Rivermine Launches Version 5.0 of its Telecom Expense Management Solution
February 27, 2007
By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor
Rivermine, a company that specializes in telecom expense management (TEM) software and services, this week unveiled the latest version of its flagship offering. Rivermine 5.0 includes a new set of reporting and analytics tools, as well as other enhancements.
Clarity Decision Engine
The new version features Clarity Decision Engine, which enhances Rivermine’s Clarity reporting and analytics capabilities. This new tool helps companies to quickly make network migration and rate plan decisions by speedily analyzing complicated data. Decision Engine is also designed for benchmarking key performance areas.
Rivermine claims that Clarity was “the first product to fully integrate business intelligence into a TEM solution.” The tool now reaches new heights with the addition of Decision Engine, which automates the process of evaluating cost, time, and other implications of complex TEM-related decision—such as migrating to VoIP, renegotiating rate plan terms, or switching carriers.
Such tasks now can be performed automatically, based on “what-if” scenarios. The system processes basic details entered by management, and returns an evaluation regarding whether or not a network change is worth pursuing.
Benchmark analysis is another key function of Decision Engine. The tool uses key performance indicators (KPIs) to perform comparisons such as:
Already, the power of Decision Engine is being appreciated by corporations using Rivermine’s solution. Once such company, IKON Office Solutions, had high praise for the new tool.
“Decision Engine will allow IKON to plan with greater efficiency as we're able to test potential changes to network technologies or rate plans and immediately learn their predicted outcomes,” Larry Van Etten, senior manager for IKON’s TEM department, said in a statement. “Based on the tool's financial analysis, management will be able to make key network optimization decisions.”
Van Etten added: “In addition, we will be able to compare our current expense performance with the industry and get a clear picture of where our strengths and weaknesses are—we can then focus on the most cost impacting areas.”
Rivermine’s Clarity has also been enhanced with a variety of new dashboards and reports designed to facilitate management of wireless spend, disputes, financials, inventory, invoice processing, and provisioning. The solution now includes an expanded set of out-of-the-box reports with drill-down functions for readily accessing data needed to take action before major problems pop up.
Other Enhancements
Decision Engine isn’t the only upgrade to Rivermine’s solution. Version 5.0 also includes support for more than 100 currencies (with ability to automatically or manually upload exchange rates, and easy toggling between currencies) and the wireless management tools listed below.
And that’s not all. Rivermine 5.0 also includes:
- Improved dispute management
- Integration with Rivermine Call Accounting
- Enhanced security features
- Intuitive search application
Graphical workflow
All of these changes are designed to meet the increasingly complex needs of companies seeking TEM solutions.
“Gartner’s (News - Alert) research shows that the market's expectations of traditional TEM solutions are growing beyond standard features such as invoice auditing and dispute management,” Gartner research vice president Eric Goodness said in a statement. “More customers are looking to proactive capabilities to help them make decisions regarding migrations to carrier plans and new network technologies.”
Goodness added: “TEM providers that can help their customers migrate efficiently to meet new communications requirements should be well positioned.”
Mark Logan, Rivermine’s president and CEO, commented that, although version 5.0 will enable the company’s customers to save millions of dollars annually, Rivermine is not resting on its laurels.
“We continue to heavily invest in both our software and managed services to deliver maximum value to the nearly 70 companies and government agencies using the Rivermine solution,” Logan said in a statement.
Rivermine 5.0 is available now as a managed service or on-premise software. To learn more about the solution, and TEM, please visit Rivermine’s TMCnet.com channel, Telecom Expense Management.
Interested in learning more about telecom expense management? Be sure to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.
Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page. Also check out her Wireless Mobility blog.
Voice over IP (VoIP) | X |
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more |
Internet Protocol (IP) | X |
IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data
in packets over the Internet. I...more |