been a sharp increase in third-party billing scams. She started noticing calls that cost apiece on her telecom invoices from 10 retail locations in the New York region. These calls were made to a company called Jobs Hotline, which operates much like a 900 service. The telecom manager points out that she blocks all outgoing calls to 900-like numbers, but the problem with the phone numbers going to Jobs Hotline was that they used a standard area code and exchange. She also believes the calls were never placed from the 10 stores. In fact, about eight calls were placed back-to-back from the fax numbers at each store."
Denise Pappalardo, Network World