Control your costs

How to Control Wireless Telecom Costs by Peter Verhoeff

Many enterprises are becoming aware of the increasing costs of wireless telecom. According to the Aberdeen Group's The Wireless Costs and Performance Benchmark Report, 75% of professionals are using wireless devices and this number is increasing steadily. Yet wireless is one of the least controlled areas in many enterprises. This article examines some of the reasons for this and offers suggestions on how to improve the control of wireless costs, including telecom expense management (TEM).

Wireless devices include laptop and notebook computers, PDAs, pagers, cell phones and more. There are various reasons for the rapidly increasing wireless costs in corporations. One of them is technological innovation. New developments and features are occurring almost daily. This "featurism" tends to render existing devices obsolete in the eyes of the user. Another factor is that calls on cell phones are generally much more expensive than on landline phones. And, because wireless devices are portable and mostly used outside the office, they are prone to being lost or stolen.

Probably the most significant factor in wireless cost control is the fact that most companies have only a vague idea of what their wireless telecom expense is and that which cannot be measured cannot be fully controlled.

It is not surprising that wireless telecom is a relatively uncontrolled area in most corporations, because it is difficult to manage. For example, many companies are paying for a mixture of company-owned and employee-owned cell phones. This makes tracking wireless costs a nightmare, with wireless costs being lumped in under travel and entertainments expenses.

The ideal scenario, as far as corporate control is concerned, is that the company owns all wireless devices used for business purposes and that these devices are used solely for company business, with a single "owner" of all wireless telecom matters. This person should be in charge of all wireless acquisitions, inventory control, bill verification and payment processing. A company wishing to bring wireless telecom expenses under control should set out to work in that direction.

In order to establish control, the first step is to issue, implement and enforce policy that will ultimately centralize all wireless telecom under a single authority. For effective control the only wireless devices for which the company pays should be company-owned ones.

Taking away control from employees who previously might have had a free hand in selecting wireless devices and services is likely to meet with resistance. Not only that, but bringing wireless telecom under the control of a single person can take away control from other departments that previously had more autonomy in matters relating to wireless telecom. For those reasons, it is vital to obtain the commitment of senior management in providing employee education and empowering the person in charge of wireless.

When preparing to draft the policy, it is recommended to consult with an expert on wireless telecom expense management. In this respect, a reliable and experienced TEM vendor can fit the bill. He should also be able to advise on other aspects of telecom cost control, how to best implement the full telecom expense management process, as well as assist with the negotiation of telecom contracts with carriers.

For more information about telecom expense management visit the Telsoft Solutions website at www.telsoft-solutions.com.