Page 15 - Telecom Reseller MarApr 2016

March/April 2016
Telecom Reseller 15
Is Telecom Cost Savings Strategic?

T
he telecom expense management (TEM)
GROWING IT BUSINESSES industry was founded on the promise of COLWELL
AND CAREERS
cost savings. In the late 80’s, cost savings
were readily available through two primary
channels of e ort: (1) recovering identi ed By Timothy C. Colwell, SVP
invoice-to-contract compliance overcharges and Ef ciency First® Adoption –
(2) carrier contract negotiations with or without AOTMP (www.aotmp.com)
switching carriers. ese savings are certainly
still available, but what happens to the ‘strategic’ Aside from the CoE e ciency bene ts, telecom
savings value proposition when the environment management practice leaders should target Insights Advocacy
is optimally managed and savings gains
delivering business value that fuels bottom
+Tools
decline? Identifying all facets of nancial waste, line business results – revenue, pro t, market
recovering overcharges, reducing price points share and the like. While cost reduction can
and optimizing service-to-cost performance is a contribute to business these results, leveraging Events+ BUILD YOUR BUSINESS AND CAREER
Communities
best practice and should absolutely be an aspect the assets of the telecom estate to proactively Training
of every telecom management practice, but is drive business results through connectivity and CompTIA is the voice of the world’s information technology (IT) industry. Asanot-for-proitassociationwhoservesmorethan60,000
cost savings really a strategic business objective if communications is a much more compelling and corporate IT channel members and registered users, we are committedtosupportingthesuccessofbusinessesacrosstheIT Standards
it can’t be sustained?
sustainable telecom management strategy than channel by providing free access to tools, education, research, communities,eventsandtraining.
Cost containment and ongoing expense generating marginal and limited cost savings JointodayatCompTIA.org/register
management practices simply make good opportunities. n
business sense. Establishing formal business
practices to control cost is essential, but sustained
cost reduction (savings) in and of itself is not a
strategic initiative. In fact, cost saving represents
short-term thinking that sets a precedent in the
minds of business leaders not intimately aware
of the strategic business value available from a
comprehensive telecom management practice
that leverages the goods and services of the
telecom estate as business innovation and results
acceleration enablers.
Managing the telecom estate to optimal
technical, nancial and operational standards
is one goal of telecom management practices;
this e ort establishes telecom management as a
Center of Excellence (CoE) within the business.

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Ask the

Telecom Pro

Q
: Are call detail records
considered personally
identi able information?
A
: Telecom data may be Dual-WAN
QoS
Firewall
IPv6 Ready
Network VPN Management
Content Filtering
considered personally identi able
information (PII), as call records
Upgrade your Router!
can be used to identify speci c call
transactions, and many companies
Voice QoS, Multi WAN Redundancy, Content Filter and Network Security
are including CDR and other telecom
billing information in the set of PII data
to be secured and protected. This
Your company uses the Internet for everything. Vigor 2925n
is particularly prevalent in regulated
industries, such as healthcare and DrayTek routers combine two or more Internet links WAN 1
nance. While telecom data is not to create a faster and more secure Internet. WAN 2
speci cally called out in PII regulations,
it is advisable to treat the data in the Content Filtering prevents loss of productivity and
same regard as other data required to u
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be secured and kept con dential.
WAN 3
Q.
: Are international telecom Faster data
carriers required to provide
detailed invoices?
. Better voice
Business Continuity
ARedundant Internet and more security
: No. Requirements for telecom
carriers across the globe to Learn more at www.DrayTekUSA.com
provide detailed invoice information
varies widely. In the US, truth in billing
regulations dictate that invoiced
charges be itemized and available to www.abptech.com | sales@abptech.com | 972.831.1600
charge level details, but the same rules
do not apply across the globe.