Downturn dodging - New Year resolutions to address telecoms costs
There is no doubt that many companies, as well as individuals, will look to keep budgets under control throughout 2010, and Quocirca research often shows that the cost of telecoms is among the more difficult to constrain. Organisations and individuals gain corporate and personal value from remote access, internet connectivity, mobile phones and so on, however, increased use means spending rises, even as tariffs come down.
Telecoms services are not something organisations can do without or arbitrarily cut, but they can better understand and control their use and cost. During a recession, even services previously considered invaluable have had to justify their costs. Some may even turn out on scrutiny to deserve increased investment, but only better use of all services through improved visibility of their true value will justify total telecoms expenditure. Those responsible for telecoms budgets have a choice in 2010 – take proactive control or have changes enforced them and where budgets are cut, heads follow. So here are some suggestions for New Year resolutions for those embattled budget managers:
- Rationalise: Assess the current state of supply - what services are currently in use and how will that change? Look to rationalise and consolidate, do not blindly cut back on items bringing in value or that are saving costs elsewhere, but make sure the value is being measured and most importantly clearly visible elsewhere in the business. Make ongoing assessments as employees come and go, or when services and suppliers are replaced. Mind the gaps and do not pay for leavers who have not been replaced.
- Prioritise: Important for shared or limited resources, such as internet access or wide area data connections that often run many services. Identify and protect the business critical ones – this is no time or place for being even-handed. Does the capacity and network performance meet business needs? Are service level agreements (SLAs) being measured and met? Unreliable or cheap connectivity is a false economy if it fails, especially when applications such as e-commerce and conferencing can save other costs such as transport, energy and rent.
- Shop around: look at supplier alternatives to ensure the best deal. Could an existing supplier offer a better discount or an improved quote or could a new one with more options offer a bundle to reduce overall costs? Short term discounts, while welcome, do not address underlying inefficiency issues, so take a strategic view of total communications as well as trying to make item-by-item savings. Staffing or skilling up is expensive, so can elements be incrementally outsourced, e.g. device management, security or billing? This would avoid costly in-house support and keep costs predictable by exploiting flat rate tariffs and per user per month services.
- Converge: The priority should be to combine budgets, not simply buy-in to a technology or vendor solution. However technologies are converging, so keeping IT and communications costs separate —mobile phones, fixed lines, laptops, data cards are often the responsibility of a mix of IT, procurement, finance and facilities – will tend to increase total complexity and cost. Move to consolidated budgets so that decisions are more strategic and less territorial. Then assess real need, and use the ‘shadow IT’ effect of consumer technology entering the workplace to business advantage. Not everyone needs a company supplied laptop, mobile email, smart phone or mobile phone. Work out who does and then support employees' own technology choices where it benefits the business, providing this does not cause other costs, e.g. support and security, to run away.
- Lead: Take active control of access, network resource use and end point devices. This is not only for security and consistency, but also to avoid unexpected costs e.g. from former employees continued use or services they no longer have right too (eg lingering mobile phones). It will also be necessary to face up to personal usage; phone systems, home broadband, business supplied mobile phones and Wi-Fi access are rarely exclusively for business use. This does not necessarily need to be curtailed, but must be recognised and managed. Employees need to be aware of their personal usage and commitments to their employer and the tax collectors, and employers must manage responsibly based on a sensible controls and well-communicated company policy.
Many personal New Year’s resolutions are made with good intentions, but are quickly broken as time passes, and other matters take precedence. For many organisations it is unlikely that cost concerns will fall in importance in 2010, and resolving to tackle them head on will benefit any business. This may be especially important if preserving their own job is a personal resolution telecoms budget managers would really like to keep.
