Apropos issue 4 - 2009

Tight finances continue to focus the mind on getting the best out of company budgets. At TeleConsultants we’re seeing high client interest in services that support improved telecommunications expense management, particularly in our telco billing service, TelcoOptimiser.

TelcoOptimiser is essentially a service that lets companies outsource the time-consuming and frustrating responsibilities of telecommunications administration to an organisation that has the experience and expertise to identify errors and anomalies.

For some companies the motivation is a straightforward “cut the bill”: elsewhere the savings focus is more on internal resources – on saving employee time and improving accuracy and processes.

For some clients it is the management reporting that has the greater value – turning masses of complex billing figures into plain English reports that clearly track spend and trends. For others it is the fact that TeleConsultants can deal with their telcos on their behalf – so their time and energy is freed up from laborious negotiations.

For yet others, the catalyst is found in an impending merger or possible downsizing.

Telco billing is an area that’s beginning to receive a lot of attention from the business world and has been the focus of recent articles in both Computerworld (24 July 2009), and Telecommunications Review (print issue August 2009).

You can find out more about TelcoOptimiser on our website.

TeleConsultants finds buried treasure in telco billings

Val Fogg, Information Services Director at Simpson Grierson comments on the value provided by TelcoOptimiser.

Simpson Grierson outsources telco invoice costings. Law firm saves money and boosts reporting

This comment from Kinetics, our IT partner and recent Cost Benchmarking client, doesn’t, in fact, surprise us. Their feedback highlights many of the points we make when discussing telecom expense management services. Read on:

“Teleconsultants found about 10% worth of savings for us. We were surprised to find that we had phone lines we didn't know about, and blocks of numbers we didn't recognise. Looking over the phone bills, it's clear that unless you know what to look for, you'd miss these even if you read your phone bill line by line.

And then of course, Teleconsultants could give us advice on the competitiveness of our toll rates. They weren't bad, but neither were they what we should have been enjoying. And that's a conversation we'll be having with our Telco. For those of us that don't do this all the time, we have no way of knowing what current market rates are.”

While we welcome recent Government moves on communications – the recently released discussion paper on the state of New Zealand's infrastructure which takes a good look at telecommunications and ranks broadband as an immediate priority; Steven Joyce's announcement last week of the coverage targets for the rollout of broadband to rural communities – we are still looking for their next announcement on the Broadband Investment Initiative.
With clients progressing projects for both urban and rural broadband networks, we await the next step with keen interest.

Read the Discussion Paper, Infrastructure: Facts and Issues

* RETAIL – Following a change of telcos, our client wants assurance that the new billing for data, mobile and landlines is accurate. TelcoOptimiser
* LOCAL GOVERNMENT – Preparing for upcoming changes, our client needs to know that their existing processes are in the best possible shape for the future. TelcoOptimiser
*CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – SLA advice
*HEALTH AGENCY – Telephony advice
*UNION – Telephony advice
*FINANCE – Telco cost benchmarking plus follow-up review to ensure process accuracy
*INTERNATIONAL – Having completed an assignment in the Solomon Islands, TeleConsultants, as part of a consortium, is now on the shortlist for a telecommunications project in Samoa

Chris Birch was one of the judges for the awards this year. Our congratulations go to Air New Zealand, Livestock Improvement Corporation, Kordia, Plunket, Ministry of Social Development/Salmat VeCommerce, Pocket Smith, NorthPower, Chris Keall of the NBR, David Stewart at Telecom, CallPlus, SNAP Internet, Radio New Zealand and Tex Edwards of 2degrees. It was great to see a turnout of over 450 people celebrating the success of nominees and winners.

Our IT partner, Kinetics, offers both on-site and off-site training. Their Power Plug sessions are one-hour, off-site workshops – brief and to the point introductions to MS Outlook 2007.
Catch the next one on Thursday, 29 September, 8.30am – 9.30am

Their on-site Computer Coaching is more for individual sessions on specific topics – useful for new staff induction, ad hoc lessons, personal development, training and procedural guides.

The focus of both services is to help you to better manage your time and information using MS Outlook 2007.

Go here for more about the Power Plug session, Thursday, 29 September

This month Snapshotz creators, CustomerServicesAudit, are co-hosting our Open House on Friday, 18 September. Come along and find out what’s been happening with this contact centre self audit tool. If you haven’t received an invite and would like to come, just let us know.

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