Commmunications Sourcing Benchmarking and Market Information Services

Knowing where you stand in comparison to your peers
and the market in general is critical to keeping your communications costs under control. If you are paying more than the market rates -- or worse, more than your peers -- it could put you at a competitive disadvantage. Avotus offers services that measure your current communications supply arrangements and provides you information to gain control of your supplier agreements.

General contract review

Avotus will examine a specific contract and develop a “report card” of the terms and conditions and general pricing levels contained versus what we have seen as
best practice for companies of similar size, industry,
and spending patterns.

Interim rate review

Avotus will compare the existing rates contained in a contract with current market pricing or committed to
by a specific carrier as captured in the Truemarket™ knowledgebase. We’ll then deliver a report documenting the findings for your use in annual or midterm contract reviews.

Rate Analysis and Benchmarking

Avotus will compare any existing technology price point with our Truemarket data and let you know how your price compares with the market in near real-time.

RFP Support Services

If your company is like most, days are not spent keeping up with the latest trends in telecommunications sourcing. If you are looking for help in your upcoming communications RFP project, Avotus provides a suite of services to support you. From developing an RFP strategy, to building the RFP itself, or actually managing the project, Avotus can help by providing knowledge of what’s really going on in the market today, we have the expertise to quickly and successfully conclude your sourcing projects.

Sourcing strategy development

Through interviews, Avotus will develop a specific approach to obtaining an alignment of telecommunications sourcing and enterprise service objectives. The study includes “goals to current capabilities” gap analysis, market analysis, alternative scenarios design and analysis, sourcing method selection and design, and process design and implementation.

Inventory build/baseline

Avotus will examine invoices, CSRs, and internal sources to define and organize the service categories to be considered for a sourcing project, detailed by each network services component.

RFP generation

Avotus will organize, consistent with the enterprise sourcing strategy, all of the services, terms and conditions, and service level requirements into a ready-to-deliver packaged Request for Proposal.

Ready-to-use telecommunications question sets

Avotus maintains a set of pre-weighted questions for best practice terms and conditions as well as detailed questions based on the technology being put out for bid. These question sets are available as part of an ICM eProcurement engagement or separately as a single deliverable.

Ready-to-use bid items

Avotus provides the baselined inventory organized and formatted with Truemarket pricing ready to upload into a sourcing tool. These bid items are available as part of an eProcurement engagement or separately as a single deliverable.

RFP management

Avotus will manage the process from bidder invitation through final RFP response. We can support execution of the actual sourcing event using our patent pending eProcurement WebAuction™ platform or through a traditional paper RFP management process.

Analysis and negotiation strategy

Avotus will analyze and summarize the results of the sourcing project for easy decision making by the client. Avotus will make initial recommendations on the selection of vendors and work with your team to develop the negotiation strategy and confirm the action plan.

Contract negotiation

Avotus will execute the negotiation strategy with selected vendors to close gaps between vendor RFP responses and client requirements. The end result will be a contract on the carrier’s paper ready for your final review and execution.

Audit services

Once the contract is signed, your efforts aren’t completed. The contract only gives you the right to purchase the services from your telecom supplier under those terms and conditions. To make sure your enterprise actually receives the benefits of the vendor contract, you need to make sure the suppliers live up to their part of the bargain. Avotus helps you make sure you get the benefits you deserve through our auditing services.

Contract compliance

To assure a recently sourced contract is properly implemented both inside the enterprise and within the carrier; Avotus offers a compliance audit service that verifies that the results match the terms of the contract. Avotus will review the billing for the service categories recently sourced and assure the pricing on the invoices match the rates in the contracts.

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