Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is to telecom costs
what Workforce Management (WFM) is to compensation costs.

Course Highlights

Learn to:

• Trend your center's historical telecom service usage
• Identify current usage patterns
• Forecast your center's telecom needs
• Match service contract terms to organizational needs and objectives
• Evaluate voice, data, Internet, and wireless options
• Understand fixed base service costs; variable traffic, connection, overcharge and roaming costs; one-time fees, taxes, and surcharges.
• Evaluate and negotiate base rates, volume discounts, fixed rates, credits, and waivers.
• Take charge of service provider & vendor relationships
• Implement a telecom expense management strategy
• Construct a telecom services budget
• Pinpoint the causes of cost variances
• Analyze the cost, benefit, and ROI of alternative expense management methods
• Explore internal and external mechanisms for managing costs
• Learn how to use Telecom Expense Management (TEM) analysis tools and templates

Overview

Beyond agent compensation, few variable call center costs are as large -- and worthy of budgetary management -- as telecom costs.  To the trained eye, telecom invoices represent a gold mine of potential cost savings, credits, and refunds. Never was there a non-discretionary budget item so easily optimized -- and so often ignored.  

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is the practice of optimizing call center telecom contracts for call center telecom needs.

Telecom invoices are replete with indecipherable charges and high-volume provisions that obscure credits and refunds just waiting to be found!  If your call center's telecom expense management has been relegated to an external Purchasing, Accounting, or IT department, your missed savings mount with each and every call.

Take control of the contact center's most negotiable variable cost.

This introductory telecom services management course demystifies telecom terms, plans, contracts and bills.  Attendees will acquire the skills and knowledge needed to take charge of telecom contract negotiations, audit past invoices, and generate short-term refunds and long-term savings. This training course pays for itself.

Course Synopsis:

Day 1 - Introduction to Telecom Expense Management

Day 2 - Financial Management Strategies

Day 3 - Contract, Invoice, & Customer Service Record Interpretation

Who Should Participate

Fundamentals of Telecom Expense Management is perfect for managers, directors, and analysts responsible for controlling the cost of contact center operations.

Telecom Managers, IT/IS Managers, Telecom Analysts, Telecom Specialists, Accounts Payable Specialists, and Financial Analysts will also benefit.

Prerequisites

Attendees should possess a basic understanding of what telecom services a call center uses, how telecom charges are billed to the contact center, and basic call center terminology.

Course materials are in English, and attendees must possess a high level of English fluency.

Agenda

Day 1 - Introduction to Telecom Expense Management

1. Telecom Terminology

• Vendor & Service Provider Terms
• Public Network Infrastructure
• Service Provider Billing

2. Voice Service Terms

• Service & Usage
• Billing

3. Data & Internet Service Terms

• Service & Usage
• Billing

4. Wireless Service Terms

• Service & Usage
• Billing

5. Industry Overview

• The Public Telephone Network
  • AT&T and the Bell System
  • Divestiture
  • Telecom Act of 1996

6. Service Provider & Vendor Relationships

• Procurement
• Installation & Provisioning
• Interoperability & Compatibility

7. Conquering the Industry Maze

• Roles & Responsibilities
• Customer Advocacy Groups

Day 2 - Financial Management Strategies

1. Expense Management Approaches

• Internal Audit Model
  • Defining the Functional Model
  • Operational Considerations
• Outsource Partners Model
  • Defining the Functional Model
  • Operational Considerations
• Licensed Software Model
  • Defining the Functional Model
  • Operational Considerations
• Managed Services Model
  • Defining the Functional Model
  • Operational Considerations
• Creating the Ideal Model
  • Weighing Each Model's Pros & Cons
  • Short-Term Planning
  • Long-Term Planning
  • Achieving Expense Management Objectives
  • Vetting the Return on Investment

2. Budget Development & Management

• Budget Baseline Establishment
  • Trending Historical Performance
  • Assessing Organizational Needs
• Organizational Considerations
  • Adapting to Technology Change
  • Understanding Behavioral Patterns
• Tactical & Strategic Optimization
  • Creating Immediate Impact
  • Sustaining Financial Gains
• Budget Management
  • Tracking Performance
  • Trending Service & Usage Patterns
• Variance Reporting
  • Establishing Budget Variance Criteria
  • Material Budget Points
  • Interpreting Variance Influence

3. Contract Lifecycle Management Strategies

• Financial Commitment Tracking
  • Defining Measurement Points
  • Establishing Reporting Requirements
  • Monitoring Attainment Objectives
• Aligning Organizational Objectives with Contracts
  • Assessing Performance Goals
  • Identifying In-Contract Optimization Opportunities

Day 3 - Contract, Invoice, & Customer Service Record Interpretation

1. Understanding Monthly Recurring Costs

• Service Identification
• Voice Services Cost Components
  • Base Service Rates
  • Service Components
• Data/Internet Service Cost Components
  • Base Service Rates
  • Service Components
• Wireless Service Cost Components
  • Base Service Rates
  • Service Components

2. Understanding Usage Costs

• Voice Services Cost Components
  • Traffic Types
  • Service Connection Types
• Wireless Services Cost Components
  • Overcharges/Roaming

3. Understanding Related Costs

• Taxes, Surcharges & Fees
  • Federal Taxes
  • State Taxes
  • Service Provider Surcharges & Fees
• Installation/Provisioning
  • One-Time Fees
  • Equipment Leases
• One-Time Adjustments
  • Tariff Adjustments
  • Credits

4. Understanding Contractual Terms

• Tariff & Service Guide Relationships
  • General Terms & Conditions
  • Base Rates
• Discount Rate Structures
  • Percentage Application
  • Volume Attainment Discounts
• Fixed Rate Costs
• Credits & Provisional Waivers

5. Using Analysis Tools & Templates

• Defining Data Field Requirements
• Building Analysis Templates

Prerequisites

Attendees should possess a basic understanding of what telecom services a call center uses and basic call center terminology. Course materials are in English, and attendees must possess a high level of English fluency.

Take Home CD-Based Toolkit

Attendees receive a course manual that including a take-home CD-based toolkit containing valuable resources for managing a telecommunications environment, such as:

• Analysis, Interpretation and Optimization Process Model - The methodology process for invoice analysis, contract interpretation, service optimization, and ongoing management.
• Telecom Invoice and Contract Management Toolkit - This toolkit contains invoice management, contract management, and cost distribution reports with graphs.
• Invoice Analysis Templates - Standardized templates for performing invoice-to-contract compliance analysis for calling card, circuit, data, voice, and wireless service types are included.
• Discovery Documentation Template - The discovery documentation template provides a standard and accurate mechanism for documenting service provider errors and tracking error correction.
• Tariff and Price Guide Locator - This locator supports primary IXCs and LECs, and is used to locate tariffs and service guides regulating your telecommunications service contracts.
• Uniform Service Order Code (USOC) Locator - The USOC locator enables quick and accurate identification and interpretation of service provider customer service records (CSRs).
• PIC Code Directory - The PIC Code Directory lists all toll carrier subscription codes.
• Tax and Surcharge Dictionary - This document provides definitions and insight into the nature of taxes, surcharges, and fees assessed on your telecommunications invoices.
• State Regulatory Agency Locator - This locator contains links to the telecommunications regulatory agencies for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Telecom Management Resource Index - A collection of quick reference links to the most valuable Internet resources available to support telecom management.
• Acceptable Use Policy - This template offers language and acceptable use provisions for telephone and voice mail systems; computing and Internet; and, personal computing equipment and peripherals. Technology system privacy expectations, document management, document ownership and technology request processes are outlined in the template.
• Budget Management  Tool -  This tool supports spend tracking and variance reporting to help you manage telecom expenses against your annual budget. Spend against the budget and deviations outside of budgeted spend are tracked and reported using this tool. Acceptable spend variance dollars and spend percentage amounts against the budget baseline can be established for each line item of the budget that requires monitoring. Individual data entry fields contain field comments explaining the purpose and use of this budget variance reporting tool.
• Contract Financial Assessment Tool - This financial assessment tool supports comparison of current monthly recurring charges and baseline usage charges for up to three different contract proposals. An overall proposal analysis summary with calculated total monthly recurring cost based on monthly recurring charges and baseline usage numbers is provided.
• Multi-National Voice & Data RFP Template -  This Request for Proposal (RFP) template is designed to provide sample language and document structure to assist your RFP process. While every RFP will contain specific requirements relative to individual organizational needs, this template offers a solid starting point for identifying RFP requirements and proposed inclusions for procuring voice and data services.
• Service Provider Relationship Lifecycle Plan Template - This template supports planning and managing the relationship lifecycle with a service provider. Established template fields allow uniform capture of contact role information, resolution chain contact information, predefined performance review meeting dates and topics, financial performance measurement criteria, service delivery performance measurement criteria and customer service performance measurement criteria.
• Technology Planning Process Flowchart - The Technology Planning Process Flowchart is a functional diagram based on proven principles of effective telecom and technology planning. This flow diagram outlines the 10 steps of technology planning from performing a needs assessment through generating business case acceptance.
• Technology Planning Template - This technology planning template contains entry fields to identify technology planning project objective, project team, technology assessment scope of work, technology plan and technology business case.
• Technology Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator - This tool will assist you in developing accurate ROIs that reflect your organization’s specific situation. This calculator is particularly valuable for creating ROIs in instances where legacy technology will be partially replaced with new technology; technology configurations using Voice over IP (VoIP) often encounter this configuration. Individual data entry fields contain field comments to explain the purpose and use of this tool.
• Contract Negotiations Planning Template - This template provides entry fields for a contract needs assessment, contract proposal assessment metrics, contract negotiations plan and identification of all team members involved in the contract negotiations process.
• Contract Negotiations Process Flowchart - The Contract Negotiations Process Flowchart is a functional diagram based on proven principles of effective telecom contract negotiations. This flow diagram outlines the 10 steps of contract negotiations from performing a needs assessment through selecting and accepting the final contract proposal.
• Equipment Dispersal and Return Policy - This template is used to track company-owned telecommunications and computing equipment dispersed to employees. Used in conjunction with an Acceptable Use Policy, this template documents employee acceptance of the approved use of company-owned telecom and computing equipment.
• Performance Review Meeting Agenda Template - This template supports planning and setting expectations for service provider performance review meetings.
• Relationship Evaluation Scorecard Template - This scorecard supports quantitative analysis of three key relationship performance measurements. Financial performance, service delivery performance and customer service performance categories can be customized with specific measurements, centric to your service provider relationships. The three categories of performance measurement allow a unique weighting scale so that you may select which category is most important to you in the overall evaluation. Performance measurements are scored on a monthly and annual cumulative basis.
• Telecom Financial Management Statistics - This resource provides management statistics for the time required to build and baseline a telecom management inventory, and validate invoice accuracy on a monthly basis. Metrics are provided for seven customer tiers based on monthly telecom bill volume ranging between $5,000 and $4 million per month.
• TEM Provider List - This list of TEM providers is intended for reference and informational research purposes.
• Trouble Ticket & Issue Tracker Template - This template helps you to manage each of your issue, inquiry, and MAC activities to successful completion. Due dates, activity ownership, and commitment performance are monitored and reported using this tool.
• Wireless Use Policy - This policy template shares language and program details for corporate liable and individual liable reimbursement plans. Suggested language for corporate liable wireless equipment personal usage is included along with general usage information.
• And many other tools:
  • Sample Credit Request Letter
  • Sample Shortpay Disputed Billing Request Letter
  • Service Provider Executive Complaints
  • State & Federal Tax Agencies
  • State Regulatory Information
  • Tariffs & Service / Price Guides (United States)
  • Tax, Surcharge & Fee Reference Table Template
  • Universal Service Quarterly Contribution Factor
  • USOC Codes
  • Voice Traffic Contract Compliance Template - Discount Type
  • Calling Card Analysis Template
  • Circuit-Data Analysis Template
  • Cost Control Management Process Flow Diagram
  • Discovery Template
  • Dispute Resolution Planning Template
  • Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Diagram
  • Sample Account Cancellation Letter
  • Sample Contract Cancellation Letter
  • Telecom Invoice, Contract & Inventory Management Toolkit
  • Telecom Taxes, Surcharges & Fees Reference Links
  • Toll Free RespOrg Verification Number
  • Voice Traffic Contract Compliance Template - Fixed Fee Type
  • Wireless Analysis Template

Registration Fees

The per student registration fee for this training and certification program is $3,995 and includes:

• 3-day instructor-led training
• All training materials
• Course certificate of completion
• Take-home CD-based Toolkit including articles, software tools, references, checklists, planning tools, and templates

Class begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 5:00 PM each day. Business casual attire is appropriate. No jeans or sneakers please.

Register securely online with confidence or please call (708) 246-0320.

Seminar Schedule

Oct 1-3, '12	Las Vegas, NV	The Platinum Hotel
Dec 3-5, '12	Tampa, FL	TBD

In-House Training Option

In-house, on-site training offers the added benefits of facilitated team interaction; a confidential environment where plans, processes, and policies can be openly discussed; minimized travel costs; and little or no travel time.  For support centers with a number of managers, supervisors, and team leads, on-site training can maximize your training investment.

Pricing for an on-site course delivered at your location is determined based on a "Base Fee" for up to four attendees, and a per person fee for each attendee thereafter.  On-site fees are all inclusive:

• Base Fee for up to 4 participants - $11,995 includes:
  • 3-day instructor-led training course
  • All training materials, books, and CDs
  • Instructor's travel and lodging expenses (for onsite presentations of 18 or less participants, in the continental US)
• Additional participants - $995 each

Additional travel surcharges will be charged for travel outside of the continental USA and for seminars scheduled within three weeks, or paid for within three weeks, of the onsite delivery date.

The customer site must provide suitable meeting space, any desired meals or refreshments, and the following presentation supplies:

• Two easels with paper and markers
• Projection unit and projection screen

Language Options

In-house private instruction and course materials are available in:

• English

Request In-House Training

More Training and Certification Courses

See the complete calendar of RCCSP Professional Education Alliance Contact Center Training dates and locations.

For more IT, technical and field support training course options, see the RCCSP Help Desk, ITIL, and Support Center Calendar.