When was the last time you actually looked at your telecom bills?
IT and Telecom departments operate with one major objective: enable the business by implementing and maintaining the proper tools and technologies, including:
Read through these six questions you can ask to better align your procurement activities with your IT team’s initiatives. Alignment can be as simple as starting the conversation down the right path.
As technology is leveraged in almost every function of an enterprise, managing IT spend can be challenging for procurement organizations. However, when procurement and IT have a healthy alignment, teamwork can deliver innovation and act as a ‘change agent’ across the enterprise.
It comes as no surprise that managing IT and Telecommunications spend is challenging. With constantly evolving technology, complex contracting and billing practices, and legacy or outdated billing platforms, gaining a clear understanding of this spend category can be a headache. However, an IT and Telecommunications audit can help you navigate the labyrinth that is telecommunications spend.
80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule goes by a few names and has a few different applications. You may have heard it referred to by such honorifics as, “The Law of the Vital Few,” “The Principle of Factor Sparsity,” or you might know it as the “Pareto Principle.” In any case, the 80/20 rule states most simply that 80% of results derive from 20% of all efforts. For example, 20% of your clients make up 80% of your sales. In the case of spend management, the 80/20 rule suggests that typically, 80% of a company’s spend in a particular category is with the top 20% of the suppliers. Conversely, this also means that 20% of the spend is spread out across the remaining 80% of suppliers.
So, where can POTS (plain old telephone service) fit in an evolving market, and when should customers opt for newer, feature-rich alternatives? Both POTS and newer Internet-based services present efficiencies for diverse telecom focuses. And, smart organizations understand their distinct connectivity focus and how to translate their unique usage needs into the right mix of telecom solutions. As long as the cost doesn’t exceed the benefit of having a backup resource preventing business disruption, POTS is likely to survive.
Before you cancel your company’s plain old telephone service (POTS) to save money or redirect spend, here is a breakdown of POTS versus more modern options.
