Tackling Telecom Service Management Needs

By Hyoun Park, Aberdeen Group

Unified Communications? Smartphones? Mobile Devices? Remote Workers? How is a company supposed to keep track of all of these options?

Historically, companies have long sought oversight over costly trunks, network services, and PBXs used to facilitate landline communications. Increasingly, they are seeking solutions for wireless expense management and mobile device management to provide that same oversight to their wireless deployments. These deployments have only become more difficult to manage as smartphones approach the power of laptop computers and allow remote workers with greater access to enterprise applications and data.

As a result, companies are looking at Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solutions to provide a one-stop shop for their diverse, yet detailed needs. TEM is traditionally known for its emphasis on invoice processing and call accounting, but in recent years, the number of services associated with TEM has proliferated to match the multiplicity of communications options adopted by the enterprise. In my June report, Slashing Telecom Expenses in a Looming Recession, 72% of companies used their telecom management solutions for contract negotiations, 80% for landline expense management and 73% for wireless expense management. Now there are TEM vendors that handle functionalities as diverse as business process outsourcing; various levels of business intelligence, security, governance and compliance issues; and software development.

In this environment, it is vital for companies to seek TEM solutions that match business needs. This is the challenge I am trying to answer in my upcoming September report “Total Telecom Cost Management: Getting Something for Nothing.” This report will seek answers to how companies are looking at their telecom environments and how their usage of telecom services changes as they gain control and oversight.

To do this, I am surveying the public marketplace to find out what you need to manage your telecom services and whether your current solutions are getting the job done. By determining what practices are working and the internal support associated with each practice, I’ll be able to share with you the real costs and savings associated with TEM. To get a copy of my upcoming report, please take a 15-minute survey designed to benchmark your telecom practices.

If you would like to further get involved with this research or share these results with your customers, please contact Nick Biron at 617-854-5210 for more information.