Enterprise telecom management

As demand for enterprise telecom management picks up, you can find tools from several players. Most of the companies seem to come from three segments: traditional telecom operations support system vendors such as Circuit Visions, Hewlett-Packard and Metasolv; bill payment service providers such as Profit Lab, Quantum Shift, Stonehouse, Teldata Control and TSR; and consulting firms such as Accenture.

Product costs are a moving target. A large corporation easily can spend anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to a million dollars to set up a robust enterprise telecom management system and expect to save between 10% to 30% of overall telecom costs. Midsize businesses may choose to invest far less and still see a healthy ongoing reduction in operating costs.

Enterprise telecom management lets you manage your telecom operations on a continuum. It's not cost-effective for everyone to strive for the highest levels Ñ the key is to determine what degree of enterprise telecom management you need to realize the optimal return on investment. Regardless of what level of management you're seeking, a communications services management system that lacks an inventory component will add little value.

Think of deployment as a series of related projects to perform and maintain.

Step 1: Install inventory.

Install an inventory system that is fed by service orders and your help desk system. Ideally, the ordering and trouble-ticket systems should be capable of publishing orders in XML or another electronic format.

Step 2: Data capture and cleanse.

Identify all circuits and confirm that the information is accurate. Look at voice, data, wireless, calling cards, PDAs and even home Internet connections. This process updates the inventory with the level of detail required to manage the network, especially for the largest and most expensive circuits or services. Data capture and cleanse is often the most onerous project required to reach a steady state of telecom management and control.

Step 3: Circuit inventory analysis.

Ensure that your inventory reports agree with your bills. It's common to find circuits that you didn't know you owned or thought you had disconnected. Once complete, your circuit inventory should remain accurate because any moves, adds and changes entered into the enterprise telecom management system flow directly into the inventory database.

Step 4: Financial audit.

Identify circuits in your inventory that are not being billed correctly. A one-time financial audit can lead to significant financial recovery, but the real savings come from monthly bill verification. This audit mostly can be automated with an enterprise telecom management tool, provided your inventory is accurate and complete.

Step 5: Network optimization.

Once you've accomplished the above steps, identify and implement network changes that will lead to optimal performance and savings. You might find that you have multiple DS-3s that are underutilized and you can consolidate channels, or you may get an alert reminding you of circuit contract renewal dates.

The five steps described above are not mutually exclusive and do not have to be completed sequentially. However, it bears repeating that none of these projects can be fully realized without an accurate, centralized, telecom-based inventory system that is connected to an order system.

Full-scale enterprise telecom management may not be for everyone, but elements of this approach may be valid and useful for your company.

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