What Is The Value of Telecom Expense Management & Managed Sourcing Today?
The telecom industry is about to undergo a fundamental change. Telecoms must implement and develop strategies for telecom expense management and managed sourcing to maintain their competitive edge in this new environment. Telecom expense management and managed sourcing are essential services that will allow operators to stay ahead of the curve in the marketplace. In this blog post, I will discuss what these processes entail, how they benefit an operator, metrics for success in these areas, how operators can be proactive with managing expenses with MSP's today and the future of this industry.
What Is The Value of Telecommunications Expense Management & Managed Sourcing? | Telecom Blogger
This blog post will talk about what telecom expense management is all about. It will also tell you how telecom expense management can benefit your organization. Probably one of the most important factors at play in the next few years that will define how successful a carrier or service provider is will be how they manage their costs.
In light of this, it seems fitting that this blog post tells you what telecom expense management is, and why it is so important. Then we'll move on to what managed sourcing is, and why this might be important to you too.
What Is Telecom Expense Management? | Telecom Blogger
For all intents and purposes, telecom expense management (TEM) is the process by which a telco seeks to achieve savings in its costs to bring services to market. It is the management of all expenses associated with telco services in an efficient, transparent and cost effective manner. It is a process which involves not only the cost savings being brought to the table, but also the expansion of the company's reach and sector vertical.
This blog post will tell you everything you need to know about Telecom Expense Management. Managed Sourcing is what telecom expense management is all about today. Let's talk about that first?…
What Is Managed Sourcing? | Telecom Blogger
Managed Sourcing (MS) is a process by which a MSP directly manages your telecom services, without any involvement from your large corporate IT department or other outsourcing unit within your organization.
Why is Managed Sourcing Important? | Telecom Blogger
With the increased competition in the marketplace, more and more carriers are looking to outsource their telco services. In fact, big telecoms like AT&T and Verizon have already been outsourcing portions of their operations to managed service providers (MSPs) for some time now.
MS is particularly important in this area as it allows carriers to focus on their core competencies , while not having to worry about the actual telephony or networking infrastructure. MSPs are a good partner for carriers because they can get you setup with an established VoIP platform (like Vonage), or even install and support your own Microsoft Exchange Server/SharePoint Server environment .
You will be amazed at how much cheaper and more efficient a managed service can be.
Certainly, carriers should not outsource everything to MS though. But rather, MS should supplement the carrier's internal IT department in providing the necessary support and infrastructure services on an as-needed basis.
Most large corporate IT departments are stretched thin these days trying to oversee everything going on across the organization, and they do not have the time to proactively take care of all these telecom expenses areas. In some cases, outsourcing your telecom needs to a MSP (which can include expense management) is one way that you can stay competitive in today's world. This is especially true in the area of OTT, which is increasingly important.
How Can Managed Sourcing Save Money?
Managed Sourcing can save you a lot of money, especially in a scenario where your internal IT department has grown very large over time. Adding up even just the IT staff that is involved in telecom expense management, there is probably hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on them every year.
Telecom Expense Management Process for Businesses | Telecom Blogger
The telecom expense management process usually begins with the creation of a solid telecom budget for your organization. This shows you exactly how much money you are planning to devote to the acquisition and maintenance of your corporate telecommunications and IT infrastructure throughout the course of a year.
Next, you need to find out exactly how much it is going to cost you in the areas of Voice, Data and OTT. This requires some analysis because many service providers are charging very different rates for these services from one another. For example, if you are using a VoIP provider like Skype or Vonage for your telephony needs, it is important to understand that these services are based off of bandwidth usage and not the number of calls that you make. So, if you are paying $0.10 per minute when you use your VoIP phone, but are making 50,000 minutes of calls in a month, that $50 is probably being billed by the OTT provider instead.
To determine these costs accurately, you must take into account the cost of telephone service for your carrier from your previous provider and the cost of rented telecom equipment such as servers and routers. You may also need to subtract calls made against your VoIP or IP PBX systems as well.
In addition to telecom expense management fees for individual services like hosting services and hosting applications, there will be a monthly Account Executive fee for managing all your telecommunications expenses and billing accounts. The technology used to manage your data and telecom infrastructure should also be factored in.
Some telecom expense management software providers charge for these service fees so keep that in mind too.
Next, you may need to put together a fee proposal for your telecom provider detailing the services that they will provide to you based on your telecom expense management plan.
Many companies are going with a managed services approach today, but this is not always necessary. Sometimes it is just enough to separate OTT from telephony and Data, and then choose an OTT service provider that offers more of what you need (for example, HD Voice or 4G LTE) without having to worry about all the inner workings of your IT infrastructure.
Every person's needs are different, so it is important to do some research and find out what works best for your organization.
Nonetheless, there are many business benefits to be gained when you begin managing your telecom expense management with a large MSP like SonicWall. Sonicwall specializes in Managed Sourcing, as well as offering data center hosting services . They can host your IT infrastructure and manage it from start-to-finish.
Here is a list of Telecom Expense Management Software frequently asked questions:
1) What Is Telecom Expense Management (TEM)?
Telecom Expense Management or TEM is all about managing the details of your telecom expenses in an affordable and efficient manner.
Conclusion | Telecom Blogger
The vast majority of small and medium sized businesses still do not have a telecom expense management plan. It is easy to see why, because the process can be complex, requires a lot of time and is exhausting to take care of day after day.
Managed services providers are very aware of that problem though, and strive to make managing your telecom expenses much easier for you. If you want to learn more about how they can help with your TEM needs, check out this post: How Does A MSP Help With Your TEM Needs?
You can also call us for more information about managed services in the area of telecom expense management at 800-322-9346 .