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Monthly Archives: December 2011
Don’t Sit on the Bench, Benchmark!
Are you in charge of reducing business costs by negotiating your telecom and data contracts? If so, you may be wondering if you are being offered the lowest rates.
The standard for your industry has been set by benchmarking, how else do you know how you stack up against the competition? Why not take the same approach to further help reduce your telecom expenses?
Sure, you’ve sent out a Request For Proposal (RFP) requesting the best rates upfront. Knowing that contract negotiation is a game, you’ve most likely further negotiated the rates. But, how do you know if you are getting trophy rates? Benchmark telecom costs. This process offers you the insight into the carrier’s playbook. You’ll know what the best rates are, and have the power to ask for them delivering you a slam dunk in cost reduction!
If you like further information as to how to conduct the carrier benchmarking process, please look into it and contact us at your earliest convenience. We have 20 years of experience to share with you!
Telecom Expense management: Does size matter regarding expense control?
How big does your organization need to be to benefit from Telecom Expense control? What tool do you utilize to manage this function? Are you using a spreadsheet? How about telecom cost management software? Typically, there are plenty of soultions out there from pure outsourcing to expensive telecom expense management (TEM) software that requires a ton of care and feeding.
The fact is with the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology, your options to benefit from TEM software at a fraction of the price of outsourcing, is now available and ready for you to reduce telecom expenses for both wireless and wired.
Should you be concerned with Telecom expense management? If an average reduction in annual telecom spend of 30% is important to you, then you should be concerned. And Clearview is designed, and priced, to be accessible to mid-market businesses with more reasonable annual telecom costs, not just “for the big guys”. Check it out, and see what you’re missing.
Free White Paper: “7 Ways Software Streamlines Telecom & Wireless Expense Management”
As telecom complexity grows, having the proper tools to manage your inventory, invoices, contracts and other relevant data becomes critical. Find out web-based SaaS software can give you deeper visibility and allow you to make more intelligent business decisions to control your telecom costs.
Periodic wireless optimizations can save you lots of money and time
Inside the telecommunications expense management world, wireless is one of the fastest changing and most behavior based portions of a company’s spend to manage. One great way to head off some of the clean-up effort, is to periodically perform a wireless optimization.
This process can vary depending on the scope and requirements, but generally involves examining the behaviors, needs and other variables for each of your wireless users, and then determining how to most cost effectively meet those requirements with the plans and configurations available.
Optimization practices often require a technology process to help automate some of the more complex allocations of plans, particularly if pooling is involved. This is just another reason to engage a TEM, such as Valicom.
Valicom has spent years developing automated wireless optimization routines that can handle dozens of variables and conditions. These processes ensure that not only will you get the best end result, but also that you can perform an optimization as often as you need.
The more often you optimize your wireless phones, the more consistently lean and mean your wireless spend will be, and you will spend far less time chasing down credits and trying to back-date plan changes.
Telecom Expense Management Solution for the Small to Mid-size Business (SMB)
The current telecom expense management (TEM) competitive landscape is made up of TEM solution providers focused on the upper end of the market (companies with over 5,000 employees). According to “The Value of TEM to the Small to Mid-Size Business 
(SMB)” authored by AOTMP, “there is a common perception of greater effort and cost than financial gain” causing “small and medium size businesses to shy away from implementing a TEM program.” They further report that, “the keys to a productive and financially beneficial TEM program are establishing an inventory of telecom services, features, configurations, charges and service providers, and maintaining invoice accuracy.” This report also stated that, “technology assists in unifying a TEM program. SMB companies can simplify work flow, eliminate duplicate tasks and relate TEM information into usable views via technology.”
Interested in strategic cost reduction?
The research conducted by AOTMP also reported the following top telecom priorities for SMBs:
* Reduce telecom cost (62%)
* Learn/implement best practices (57%)
* Establish greater control over wireless costs (49%)
* Centralize telecom environment control (48%)
* Secure support for increasing staff to manage telecom (24%)
* Increase budget for more technology solutions (18%)
They further report “savings for SMBs with a TEM program with a focus on the TEM program savings activities are positioned to gain 22% greater savings as opposed to those without a TEM program.”
Today there is an answer to address the TEM needs, or Telecom Expense Control of SMB companies! Clearview, Valicom’s telecom cost management software brings the power and control of large enterprise expense management to SMBs, who have historically lacked the internal resources and expense volume to realize benefits. Valicom’s Clearview offering is an easy-to-use, fully integrated, on-demand expense management system that provides real-time visibility into telecom expenses, pinpoints areas of corporate cost savings, while requiring minimal time and resources to implement. Designed to incorporate industry best practices and automated expense analysis functions, Clearview helps clients maximize company cost reduction, create greater operational efficiencies and reduce their dependence on suppliers, all while gaining the ability to reduce telecom expenses.
Check out Clearview to see a demo, and learn and how your company can benefit from this innovative TEM solution!
Valicom Posts Record High Client Satisfaction Scores for Q3 2011
“Telecom Expense Management on Your Terms” Earns Valicom Record High Client Satisfaction Scores
Valicom, a twenty year veteran of telecom expense management, reports continued high client satisfaction survey scores with its third quarter 2011 results. A strong combination of web-based software, flexible delivery options and excellent, experienced Telecom Audit teams creates an environment for client success, savings and satisfaction. The client satisfaction scores were 3.89 on a 4.0 scale, a record high.
Madison, Wisconsin (December 7, 2011) – Telecom expense management firm Valicom reports record high client satisfaction scores for 3rd quarter 2011. This continues a twelve year tradition of surveying clients quarterly, to learn how well they are delivering in eight key areas: professionalism, overall expectation, communication, quality and accuracy, understanding client needs, responsiveness, meeting deadlines, and overall value. The combined client satisfaction scores were 3.89 on a 4.0 scale, a new high.
CEO Nancy Peckham, upon release of the scores, offered her take on how Valicom continues to exceed customer expectation. “At Valicom, we really go beyond just delivering services. We aim to help level the playing field between our customers and the telecom carriers. In the David versus Goliath battle to control telecom costs, we like to think we bring value and business intelligence to help our clients win the war.”
As Valicom branches out more to work with partners and consultants in the IT and telecom management field, these new customers are also finding value with their solutions. By combining their web-based software Clearview with an a la carte suite of traditional telecom auditing and management services, Valicom creates custom deliverables for each of its clients. From software subscriptions to fully outsourced telecom lifecycle management, Valicom delivers at the highest level, supporting the high satisfaction scores they receive from clients large and small.
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Confused about the need to outsource Telecommunications Expense Management?
Historically, the decision for companies to outsource their management of telecommunication expenses and desire for telecommunication optimization has always been directed at C-level. This decision can be complex in having to determine if Telecommunication Expense Management (TEM) is a part of the company’s core competency. Then the task was to create an Request For Proposal (RFP) and select a partner that will benefit the company the most.
Today, with TEM providers expanding expense management options through software-as-a- service type offerings, this decision is no longer just a C-level decision. Any IT or telecom analyst with discretionary budget influence and the desire to add another tool to help them do their job more efficiently and reduce telecom costs is now in a position to make that decision. As a TEM provider Valicom is leveraging many years of industry expertise weaved into a simple process to improve your work and business. Valicom offers our telecom expense, invoice and inventory management software Clearview as the tool that companies cannot live without. Automated functions have been weaved into Clearview to reduce the amount of time companies need to spend in manging the TEM function. Responding to current client requests, Valicom has also created a Wireless Optimization tool that provides an automated comparison to identify activites to immediately reduce business expences, while improving coverage and efficiency.
In using the software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach there are the following benefits:
- No disruption to IT infrastructure.
- No displacement of employees and better use of their time for higher value-added activities.
- No complications regarding software licensing or version control.
- 24 x 7 access to powerful, on demand software for your business.
- Rich reporting to provide the visibility necessary to make better financial decisions faster.
Free White Paper: “7 Ways Software Streamlines Telecom & Wireless Expense Management”
As telecom complexity grows, having the proper tools to manage your inventory, invoices, contracts and other relevant data becomes critical. Find out web-based SaaS software can give you deeper visibility and allow you to make more intelligent business decisions to control your telecom costs. >> Register and download now
Mid-Market and Enterprise Companies Need For TEM Automation
Over the last decade, most organizations have reclassified their internal telecom expense management as an IT function and handed the responsibility to an already overburdened IT staff that is generally not knowledgeable about telecom services. In addition, a well-managed internal telecom expense function involves a cooperative effort between the IT/Telecom staff and the Accounts Payable staff. This also requires streamlined, well-defined and automated processes. With the complexities of telecom services including tens, hundreds or thousands of monthly invoices, circuits or devices, using spreadsheets and other manual processes for managing telecom expenses has added to the challenges of in-house telecom expense management for most businesses today. This underscores the need for the automation of TEM processes whether in-sourced or outsourced. According to Gartner, “at the heart of any TEM offering is an automated telecom management software platform used by the business or by an external service provider managing a company’s telecom invoices and assets.”
There are also many market pressures that are driving the need for TEM investments for enterprises today. According to Aberdeen, these include “financial regulations (SOX compliance), implementation of new technology, globalization, carrier consolidation and security concerns (wireless e-mail/PDAs with sensitive data that is not centrally managed).” In addition, the economic climate is driving the need for cost reduction in areas that were otherwise ignored in past years.
Because of these reasons, it is difficult for corporations to get their arms around their telecom expenses. According to Aberdeen, “most firms manage less than 67% of their telecom expenses.”
Valicom’s Clearview telecom cost management software, is designed to address today’s market pressures and client’s needs for TEM automation. The system workflow is built to incorporate best practices and tools for greater operational efficiencies, telecom expense control and strategic cost reduction. Request a free Clearview Demo!!