TEMS Reporting

Often the key outcome of TEMS solutions is the delivery of a mass of detailed reports. The business can drill down and find out exactly who is spending what, on what, and when. 

This can be useful but often case businesses rarely get past looking at the reports. TEMS Reporting is only of value if it leads to affirmative action to address issues which are identified.

VoicePlus TEMs focuses on two key outcomes for its reporting module:

  1. Goal-focused reporting to drive Business intelligence Analytics
  2. Visibility and transparency of ICT costs

Cost Transparency

Reporting for its own sake is of little use to the business.

What is the point of replacing piles of paper bills, with terrabytes of electronic data?

Reporting on its own will not help in the quest to cut mobility costs. However reporting is key because it delivers the raw data which will be analysed to identify savings opportunities.

Reporting should be undertaken with an articulated goal to deliver data for business analysis which will allow

  • identification of measurable cost saving opportunities
  • strategic billing analysis
  • reliable trend analytics

If it can be measured, it can be managed. TEMS Reporting is a management tool which:

  • provides a summary of total ICT expenditure
  • provides the raw data for ICT optimisation programs
  • delivers to ICT financial management requirements

 

VoicePlus TEMs solution provides transparency of costs incurred across the business.

  • Can everyone see what the mobility costs are and where they are?
  • Is there accurate budgeting, accountability and consequences for overspend?

Once you know exactly who has what device and what service, it becomes possible to make the costs of ownership visible across the organisation. And visibility equates to individual accountability and personal responsibility.

It's easy - if no one is watching - for costs to skyrocket. Visibility of billing keeps everyone honest.

The most effective way of delivering visibility of costs is to share the monthly telco bill for each service with the end user and his/her line manager.

Even better if the bill has been subjected to business intelligence analysis and is delivered to everyone with any billing anomalies or non-compliant use highlighted for all to see.

VoicePlus TEMs module offers billing transparency with bills can be shared by email, or if the business has  VoicePlus Atrium MMS, each employee receives their detailed bill, along with a graphical representation of total spend over the previous three months, on their online procurement and service portal.

A positive by-product of billing transparency is that it allows every employee to act as an additional pair of eyes for the business, seeking out and highlighting carrier billing errors and anomalies. And when 85% of bills typically have errors (Gartner) this can prove profitable.

It may sound like the most obvious thing in the world but the first step to reducing the cost of mobility is knowing what those costs actually are - in detail!

No Benchmark – No Surprise

It is not uncommon for Australian enterprise businesses to have minimal control of their mobile fleet. Let's face it - only 10 years ago there was no such thing as a corporate mobile fleet.

In the early stages of mobility growth, devices were limited to select senior employees and there was little choice of device and minimal functionality. In short, very few of us had a mobile phone, and it was probably a Blackberry as that was the only device with push email access!

Suddenly, in the space of a few short years, the market has been flooded with a proliferation of less expensive smartphones, tablets, data cards, personal wifi hotspot devices, embedded SIM laptops. Functionality - previously inconceivable - is a sudden reality.

Add in the aggravating factors of business growth, geographical spread, independent business units, staff turnover, remote workers, constantly changing offers from network providers - and it’s little wonder the fleet is all over the place.

There are two parts to benchmarking the mobile fleet:

1. Total Cost of Ownership: Knowing exactly who has what and the total cost ownership for each device and service

2. Current Expenditure: Knowing exact expenditure, how much it totals, and where it is incurred

Benchmark Survey

For many companies establishing accurate ownership of mobile devices and plans will require an audit of current information records.

The most effective means of auditing the mobile fleet is to conduct an Employee Mobility Survey.

A survey of employees will authenticate any existing records by confirming device ownership and service plan ownership, and this will allow a benchmark Asset Register to be created.

Mobile SmartFleet Survey is a web-based survey with associated automated workflows which has been developed by VoicePlus.

The survey can be accessed 24/7 from smartphone, tablet or an  office desktop.

In the first instance the survey forms are developed and auto-populated with existing device and service contract records. Employees are notified of the survey by an automated workflow of emails and text messages. This communication program ensures that survey compliance typically runs at 90%. Any non-respondents are followed up with a voice call to the mobile number.

Accurate Budgeting requires Accurate Current Knowledge 

For accurate forecasting the business will also need to understand the current expenditure trends, whether they have shifted over time, and where they are heading.

An example impacting budgeting is over the last two years we have seen a clear and obvious shift away from voice activity and towards data consumption by employees.

As a minimum the business needs to know what is the total spend? Followed by, what is the spend broken down by

  • Company, cost centre, individual
  • Device payments
  • Service plan
  • Voice
  • Data
  • International roaming
  • Contract exclusion fees
  • Excess charges
  • Outsourced service charges

There also needs attention paid to new and emerging technologies which may impact spend.