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February 13, 2008
What's New With TEM Solutions
By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Associate Editor
Telecom Expense Management, or TEM, is becoming increasingly vital to enterprises. That’s because companies now must manage not only fixed-line telephony assets (e.g. desk phones and service that goes along with it) but a whole range of other communications products and services. The task can be a huge one, which is why many enterprises turn to TEM firms as a way of outsourcing some or all of the job to professional specialists.
To get more insight into what’s happening in the TEM industry today, TMCnet turned to Robert McMullan, CEO at Control Point Solutions (News - Alert). McMullan shared his perspective about the TEM market and how enterprises are using TEM solutions.
TMCnet: Can you briefly describe Control Point Solutions-what it was founded, what it does, etc.?
RM: Founded in 1988, Control Point Solutions is the leader in providing outsourced TEM services combining the domain experience of our people, our proven work flow processes, and superior technology, to deliver the exceptional efficiencies, cost savings and intelligent information needed to maximize the results of TEM programs. We began as a telecom audit service provider, and have evolved over the past two decades to a full-service provider of complete TEM solutions.
TMCnet: How was business for Control Point in 2007?
RM: We had another good year in 2007, experiencing continued growth of our revenues and profits while we continued to make significant investments in our technology platforms to stay ahead of the requirements of our very complex Fortune 100 clients and the constantly evolving telecom domain.
TMCnet: What is the outlook for TEM services during 2008?
RM: New business opportunities seem to be stronger in early 2008 than 2007. More and more companies are realizing that processing and auditing telecom invoices are not their core competencies and are looking for the experts like Control Point Solutions to outsource this work so the companies can focus on what they do best. Ongoing changes in telecom as a whole (new technologies, carrier convergence, etc.) mean that home-grown or smaller TEM provider solutions have difficulty providing results year over year—what worked before doesn’t always work now. Companies are realizing, more than ever, the need for a proven provider that can adapt and change to meet their needs.
TMCnet: What are some of the things driving growth of TEM?
RM: Voice, data and wireless combine into a very large portion of most clients’ overall budgets. Companies want to pay only for what they use and at the price agreed to by the service provider—no more, no less—but this is not easily determined by reviewing the invoice and contracts. Unlike many service invoices that a company may use, telecom invoices are multi-dimensional - with many fixed and variable elements, complicated taxes and surcharges, and many sources of pricing such as tariffs and contracts which may have specifically calculated discounts. There are occasional unsupported charges on the invoices as well. Invoices have to be paid very quickly—or companies can incur significant additional charges for late payments and run the risk of unexpected service interruption.
For the largest companies, telecom invoices average more than 100,000 pages, so it’s a daunting task to process and review for any accounts payable department. Add in the need to charge back / cost allocate the individual charges; track and manage the inventory; manage the ordering process; forecast the budget and provide reporting—it’s a very resource intensive requirement set. Effective TEM programs allow clients to concentrate on their core competencies while controlling and managing a complex expense.
TMCnet: How would you describe what TEM is and the different business processes it involves?
RM: Simply described, telecom expense management is workflow incorporating people with critical domain expertise, specialized technology platforms and production proven processes, to be complete and timely in the capture, validation, audit and approval and payment of telecom invoices. It also requires dispute management talent and systems to track billing errors and ongoing balance reconciliation of the recurring adjustments to these invoices.
Often overlooked by companies is Control Point Solutions’ ability to provide great detail for cost allocations by usage as well as by services, and the business intelligence gained by this detail through our business and management report that’s available to our clients over secure Internet connection.
TMCnet: If you had to pick the most significant three trends in the TEM industry right now, what would they be?
RM: First, telecom domain changes are driving the need for strong TEM programs. We’re seeing a lot of vendor consolidation (Carrier convergence) which is impacting alternatives and service levels. New technologies (MPLS/VOIP) are changing the way provisioners optimize and deploy their communication infrastructure – and this drives the need for accurate telecom inventory as well as ongoing changes to invoice data format readers.
Second, companies are beginning to realize that measuring return on investments for their TEM program includes more than just refund totals. Invoice processing timeliness and visibility into spend; the ability to charge back expenses and provide ongoing savings recommendations are increasingly critical.
Third, Wireless is a high profile item in the news right now. Administrative costs required to service employees are very high for what is a relatively small expense compared to voice and data networks. We anticipate changes in TEM program focus to redirect attention to high cost areas.
TMCnet: How do you see TEM changing in the next 3-5 years?
RM: More companies are seeking global providers for their carriers; and are seeking TEM providers that can consolidate, reconcile and manage information from a broader variety of input sources such as invoice, inventory, tariff and contract data. Clients seek to understand and manage the elements of global expense – and that can only be done well when all of the information is normalized and available for audit and reporting.
TMCnet: In your experience, what area of TEM stands to save enterprises the most money?
RM: Regardless of the volume of company’s telecom expense, a thorough historical audit will deliver cost savings and refunds and should be done annually at a minimum. Telecom inventory validation and reconciliation to billing are also a key area for identifying savings. Outsourcing the management of the TEM process to a service provider like Control Point Solutions results in better business information, monthly invoice validation and audit results—as well as more timely processing of invoices to eliminate late payment charges—all at a fraction of the total internal cost of doing it themselves.
TMCnet: What differentiates Control Point's TEM solutions from other players in the market?
RM: We simply deliver better results than our competitors. Because of our years of experience and the billions of spend we manage annually, we have unique insight into best practices and the proven systems & methodologies needed to realize real results. Our audit results speak for themselves—and that’s in addition to the time and resource savings we deliver to our clients.
TMCnet: What else should people know about TEM and Control Point?
RM: Our systems are specifically designed for the high volume, high change nature of a Fortune 5 to 1,000 level companies’ telecom environment. Our highly scaleable solutions, years of experience in this industry, and the level of telecom domain expertise of our staff, uniquely position us to deliver the best results for our clients. We have some of the world's largest companies as outsource clients who understand our value proposition and domain expertise. What do these clients know that others do not?
Don’t forget 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 whitepapers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper isCall Center First Call Resolution Guide, brought to you by Enkata.
Mae Kowalke is an associate editor for TMCnet, covering VoIP, CRM, call center and wireless technologies. To read more of Mae’s articles, please visit her columnist page. She also blogs for TMCnet here. 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 |
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 |
(source: http://telecom-expense-management-solutions.tmcnet.com/topics/carrier-sourcing-negotiation/articles/20758-whats-new-with-tem-solutions.htm)
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