Preliminary Information Gathering

After developing a vision or goal for telecom expense management, the next step is to gather organization-specific information. With this order-of-magnitude data, decisions can be made about project development, outsourcing, auditing, and other possible actions.

The first, although not easiest, step is to develop an approximate annual spend for telecommunications in major categories. If only 1 percent of the spend is in long-distance charges and 35 percent is in cellular, the conclusion is obvious: use project time to reduce cellular expenses.

Exhibit 1 shows the expenditures of a small, California-based energy firm.



Exhibit 2: Annual Telecom Spend for a Small Energy Firm

Note that the expenditures for this firm are unusual because local expenses are larger than long-distance expenses. In addition, cellular usage is high, suggesting that a judicious renegotiation/rationalization would likely pay big dividends.

Before plunging into the numbers, it is useful to gather as much strategic material as possible. By recording the following information, even if it is done at a cursory level, subsequent cost management projects will be more focused and efficient.

Organization

Contact information: key employees, contractors and suppliers; e-mail IDs, Web sites, etc.

Structure (voice, data, centralized, decentralized, etc.), organization chart

Functional responsibility for project management. How is it structured?

Staffing

Security awareness (who is responsible; organizational perspective)

Strategy

Technology strategy

Customer strategy versus employee/internal requirements

Growth/trends

Buildout plans

Geographic issues

Business alignment (network and infrastructure with business needs)

Outsourcing plans or opportunities

Specific (already developed) business plans and requirements

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Characterize the customer (profile)

What architecture supports CRM now (call centers, hardware, software, network)

Volumes of usage (now versus historical)

The general process (customer calls or e-mails; asks for x, then y happens, etc.). How disputes/complaints are resolved (e.g., trouble management system)

Describe elasticity of demand (will customer buy more product or services if service is outstanding?)

What are the trends for CRM (volumes, changes in entry point such as Web versus phone, changing nature of customers, etc.)

Process

Ordering and provisioning (external and internal includes moves, adds, changes)

Bill payment

Maintenance of equipment and software

Project management for large communications projects

Policies and procedures

Escalation process

Asset management

Vendor management

Risk management

Cost management

Budget

Contracts and terms (carriers, equipment vendors, telecom software vendors)

General ledger (G/L) and accounts payable (A/P) information

Capital and expense management

Circuit/equipment inventory

Carrier reports

Analysis of billing (tariff compliance, exception reports)

Traffic/call accounting

Chargeback

Performance and optimization

Network management tools

Traffic analysis/measurement tools

PBX/VM configurations

Network topology and diagrams

Voice and data services, including IVR/CTI

The topics are relatively high level and may or may not be directly pertinent or quantifiable as to cost-saving opportunities. However, many qualitative improvements have financially positive results, which can be measured later. Organizations with existing documentation on the above topics are often at a significant advantage and can move toward greater efficiency more quickly than many others.