FACtt Telephone Bill
Management
Software
Simple and Complex Cost Allocation
how do you manage telecom?...
Centralized or Decentralized Telecom Management?
Relying on Vendor Supplied Billing Software?
Network Management Tools?
Outsourcing?
These are some common elements in telecommunications management and most companies use a combination of these approaches to control and audit service charges. Effective telecom management is based on controlling and auditing service changes. Failure to audit and control service charges increases the likelihood of regularly and repeatedly over paying for telecom services.
Centralized Management Structure
All ordering, bill payment and planning resides at one location. Remote locations must relay all telecom requirements to one department.
One or two groups, usually in the head office, either telecom or accounting are responsible for validating, coding and paying bills.
This style represents tight control and maximizes the advantages of aggregated service contracts and economies of scale.
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Vendor bills are few, but are usually very large. The size of these bills make regular auditing of services and charges extremely labour intensive.
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Local budget managers usually receive monthly cost reports that contain very general telecom cost information.
Decentralized Management Structure
Each branch office is responsible for planning, ordering and payment of telecom bills.
Regional managers may be responsible for validating, coding and/or paying bills or forwarding bills to accounts payable.
This style does not realize the benefits of aggregating vendor contracts. There is much duplication of effort and resources. Often this structure exists due to internal power struggles, mergers or lack of resources.
There is usually little control and therefore a lot of wasted money in this environment.
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Vendor bills are many and small. Cost benefit analysis of vendors and services across the organization is virtually impossible.
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Local managers have total control of services and costs with some general guidelines provided by Head Office.
Combination Management Structure
There are many combinations of central and decentralized management. Most companies have realized the financial benefits of aggregating long distance and local services with one or two vendors, but this doesn't always mean one bill.
Aggregated services can still exist in decentralized environments. Some organizations will centralize basic services, and leave services like cellular and internet to local offices.
At a minimum, large service contracts are aggregated but the company may still be receiving multiple regional bills from a single vendor. Some types of services may be centralized and controlled by a single telecom or technology group, like network services. This may still leave extensive duplication and decentralization in areas with services like cellular or local lines.
Moving toward Centralized Control of Telecom...
Most organizations realize that there are economies of scale to be realized in the area of telecom management and that aggregating service contracts with vendors saves money.
Any organization that has implemented at least some level of centralized control can benefit from using a single database and software tool to manage multiple services. Control is the key.
Relying on Vendor Supplied Software and Billing Packages...
Relying on vendor billing systems or vendor software to track your financial coding reduces your flexibility: flexibility to easily change vendors and flexibility to change financial coding.
It also means that your employees must learn and work with multiple software or billing packages for every vendor, often with radically different features. The data resulting from these is not easily combined for reporting purposes and can't be migrated when you change service suppliers.
Relying on vendors to include financial information in your bill can lead to errors that will track right through to your accounting system, but may not be caught for months.
No one knows your financial coding requirements better than your people, and no one cares about getting it right more than you.
FACtt and Telecom Management Software...
There is a big difference between tools that support network management and monitoring, and tools that support the payment and validation of every bill...
There are many types of software designed to help you manage your network services and monitor and allocate long distance costs. These are technical solutions for technical problems and they can be highly effective.
But these tools only solve part of the problem.
FACtt specializes in the validation, allocation and payment of all of your vendor bills and all of your telecom services, not just long distance. All data from these bills is stored in a single database and accessible through a single query tool. This includes call detail data and equipment reports.
FACtt is not limited to long distance services or network management.
FACtt is designed to load, audit and process all of your telecom bills directly to your accounts payable system.
FACtt and Outsourcing...
Some companies offer outsourcing solutions and take full control of your telecommunications department.
Your data becomes their data. Their vendors become your vendors, their service levels become your service levels and re-establishing control can be costly.
FACtt provides you with the benefits of outsourcing your telecom bill management, without any loss of control.
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Last modified:
December 16, 2005