Contact:
(608) 274-3515
|
info@valicomcorp.com
Explore our TEM blogs for expert perspective, real examples, and clear guidance to manage telecom and technology expenses confidently, with fresh insights added routinely.
The newest information technologies on the block – social, mobile, cloud and data analytics – can and should do more than boost your organization’s efficiency. Far more than past IT innovations, these new technologies can positively transform your organization – where it competes, why it wins and how it operates. Smart leaders understand this. Meet one in this blog.
Telecom expense management software and services firm Valicom is pleased to announce its membership in TEMIA, the telecom expense management industry association. Delivering excellence in telecom and wireless management since 1991, Valicom has always strived to be a leader in bringing expertise and technology to the market. By joining TEMIA, it can better help shape the future of the TEM industry and educate mid-market to enterprise size firms on the benefits of a strong telecom management program.
Building a business from the ground up is hard work. Keeping it standing can be even harder. With the diverse economic pressures coming to bear on modern business owners, it is often hard to stay on top of best practices in managing your expenses. Payroll, insurance, shipping, training, bathroom tissue, paper clips…. the bill seems to get bigger every day.
Madison, WI (January 16, 2012) – Effective immediately, telecom expense management firm Valicom is pleased to announce the promotion of Jeff Poirior to President and COO. Under Jeff’s leadership over the past 5 years, Valicom has achieved many major goals and milestones and anticipates further growth and expansion in 2012.
Telecom cost reduction should be at the top of every business's priority list as the new year begins. Learn more about telecom expense management and how a few simple steps can make a measurable difference in your annual spend. A fresh new year, a fresh new start....
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?
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
When conducting telecom contract negotiations, large businesses know and expect to scrutinize all areas of those contracts prior to signing them. They not only review the contracts for pricing negotiation, but also for terms and conditions negotiation. The latter, the so called “T’s and C’s”, are what we often see small and medium size businesses overlook.
If you have, then the next steps would be to determine where your company fits in the range of telecom expense management solutions we offer. As we remarked in a recent post on TEM options, telecom management best practices can come in one of three flavors. Contact us for more details on any of these, or to setup a short discussion so we can recommend something for you.
Telecom expense management has been around for a long time. But many organizations avoid taking a more aggressive approach to managing their telecommunications expenses because they lack the expertise and don’t know where to start. When faced with the dozens of different types of invoices and the multitude of telecommunications technologies that an organization can be responsible for, it’s common to react this way.
Variable cellular costs can add up quickly. Most of the time you don’t know they are going to happen until they hit your bottom line. Then, OUCH! you certainly feel it. If these costs aren’t being watched and controlled it can happen month after month and really add up. Variable costs include text messaging, downloads, and – with most carriers new data plan changes – data overages.
In our twenty years of doing telecom expense management and telecom auditing, we’ve found that most firms are wasting anywhere from 10 to 30% of their annual IT budget. Why? By overpaying for telecom services. How? A variety of reasons, but the primary culprits are usually…
One of the biggest hurdles for any organization when it comes to taking a more aggressive approach to managing their telecommunications expenses is simply getting started. The first step on the road to reducing costs and increasing expense visibility is to develop a complete, detailed, and organized inventory that accurately reflects the entire telecommunications spend.
I have been reading the AOTMP telecom expense management (TEM) discussions on LinkedIn and I find it astounding that, after interviewing hundreds of enterprises, AOTMP found that corporations with over $1B in annual revenue experienced an average implementation time for wireless mobility management (WMM)/TEM technology of 10.5 months and companies with less than $50M in annual revenues experienced an average conversion time of 8 months. I’m assuming that enterprises between $50M and $1B in revenues experienced an average implementation time somewhere between the 8 and 10.5 month range.
Over at Mobile World Live, Matt Ablott wrote a great post about how the decline of SMS in mature mobile markets in Europe is driving carriers to rethink their profit structure. As we’ve reported on several times, the appearance of new “non-text” messaging options, like Apple’s iMessage which allows Apple device users to message one another directly, bypassing their cell provider’s paid texting service, is putting a crimp in a very lucrative profit sector for carriers.
Telecom Expense Management; a necessary requirement in the quest to achieve strategic cost reduction. Regardless of the size of the company, all businesses are always looking for ways to understand, validate, control and reduce business expenses. Companies that recognize the need for telecom expense control can choose between the following methods: