Spectrum, Inc.

A Recent Case Study: "Get This Off Of My Plate!"

2012-02-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Client: A Multi-Location Insurance Company

The Telecom Challenge: The systems administrator was having difficulty managing the companies roughly 115 wireless devices by himself. With a reduction in workforce this responsibility was added to his already heavy burden of maintaining their expanding multi-city network infrastructure. Although the devices were being grouped by location the organization wanted to track them to the departmental level as well. Compounding the problem was his lack of understanding of the wireless environment while attempting to provide proper Help Desk Support to "his customers" when they had smart phone issues.

The Result: One of our partners made a conscious decision last year to include Wireless
Optimization and Wireless Expense Management (WEM) as part of their marketing offering. During a recent call he simply asked the prospect, "How are you guys currently managing your wireless devices?" The response was literally "Not very well and I need to get this off of my plate, I just don't have the time to deal with it properly and really need help." The partner, having successfully completed a recent wireless project, immediately set up a qualification call and demo with our office so we could all get a better understanding of the prospects needs and how we might help resolve his issues. After a few questions and a demo of our TrueVue application the prospect said he liked the tool and was convinced it could help his organization to better manage their wireless environment. He immediately provided the necessary information we needed to perform a high-level assessment with the stated goal of, "I want to take this completely off my plate and I need to have it pay for itself." When the analysis was completed it was determined that we would be able to do just that, and, provide him with additional savings on a monthly basis as well. From start to finish this process took less than two weeks and once the implementation is completed he will be able to once again focus on his primary responsibility.

Meanwhile, our partner has not only established a new client relationship, but, is also recognizing an additional revenue stream.

Anyone that you know who would like to become a member of "The Clean Plate Club"?

A Recent Case Study: Partner Seeks Assistance With Wireless Device Management for a Growing Client

2012-02-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Client: A Midwest Specialty Software Company

The Telecom Challenge: The systems administrator was having issues trying to manage their 275, and growing, wireless device environment strictly using spreadsheets. Although the devices were grouped by department his users were all over the board with regards to device type, plans and pricing and he had no idea if the costs were being allocated by department or GL Code. Because of the lack of visibility, and time to manage effectively, Accounts Payable was doing a tertiary review of the invoices for being "close to reasonable" and then paying them each month. To compound the problem his end users were ordering their own devices and accessories and then calling him for Help Desk Support when they had issues.

The Result: A partner, who was servicing the wireline requirements of his client, became aware that they were experiencing issues and frustrations managing their wireless environment. Although our partner had no experience with wireless management, having previously seen a demo of our TrueVue Software application, he recognized that TrueVue's intuitive features combined with Spectrum's support would provide the viable solution that his client was looking for. Following his clients preview of our TrueVue demo they provided the most recent three months of their wireless invoices. Once the assessment was completed it was determined they were going to realize significant savings, a portion of which would pay for outsourcing the entire process. The organization made the decision to move forward with several basic recommendations and his client now enjoys a viable mobility strategy, has complete control over the wireless environment and with the responsibility off of the administrator's plate he is now able to spend time concentrating on other important tasks as helps to address company growth.

Meanwhile, our partner has not only increased his value in servicing his client but is also recognizing an additional income stream.

Any client opportunities come to mind that you may want to partner on?

Wireless Expense Management: Individual Liable or Corporate Liable?

2011-12-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

Within today's corporate environment the rapidly expanding wireless landscape has decision makers scrambling to understand a myriad of devices, plans, pricing, policies and security issues. A subject we hear repeatedly from partners is that enterprises are trying to comprehend the organizational pros and cons of Corporate versus Individual responsible plans.

As your clients search for the best option for controlling, managing and paying for these services the decision they make could either save, or cost, them a fortune!

Now let's consider some key features of each:

Individual Liable Plan:

Arguably some may feel the easiest and most cost effective way to address this challenge is to simply offer a fixed employee stipend to help offset some of their cost while providing the company with a predictable monthly expense. While this may appear to be an easy solution, additional considerations must be given to:
• Does not secure company confidential data
• Setting the proper Reimbursement Limits, what if it is more than the actual employee expense?
• Processing expense reports is costly.
• Lack of corporate oversight leaves companies blind to employees' device use.
• Wasted money by paying for more expensive consumer rate plans.
• Cost of lost productivity in employee time spent filling out expense reports.

Corporate Liable Plan:

• Corporate control over the wireless devices e-mail and data. When an employee leaves the company the device is returned and all of the confidential information can be retained or destroyed;
• Corporate control over applications that can be downloaded or purchased;
• Cost control by optimizing the enterprises total spend and pooling of minutes and plans;
• Control cost by aggregating the total spend leads to deeper discounts, better feature pricing and better negotiated contract terms with carriers;
• Centralized management of corporate assets;
• Reduction of manpower hours and end-to-end cost of processing expense reimbursements and vendor payments;
• Streamlined helpdesk and technical support for company approved devices while increasing helpdesk efficiencies
• Ability to cascade device down the chain of command; and
• Economies of scale for spare parts, accessories, etc.
As we have discussed in previous issues, YOU can play a vital role by helping your clients develop a Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Program, supported by an intuitive TEM software solution and built upon a sound Corporate Mobility Policy.

What are YOUR Clients Deciding? Have you even asked?

Why Wireless Expense Management (WEM) Makes Sense!

2011-11-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

As businesses continue to search for operational economies of scale and effective savings methods, forward thinking leadership is quickly realizing the necessity to review the Management and Optimization of their wireless environment.

The question is who are they contacting YOU, or, your stealth competitor?

Mobile Device and Media Tablet usage represents one of the most explosive corporate expenses. Managing them on the other hand, is one of the least understood, most frustrating and demanding responsibilities in the organization. We continually hear from almost every company we speak with that it is requiring more and more of their internal resources to manage this unavoidable expense and headache. While key decision makers strive to continue focusing on their core business, as well as improved utilization of their employee assets, they are now more than ever turning to industry experts who have the knowledge, expertise, and resources to relieve them of this wireless "migraine." The question is are they turning to you????

Gaining an understanding of your clients' wireless assets, usage patterns and the associated cost of services is a huge part of helping them to implement a solid Wireless Expense Management (WEM) program. However, what Spectrum has discovered is that the real reason organizations are turning to WEM is to eliminate the frustration in managing these services. It is the entire package. Sourcing, Migration, Optimization, Management, and Helpdesk. Sound familiar????

If it does...it is because this is exactly what we hear from potential partners. They know they need to, and want to, address this issue for themselves and their customers, but don't have the time, expertise, or resources to do so. Therefore, they procrastinate until a competitor walks in the door and then......DISASTER. The competitor starts talking about wireline.

Let's review...
Why does Wireless Expense Management Make Sense?
1. It allows YOU to provide a solution to one of your customer's biggest headaches.
2. It allows you to keep competitors from walking into YOUR clients.

How do YOU make money with TEM?

2011-11-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

1. You will have the ability to "view" all of your customer's wireline services, thus, providing you with the insiders playbook into generating more wireline revenue.

2. You will have the opportunity to expand your offering into Wireless and reap the benefits of the fastest growing telecom market.

3. You will receive a substantial commission on the wireless optimization services without having to do
the work.

4. You will receive a traditional agent commission on the TEM monthly recurring charges your customer pays to Spectrum.

A Recent Win!
The Situation: A Partner's existing customer was having difficulty managing approximately 300+ wireless devices. The Partner had limited wireless experience and didn't want to open the door to competition.

The Solution: The Partner introduced Spectrum to his customer as a strategic partner and we were engaged not only to perform a wireless optimization but also to provide full WEM services.

The Result: The Partner will soon be enjoying almost $2,000 per month in NEW MONTHLY REVENUE for a 24 month term just for the introduction.

Question???? How much money did YOU make for the last introduction you gave?

Why do YOUR Customers Need TEM?

2011-10-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

Mobile devices represent one of the fastest growing corporate expenses, and at the same time, is one of the least understood.

Though few question the value that wireless phones, smart phones and tablets bring, the complexity of their management and ever increasing costs means that your customers are likely paying more than they should. Many organizations lack even the most basic information about the mobile devices and services their employees are using. Typical comments are, "We don't even know how many are out there" and "We don't have a way to control what the users are doing."

Offering an effective Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Program, supported by an intuitive TEM software solution and built upon a sound Corporate Mobility Policy, will help manage the chaos while providing significant savings associated with wireless expenses. By taking a few simple steps, you can help your customers gain the same control over their wireless expenses in the same manner you do with their wireline services.

By offering a solution that provides:

• Inventory Benchmarking
• Ordering Procurement
• Asset Management
• Expense Management
• Auditing, Optimization, and Allocation
• Intelligence Reporting

you will add value to your existing services while alleviating a major frustration within your customers' environment, not to mention the savings are typically in upward of 30%-40%.

Now the real question...
Why aren't your customer's using TEM? or are they?

What are the Types of TEM?

2011-10-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

What are the Types of TEM?

There are a multitude of TEM's in the marketplace. The one underlying factor of TEM is that it is yet to have a defined set of industry standards and, therefore, anyone can call themselves a TEM. There are Accounting Firms, Cost/Call Accounting Firms, Software Firms, Auditing Firms, Telecom Consultants, Invoice Processing Firms, etc... who call themselves a TEM. In order to understand the TEM market it is best to first understand your own requirements for selecting/partnering with a TEM.

Below are a few questions to ask yourself when partnering with a TEM:

• Are you looking at In-sourcing or Out-sourcing?
• Do you prefer a SaaS or Customer Premise based solution?
• Are you looking to audit invoices, process invoices, bill presentment, increase your value add, a hands-off approach, a hands-on approach, etc..?
• Do you want a "Strategic Partner" or would you prefer to "private label" as your own service?

Finally, make sure you completely understand the advantages and disadvantages of the TEM software. Some are better at invoice processing, some at inventory management, some at ordering and procurement, and some at business intelligence. The key is not to evaluate a TEM based on its Gartner ranking but rather to use the 80/20 rule of what best meets the needs of you and your client.

TEM 101 - The Basics: What is TEM?

2011-10-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

TEM Tips!

The Agents Next Income Stream!

Welcome to Spectrum, Inc.

WHAT IS TEM????
Definition: Telecommunciations Expense Management (TEM) is the methodology by which organizations can best manage one of their most critical strategic assets; the telecom network and its components.
TEM encompasses technology, processes, policy and people.

Technology- there needs to be a software platform to help inventory your Telecom assets (e.g., circuits, services, equipment, locations, invoices, accounts), enforce business processes (e.g., ordering, approving, problem resolution), and manage access to critical Telecommunications infrastructure information.
Process- the processes are all the business rules, which govern how the network will be deployed, managed, and eventually dismantled or converted.

Policy- the policy is the corporate buy-in and ultimately the enforcement of the processes that will ensure the integrity of the TEM solution.

People- the people are the experts in networking and telecom that follow the methodologies and use the software to deploy, manage, and decommission the telecom network.

Things that make you go HMMMM????

2011-07-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

What should you look for in a Telecom Expense Management provider?

In today’s chaotic telecom environment should you decide to seek out the services of an experienced TEM software provider, remember not all TEM’s are built alike and not all platforms provide the same services. I know, who doesn’t know that, right. It gets better..

Have you heard or do you think, all TEM platforms provide the same substantially the same services?

Not all TEM platforms were created equal; There are platforms that only provide simple inventory management, platforms that concentrate on invoice processing and payment, platforms that concentrate on auditing and contract compliance, platforms that generate slick reports with graphs and data, and even some platforms that do all the above, now the real question is…

What do you or your customer do with the data?

Do you act on it? Do you have the resources to act on it? Does your Customer act on it? Does your TEM act on it OR do you do nothing and hope that the TEM acts on it?

We welcome your responses…

Are you attending Channel Partners Expo in Chicago? We will be there Aug 23-26

2011-07-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Are you attending #CPExpo in Chicago? We will be there Aug 23-26. Let us know if we can schedule a meeting with you! http://3spectrum.com/

Agents Reinvent TEM

2011-06-14T15:11:00.001-07:00

Bill review has long been a sales tool for telecom agents looking to convince business customers to switch their services to a new service provider that will presumably be able to offer lower rates. It was a short step for them to then audit what was billed against what was actually provided and/or contracted. And then another short step for them to question whether those services were then right in the first place and to get the customers on the best services, plans and vendors. Mission accomplished.

Not quite. Agents quickly learned that keeping telecom environments and expenses under control for their customers required regular monitoring and management. Company growth and contraction and changing technology options and rates are among the reasons the status quo doesn’t remain optimal. So many agents developed business process outsourcing (BPO) offers that incorporate these disciplines – from sourcing to inventory control to expense management. Some have taken advantage of the offers from the emerging industry of software vendors that arose to automate management of these functions for enterprises. But some agents have found these accounting-centered offers lacking and taken matters into their own hands, developing their own software to better match their needs.

One of these agencies is Spectrum, Inc., a master agency out of Cincinnati. “When we were approached by our customers to take over their wireless we thought we would just go partner with someone to assist. We partnered with a TEM company but quickly learned their focus was not on telecom and at every turn we were reinventing the wheel,” said Spectrum CEO Troy McCracken, noting the solutions Spectrum evaluated were designed to audit, but not to support telecom environments.

Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole Spectrum, in 2006 developed it’s own hosted software as a service under the TrueVue brand. “There is a huge difference in building an application that a customer uses to help them manage their own telecom environment more efficiently and (one) that is built to help agents better manage their customer’s own telecom environment,” McCracken said.

TrueVue manages the complete telecom lifecycle, including benchmarking current services, service order management, asset management, expense management, invoice visibility and auditing, and customized analytical reporting for wireless and wireline services. McCracken said its primary differentiators in TEM market are that TrueVue is user-friendly and logic-driven. “You can get anywhere in three clicks or less” he said. Spectrum’s multiformat (EDI, pdf, and paper) invoice processing is patent-pending.

Spectrum’s experience is shared by 13-year old master agency Configure, Inc., in San Jose, California. Rudain Arafeh, Configure’s founder, president and CEO told Phone+ that his main problems with TEM offers were the result of customer complaints. “We kept hearing from our customers that the TEM software was too expensive and cumbersome,” he said. “It needed to be affordable and easy.” Arafeh explained that existing systems were tailored to large enterprises with monthly spend in the hundreds of thousands of dollars while his customers were mid-sized with monthly spend in the tens of thousands. In addition, he said, these high-end systems require six to eight months to deploy meanwhile draining IT staff resources and delaying the cost savings. “That may be okay if you have the resources of an enterprise, but mid-size companies don’t have eight months.”

In addition, he said legacy systems tend to have a “steep learning curve” that requires dedicated staff to manage. “If you are only using it once a week, you can’t be proficient,” he said. “And if the primary user churns, the tool is not used at all.”

Arafeh and his team developed a hosted application called Telecom Expense Solution Advantage (TESA) that he said can be up and running in 30 days and is intuitive to use even for new users. It allows users to aggregate bills from all their service providers, service types, and service locations and get a single view by location, provider, cost center and more. TESA includes four service modules: wireline voice, cellular, data/Internet and conferencing.

Configure also tackled the cost issue, offering a monthly subscription price that is below the industry standard 10 percent of telecom spend and not charging extra for the number of bills processed or devices managed.

Passing It On. Developing TEM software is no small undertaking for any company, and it certainly wasn’t for these agencies. Configure, for example, spent about three years and $1.5 million creating TESA. While each agency will recoup some development costs by selling the service to their own customers, both reached the conclusion that an indirect sales channel could help broaden their reach.

Spectrum, a master agency, offers the service for sale through its subagents for residual commissions at rates similar to network services. It enables other master agencies to license and rebrand the software. Telecom Brokerage, Inc., for instance, was announced as a private label partner in January 2009.

Configure rolled out TESA for use with its own customers last fall and based on early positive customer response, it made TESA available for other agents to sell to their customers in January 2010.

Configure offers two agency options. The first is a referral partner, which has no quota, and pays a one-time bounty base on the contract size. The second option is an agent/reseller agreement, which requires a volume commitment and pays an annuity on the TESA subscription. Agents don’t have to implement or deliver the service, but they are responsible for closing the sale and upselling additional modules.

Both Spectrum and Configure have continued their agency businesses, but have separated them from their TEM services. Configure says the two are independent practices, but it also signs non-compete agreements with its TEM agents. Spectrum has “strict guidelines as to how we handle potential conflict and even incorporate language into our agent agreement that protects the agent,” said McCracken.

Why TEM Needs Executive Sponsorship

2011-06-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

By Trent McCracken and Troy McCracken

As Spectrum expands its telecom expense management offerings, we have
been brought into a number of opportunities where the customer has endured a failed TEM implementation and is evaluating alternative providers. Increasingly, we have found a primary reason for these failed deployments is the lack of executive sponsorship.

While the TEM provider can be at fault, we have found them often made the
scapegoat by customers that refused to modify policies within their organizations to allow the implementation to succeed.

As a TEM provider, this revelation caused us to consider whether to pursue
these opportunities to migrate customers to our TEM solution. If the executive sponsorship was not present with the previous provider, how would we ensure it would be there for the implementation of our solution? We concluded that we would walk away if we could not get the sponsorship. Here’s why: First, let’s define “‘executive sponsorship.” It is the approval of the executive team to allow the TEM team the authority and control to change or implement policies and procedures in order to achieve the proposed ROI of the TEM solution.

Since many of the TEM providers are companies that are being backed by a
demanding venture capital or private equity firm, they are looking for immediate revenue. They have aggressive sales personnel that strive to get the purchase order, their commission check, and then turn it over to an implementation team. (In some cases, the implementation is completely outsourced to a third party).

Translation: Get an IT director or controller’s buy-in and get the contract signed. While this company representative has signing authority,
he/she most often does not have the authority to change or implement new policies or procedures.

A common example is the executive team not allowing the TEM team to alter how invoices are received or where they are processed. Many companies, for example, have multiple locations for processing invoices, each with different procedures. TEM requires one corporate-wide process. Many companies also have restrictions on how charges can be allocated as well as A/P policies and technologies that create additional challenges.

In other cases, the problems are not with A/P but with procurement. For example, we often find companies that want to disregard text messaging in wireless plans, mistakenly assuming this to be a nominal expense. In
companies with hundreds of devices, the text messaging spend can be significant and should be part of the wireless procurement and expense management plan.

A common excuse we hear for not changing these policies and procedures is “not rocking the boat.” This is the recipe for a failed implementation. In our opinion the boat must be rocked — because the boat is sinking!
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This is applicable to a TEM implementation because change must take Why TEM Needs Executive Sponsorship By Trent McCracken and Troy McCracken place in department policies, procedures and the overall process of procuring telecom services, managing inventory
and processing, allocating and auditing telecom invoices.

If you are beginning a TEM implementation or migration, be certain that you have someone at the executive level sponsoring the project. Without that, you and your customer will be doing the exact thing that didn’t work before, yet expecting cost savings results and ROI that will never materialize.

Tactics for securing executive buy-in will depend primarily on who your
contact is in the company. If you already are working with the IT director, then you have to first find out if he has the authority to change procedures in A/P or procurement. Most likely, the answer is
no. Then, you need to convince him that the success of the TEM implementation, including the desired savings, will hinge on having such control so that he will engage the executive leadership, usually
the CFO, to sponsor the project.

If you are prospecting a new account, start with the CFO and CTO. They usually will refer you back to the IT director or procurement department. However, you can then ask to keep them in the loop, so that they will remain engaged.

Ultimately, though, you as the TEM provider have to make the decision to
walk away from the deal if executive buy-in is not secured. This is a hard
decision, but we believe it is a necessary one to deliver on the promise of TEM and create a long-term relationship with the customer.

Welcome to our blog!

2011-05-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

We are excited to participate in the blogging community and we look forward to sharing in industry news, technology and telecommunications perspectives. Please feel free to contact us as we are open to your feedback and comments.

SPECTRUM CEO TO SERVE ON PHONE+ MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD

2009-06-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Telecom LifeCycle Management Resource Is Key Point of Interest

CINCINNATI, OH and PHOENIX, AZ, October 13, 2009 -- Spectrum Inc., a national telecom lifecycle management (TLM) company recently learned that CEO, Troy McCracken has been named to Phone+ magazine and the Channel Partners Conference & Expo advisory board for 2009-2010.

As a solutions provider to the indirect channel, Spectrum’s telecom lifecycle management product, TrueVue®, has been a leading choice for telecom Agents throughout the country who want to expand their offerings to their clients. As a board member, Mr. McCracken will be asked to provide guidance and support for the annual Channel Partners Conference & Expo, as well as editorial content through the Phone+ Peer-to-Peer blog.

“Since it was formed in 2007, the PHONE+/Channel Partners Conference & Expo Advisory Board has proved to be a vital part of the success of the publication and the event. We rely on these industry insiders to help make sure our content is on target and that our programs are meaningful to the communications channel,” said Khali Henderson, group editor for PHONE+. “We welcome Troy to the Advisory Board, and thank him for volunteering his time, expertise and resources.”

“Phone+ magazine is one of the industry’s most respected publications, supported by one of the industry’s only events dedicated 100% to the indirect channel”, said Mr. McCracken. “I look forward to the opportunity to working with the other talented board members to continue building a stronger product offering to the Channel as the telecom industry continues towards a paradigm shift from traditional telecom agents to the more lifecycle driven managed service providers.

About Spectrum, Inc®

One of the country's foremost telecom management companies, Spectrum, Inc., helps its clients manage the entire telecommunications lifecycle. Based in Cincinnati, Spectrum's offerings include TrueVue®, its award-winning TLM solution, expert carrier-independent consulting, network design, management and optimization, contract negotiation, and proven customer support. For further information, please visit http://www.3spectrum.com/.

About PHONE+

Published by Virgo Publishing, PHONE+ magazine is the country’s leading publication for communication distribution channels. For more than two decades, PHONE+ has been the undisputed leader in providing news and analysis to alternate distribution channels serving the communications industry. It is the unrivaled resource for resellers, aggregators, agents, brokers, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and dealers that provide network-based communications and computing services and associated CPE, applications and professional services.