Telecom Expense Management Practices Will Continue to Evolve: Rivermine
October 29, 2009
By Erin Harrison, Executive Editor, Cloud Computing
The current economic climate has forced businesses of all sizes to reevaluate priorities and more closely scrutinize their budgets on all lines. In fact, over the past over the past 18 months, IT research firm Forrester (News - Alert) has experienced a marked increase in end user client inquiries about how TEM can provide visibility and help control telecommunication expenses.
According to a Forrester report, in smaller companies, the value proposition of a TEM solution is based on labor cost savings and greater efficiency through automation. For larger enterprises, the value comes from a centralized management approach for telecom inventory control and procurement, contract compliance, budget and spending tracking and invoice processing.
Although expense reduction is one of the primary drivers for a TEM solution for either size organization, there are a wide range of benefits that come along with it, according to Mark Logan (News - Alert), president and CEO of Rivermine.
“For example, the solution can tie in to HR systems ensuring that telecom assets such as wireless devices are turned off when an employee leaves the company, managing the orders from carriers, and help with contract monitoring/invoice processing,” Logan explained. “Another word to describe the solution would be ‘optimization.’ Rivermine’s (News - Alert) solution can provide visibility into a company’s global networks and then optimize that spend.”
The Fairfax, Va.-based company provides automated solutions – both software and managed services – that allow organizations to gain visibility into and control over their telecom spend.
Education in this era of ramping up cost-control efforts has become increasingly important for C-level executives and IT decision makers across industries.
“We believe market education is extremely valuable and is the proud host of the annual Summit on Enterprise Telecom Expense Management, which attracts over 200 attendees and is the largest event in the industry,” Logan said in a recent interview with TMCnet. “At the summit, companies and government agencies can interact and learn from each other on TEM best practices and we see that as incredibly valuable. In addition, Rivermine’s User’s Group has over 100 active members that meet regularly to exchange ideas.”
With the economy showing signs of stability, Logan said he believes telecom expense management practices will continue to evolve over the next 12 months, as more companies look to expand their TEM efforts globally and seek a unified approach to managing expenses.
“The great news on TEM is that even in a down economy, companies are looking for opportunities to save, and with telecom costs a significant portion of corporate spend, demand has never been greater,” Logan said. “I see the market continuing to grow as more companies are looking to expand their TEM deployments globally. Also, we’re seeing more demand for a unified solution to manage both wireline and wireless spend combined.”
Erin Harrison is a senior editor with TMCnet, primarily covering telecom expense management, politics and technology and Web 2.0. She serves as senior editor for TMC's (News - Alert) print publications, including "Internet Telephony", "Customer Interaction Solutions", "Unified Communications" and "NGN" magazines. Erin also oversees production of TMCnet's weekly iPhone (News - Alert) e-Newsletter. To read more of Erin's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Erin Harrison