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| The Fiscal Cliff and Your Telecom Contracts |
The Fiscal Cliff and uncertainty surrounding future tax policy is beginning to have an impact on some businesses. Telecommunications will probably not be susceptible to the swings of commodities, energy, health care, and capital-intensive manufactured products. Nonetheless, your business and its need for telecommunications services could be affected regardless of the direction of the economy in 2013. |
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| Tagged : Fiscal Cliff, Telecom Contracts, Telecommunications, Avotus Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on December 26th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Telecom Contract Terms and Conditions and Service Guides: Getting the Best Deal |
When it comes to telecom sourcing, terms and conditions, service guides, publications and schedules are often neglected. This can be a costly mistake. Instead of turning your telecom contract to internal legal counsel for review, try reading it yourself. Remember there are general terms and conditions, rates, service-level agreements (SLAs) and other service-specific terms which are spelled out in attachments, exhibits and schedules. |
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| Tagged : Telecom contract, terms and conditions, service guides, master agreement, Avotus Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on December 10th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Inventory Is Critical to Telecom Sourcing Success |
Often telecom carriers will encourage buyers to simply work from their previous contract to negotiate their next contract. This can be comforting to organizations that do not have resources or the time to gather inventory, but creating an inventory is a critical starting point. |
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| Tagged : Inventory, Telecom Sourcing, Negotiate Telecom Contracts, Accurate Inventory , Minimum Annual Revenue Commitments, Marcs , Avotus Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on December 10th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Telecom Sourcing: Get the Best Deal with Buy Out, ETF Credits and Transition Assistance |
When it comes to sourcing of telecom services how can you tell if you are getting the best deal? The old adage about not knowing what you don’t know is particularly true for negotiation of telecom contracts. With eSourcing, you can go beyond simply getting the best rates. Determining the best deal with telecom services requires a review and calculation of the cost to switch providers. |
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| Tagged : Telecom Sourcing, Buy Out, ETF, Transition Assistance, telecom services, negotiation of telecom contracts, eSourcing, cost to switch providers, Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on November 23rd, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| CPOs Extend Their Reach with e-Sourcing for Telecom Expenses |
Chief Procurement Officers, CPOs are moving into strategic areas of supply chain management and aggressively moving more spend under their management to improve results. One area that eludes them is spending on telecommunications services. This is often the result of challenges CPOs have in adding value to procuring and sourcing of telecom services. |
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| Tagged : CPOs, Chief Procurement Officers, supply chain management, e-Sourcing for Telecom Expenses, spending on telecommunications services, Avotus’ Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on November 20th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Overcoming Challenges Sourcing Telecom Services with eSourcing |
Sourcing of telecom services requires a disciplined contracting process. Bandwidth and technology costs tend to drop over time creating the illusion of cost savings during typical renegotiations, but the gap between incumbent Tier I providers and competitors is rising. Now more than ever, you cannot afford to accept the sales pitch from your incumbent telecom service provider. |
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| Tagged : Overcoming Challenges Sourcing Telecom Services, eSourcing, Sourcing of telecom services, contracting process, Avotus’ Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on November 16th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Don’t Wait to Negotiate Telecom Contracts |
Telecom sourcing is time consuming and difficult. Many organizations make a mistake and fail to allow for enough time to effectively negotiate contracts for telecommunications services. Leverage is critical to successfully negotiate telecom contracts, but leverage requires that you allow enough time and have the information that is necessary to negotiate with telecom providers. |
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| Tagged : Negotiate Telecom Contracts, Telecom Sourcing, Telecom Contracts, Procurement |
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| Posted on October 31st, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Negotiation Strategies to Cut Telecom Costs |
Shrewd managers realize that telecom sourcing and contract negotiations are a great way to reduce telecom costs without sacrificing quality, coverage or service availability. Below are some telecom negotiation strategies that you need to know. |
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| Tagged : Negotiate Telecom Contracts, Telecom Sourcing, Telecom Contracts, Procurement |
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| Posted on October 29th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Wireless Contract Sourcing: Successful Contract Negotiation for Mobile Services |
While MetroPCS is primarily a provider of calling plans to consumers with prepaid mobile plans and no long-term contracts, this merger or a counteroffer from Sprint could create new sourcing opportunities for mobile services. Normally, consolidation of providers leads to less competition, but in the case of wireless or mobile services, enterprises could benefit if Sprint decides to bid for MetroPCS or this new combination grows to become a more formidable competitor to AT&T and Verizon Wireless. |
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| Tagged : Wireless Contract Sourcing, telecom sourcing, contract negotiation, negotiation points for wireless contracts, most effective strategy to lower wireless rates |
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| Posted on October 19th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| T-Mobile and MetroPCS Communications Merger or Sprint Counteroffer = Sourcing Opportunities |
While MetroPCS is primarily a provider of calling plans to consumers with prepaid mobile plans and no long-term contracts, this merger or a counteroffer from Sprint could create new sourcing opportunities for mobile services. Normally, consolidation of providers leads to less competition, but in the case of wireless or mobile services, enterprises could benefit if Sprint decides to bid for MetroPCS or this new combination grows to become a more formidable competitor to AT&T and Verizon Wireless. |
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| Tagged : Mobile sourcing, Telecom sourcing, Intelli-Sourcingment |
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| Posted on October 15th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Call Accounting Critical to Communications Lifecycle Management? |
Call accounting systems provide usage chargeback, reporting to improve employee productivity, tools for security monitoring, compliance and network optimization data. This is a critical part of communications lifecycle management. |
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| Tagged : Call accounting, Communications Lifecycle Management, network optimization, employee productivity |
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| Posted on October 15th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Communications Lifecycle Management Addresses Things You Must Do |
Effective communications lifecycle management and Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management (MCLM) requires enterprises to manage fixed or wireline services and wireless or mobile services. A lifecycle management approach calls for a shift from one-time services like auditing to ongoing processes that address the end-to-end lifecycle of an expense. |
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| Tagged : Communications Lifecycle Management, Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management, MCLM |
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| Posted on October 1st, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Five Strategies to Getting the Best Deal Sourcing Telecommunications Service Contracts |
Behind the swagger and headlines that announce great deals for telecommunications services is the cold reality that reveals firms rarely get the best deal. Below are five strategies to get the best deal when sourcing telecommunications service contracts. |
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| Tagged : Telecom Sourcing, Telecommunications, eSourcing, Reverse Auction, Intelli-Sourcing |
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| Posted on October 1st, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Use e-Sourcing to Secure Better SLAs on Your Telecom Contracts |
e-Sourcing can help you secure better rates on telecom contracts, but did you know that you can also use them to negotiate better Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on contracts? |
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| Tagged : Intelli-Sourcing, Better SLAs, Telecom Contracts, Avotus Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise, Avotus Express |
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| Posted on October 1st, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| The Cost of Lost Smartphones and Stolen Tablets: Beware of BYOD |
Avotus’ ICM Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express can make you look good turning the tables to your advantage. Companies have been negotiating corporate rate plans for long distance and other fixed services for years. The same concepts apply to mobile services. |
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| Tagged : Mobile Data War, iPhone, 3G networks, Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on September 28th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Winning the Mobile Data War |
Avotus’ ICM Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express can make you look good turning the tables to your advantage. Companies have been negotiating corporate rate plans for long distance and other fixed services for years. The same concepts apply to mobile services. |
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| Tagged : Mobile Data War, iPhone, 3G networks, Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on September 24th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Kodak Auction Shows Value of Avotus ICM Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
A recent article from The Wall Street Journal titled Bidding is Tame for Kodak Patents highlights why enterprises should consider telecom e-Sourcing. At first, the comparison of Kodak seeking bids for its patents and sourcing of telecom services may seem like a strange comparison, but it isn’t. |
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| Tagged : Telecom e-Sourcing, sourcing of telecom services, Avotus ICM Intelli-Sourcing Enterprise and Express |
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| Posted on September 12th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Olympics Facilities Engineered for Top Performance, How Does Your Telecommunications Network Rate? |
The London Olympics feature facilities that were designed to enhance performance and give athletes opportunities to break new records. Does your telecommunications network enable employees to reach their goals? Many organizations are leaving it up to employees to decide how they can achieve peak performance by jettisoning central management of IT, the telecommunications network, and adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to Work policies. |
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| Tagged : Telecommunications Network, Olympics Facilities, Bring Your Own Device, BYOD, Avotus, ICM Expense Management (EM) |
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| Posted on September 12th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Four Unexpected Ways to Use TEM Reports |
It is often said that knowledge is power. One of the most valuable features of Full Lifecycle Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) Solutions comes from information that is organized into reports. TEM reports collect and organize valuable information on spending and your communications network. There are four interesting ways that TEM reports transform information to knowledge and empower you. |
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| Tagged : TEM Reports, Full Lifecycle Telecommunications Expense Management Solutions |
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| Posted on August 6th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| One iPad Sold for every 4 PCs… Do Your Telecom Contracts Reflect These Changes? |
Full Lifecycle Management Telecom Solutions, Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management, Telecom Expense Management (TEM), and Wireless Expense Management (WEM) are more important than ever. New sales results show that the iPad has taken nearly 20% of the PC market in less than three years. It may not seem obvious, but you should consider how sales of tablets and other industry trends require you to use Full Lifecycle Management Telecom Solutions and Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management to get control of your telecommunications spending. |
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| Tagged: iPad, Telecom Contracts,Full Lifecycle Management Telecom Solutions,Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management,Telecom Expense Management TEM,Wireless Expense Management, WEM |
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| Posted on August 6th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Price Increases for Mobile Data as AT&T Joins Verizon with Mobile Share Data Pooling |
AT&T’s “Mobile Share” data pooling plan is similar to Verizon’s “Share Everything” plan introduced nearly four weeks ago. In recent years, mobile voice calls have been displaced by data services. Mobile carriers are using new data pooling plans to raise prices on services and avoid future declines in revenue from voice services. Now that AT&T and Verizon have implemented billing systems to address data pooling for the consumer market, data pooling will begin to appear in the enterprise market. What is the best mobile data plan for enterprises? |
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| Tagged: AT&T Mobile Share, data pooling, Verizon Share Everything, best mobile data plan for enterprises, |
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| Posted on July 26th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| 3 C’s Streamline TEM and WEM Implementation |
| Implementation of Telecom Expense Management (TEM) and Wireless Expense Management (WEM) programs can be streamlined if organizations focus on the three C’s of contacts, contracts, and charge-backs. It sounds simple, but this information is critical. The conundrum can be overcome if you know about it ahead of time and allocate resources for the three C’s or budget for Communications Assessment Services. |
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| Tagged: Implementation of Telecom Expense Management, TEM, Wireless Expense Management, WEM, contacts, contracts, charge-backs, TEM WEM solutions provider, Communications Assessment Services |
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| Posted on July 18th, 2012 - 1 Comments - Post a reply |
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| Latest Android Malware Highlights the Case Against Bring Your Own Devices to Work |
| With news of security threats to smartphones growing, does a Bring Your Own Device to Work (BYOD) policy still make sense? The Android operating system’s popularity among consumers has also made it an attractive target for cyber criminals. It makes it likely that a BYOD policy with no restrictions will lead employees to bring Android devices and malware with security risks to work. |
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| Tagged: smartphone security, Bring Your Own Device to Work, BYOD, Android operating system, Avotus Mobile Communication Lifecycle Management, MCLM |
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| Posted on July 13th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Three Considerations to Achieve Strategic Sourcing Savings |
| Strategic sourcing and negotiation of contracts for telecom services can lead to reductions of rates by 20% to 40%. However, before you realize these savings consider terms and conditions in telecom contracts. Also, recognize that complex telecom bills have a wide range of services that require a system to verify new rates and special pricing are implemented properly. Finally, changes in consumption of telecom services by employees call for shifts in strategy and new efforts to negotiate contracts for the new services that they are consuming and reductions in Minimum Annual Revenue Commitments (MARCs) for areas with declining use. |
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| Tagged: Strategic sourcing savings, contracts for telecom services, telecom contracts, telecom rates, Terms and Conditions, Minimum Annual Revenue Commitments, MARCs, telecom cost justification, Return on Investment, ROI, negotiation of contracts for telecom services |
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| Posted on July 05th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Don’t Neglect Terms and Conditions When Negotiating Telecom Contracts |
| Terms and conditions in telecommunications contracts can catch some of the most sophisticated procurement teams at enterprises. When sourcing or negotiating a contract for telecom services, procurement managers focus on getting the best rate for telecom services. Telecom rates are only part of what determines the ultimate price and cost for telecom services. Knowledge of how language in the contract and the terms and conditions is critical to getting the best deal. Often, enterprises don’t realize that language in the contract can also be negotiated, and a lawyer that doesn’t know what they should look for will provide a high level review of the terms and conditions. |
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| Tagged: Terms and Conditions, Telecom Contracts, sourcing, negotiating a contract for telecom services, Telecom rates, MARCs, Minimum Annual Revenue Commitments, Avotus Intelli-Sourcing |
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| Posted on June 25th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Enterprises Must Prepare to Negotiate with Verizon Wireless on Mobile Data |
| The Verizon Wireless “Share Everything” plan is a reminder that enterprises need to prepare for mobile data sourcing with Intelli-Sourcingment tools. Verizon has announced that it will offer consumers data pooling with an opportunity to share data allotments among ten different devices. This change will cost 67% more for $50 for 1 GB of data and as much as $100 for 10 GB of data. There are some important lessons for enterprises and corporate contracts with this steep price increase for mobile data use. |
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| Tagged: Flame, ROI Cost Justification, TEM, Telecom Expense Management, Call Accounting, Avotus |
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| Posted on June 20th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Flame Heats Cost Justification ROI for TEM, Call Accounting and Full Lifecycle Telecom Management |
| Flame, the next-generation malware that surfaced in the Middle East and Europe, provides a strong Return On Investment (ROI) cost justification for Telecom Expense Management (TEM), Call Accounting and a Full Lifecycle Telecom Management program. Flame gathers information instead of damaging or interrupting systems and networks. It can steal data, take screen snapshots of computer screens, scan for Bluetooth- active devices, switch a computer’s microphone on to record audio and record social network messaging. |
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| Tagged: Flame, ROI Cost Justification, TEM, Telecom Expense Management, Call Accounting, Avotus |
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| Posted on June 13th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Health Care Revolution and Mobility… There is an App for That |
| Healthcare providers, insurers, drug companies, medical device manufacturers and patients are witnessing a revolution with new medical applications (apps) that leverage mobile services and new devices. If you work in the health care field or your firm is grappling with mobile revolution challenges, Avotus can help with Telecom Expense Management, Wireless Management and a Full Lifecycle Telecom Management program. |
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| Tagged: Mobility, Health Care Revolution, Mobile Apps, Telecom Expense Management, Wireless Management, Full Lifecycle Telecom Management |
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| Posted on June 6th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Use Telecom Expense Management to Avoid Costly Mistakes and Unnecessary Wasteful Spending |
| Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Full Lifecycle Telecom Management program helps large organizations fill gaps in their current process and avoid costly mistakes and unnecessary wasteful spending. Many organizations are surprised to learn they are performing few of the functions that are necessary to manage the full lifecycle of a telecom expense. It should come as no surprise that TEM can offer ways to cut costs and gain control of expenses. |
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| Tagged: Telecom Expense Management, TEM, Full lifecycle telecom management solutions, sourcing, reverse auction |
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| Posted on May 25th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Call Accounting A New Way to Reduce Telecom Expenses |
| Call Accounting should be a central part of any effort to manage communications expenses or a telecom expense management (TEM) program. In the current economic environment, organizations are still working to lower costs. Voice and data networking are a top line item expenses in most organizations’ budgets. In addition to cost savings, call accounting delivers enhanced data security and critical information to manage transitions of network services whether TDM, IP or a hybrid solution. |
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| Tagged: Call Accounting, Telecom Expense Management (TEM), Telecom Expenses, Communications Expenses, IP Migration, Cost Allocation |
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| Posted on May 16th, 2012 - No Comments - Post a reply |
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| Bring Your Own Device – Challenges and Rewards |
Several enterprises are now permitting employees to carry personal smartphones to the office— a trend known today as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The BYOD concept has been often quoted to be the greatest CIO challenge faced by enterprises. Should your company embrace BYOD as part of your business strategy? What are some of the challenges and benefits that you would encounter in a BYOD environment?
To know how Avotus can help you tackle some of the challenges associated a BYOD environment, drop us a line at info@avotus.com or call us at 1-877-AVOTUS-1. |
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