As organizations face increasing competitive pressures, they must identify ways to reduce espneses.  Uncontroled wireless expenses with carriers and operational costs for device fullfillment and bill pricessing provide rich opportunities for enterprises to streamline inefficient processes and cut unnecessary costs................

The top challenge to managing international expenses reported by 67% of enterprisesis is the global application of consistent business accounting rules. Best in Class performers use technology to drive standardization and consistency in how they manage telecom expenses. An obstacle to achieving standardization comes from decentralized processing of telecom invoices.  Instead, 75% of respondents respond to the conundrum of international telecom expenses, and they start with sourcing. Enterprises fail to capture gains from sourcing because they do not have technology to ensure contract compliance. In fact, laggards do not even measure savings from their sourcing initiatives.

Communications is the lifeblood of enterprise activity and the telecommunications network enables employees, customers, and suppliers to connect in a “flat world” that features a supply chain of global competition for goods and services. Modern enterprises rely on complex networks to connect computers and exchange data. The network includes traditional voice services (local and long distance), data (internet, e-mail, frame relay, ATM, MPLS, data, etc.) and wireless services which allow a mobile work force to stay connected.

Telecommunications and related network services are a large and growing expense for mid-market enterprises. Telecom costs are difficult to track because they include tangible assets (lines and circuits) with decentralized inventory spread over multiple locations and intangible services. Move Add Change, Disconnect (MACD) service order activity creates a moving target that enterprises must reconcile with their billing. Billing is complex with elements that can be time-sensitive (peak vs. off peak), and volume sensitive. In addition, telecom providers have different billing platforms for their varied offerings. Each platform requires a degree of customization to read and interpret the billing data. Finally, the shift from traditional voice networks to datacentric networks and rapid growth of wireless services requires proactive management to keep inventory and costs under control.