Tame the runaway costs of your mobile communications.
The explosive growth of smart devices and subsequent increase in mobile communications spending requires organizations to actively manage the lifecycle of their mobile communications devices. As phone-only devices continue to be replaced by more capable, complex, and costly smart devices, organizations will be increasingly challenged to contain mobile communications costs and enforce communications policies.
Mobile telecom expense management services from Advocate Networks actively manage the lifecycle of the mobile device, from purchase through disposal. As part of an enterprise telecom strategy for your company, our expert staff will leverage cutting-edge technology to deliver the services critical to containing mobile communications costs. Through these comprehensive services, our clients see an average reduction of 10 to 20 percent on their mobile communications costs within the first 12 months of service.
Telecommunications Invoice and Audit Management
As the population of corporate mobile device users grows, so does the financial impact of billing errors. The time required to manually audit paper or electronic invoices for billing accuracy is a deterrent to many telecom managers, and often, billing errors are never identified. This can lead to thousands of dollars of overcharges which are never recovered.
The Advocate Networks invoice audit and management service addresses every aspect of carrier billing, from invoice receipt and audit, to AP remittance and GL coding. Through the use of technology, all invoices are audited against contractual rate plans and order management activity. Our holistic approach to mobile invoice management can dramatically reduce the cost associated with billing errors. Advocate Networks ensures that your service plan charges are billed accurately and that all equipment charges reflect contractual discounts, promotional rates, and special credits. Additionally, telecom expense management from Advocate Networks makes sure that your AP remittance is provided in a timely manner and internal cost allocations (GL) are properly coded.
This service delivers a comprehensive solution to auditing and managing complex telecom invoices while reducing the administrative load on your internal staff.
Mobile Optimization
The best way for an organization to make certain that their mobile services are properly aligned with their business needs (and that the company isn’t overpaying for services) is by regularly monitoring mobile usage against contracted rate plans, to ensure parity. If your voice pool is too large, you are overpaying for needed services. If your voice pool is too small, your organization will pay high overage fees. Devices that aren’t being used, or are rarely used, must be considered for elimination.
Utilizing the Advocate Networks mobile optimization service as part of your company’s telecom cost management plan will deliver a pooling optimization analysis and change recommendation every quarter. Our analysis, based on past user trends, will provide the optimum voice pool size. Approved rate plan recommendations are presented to carriers on behalf of your organization and then verified to ensure proper implementation. Savings are tracked against implemented recommendations. This service also provides text plan and data plan recommendations at the individual user level. Any zero-usage devices are promptly identified.
Clients employing the Advocate Networks mobile optimization service can be certain they are purchasing the optimal level of service from their carrier(s).
Telecommunications Order and Inventory Management
Centrally managing an organization’s entire move, add, change, and disconnect (MACD) activity is vital to an effective telecom expense management solution. Through a streamlined MACD request process, policies can be enforced, procurement processes simplified, and inventory accurately maintained.
Through the use of a centrally managed web-based portal, the Advocate Networks order and inventory management service delivers the critical elements needed to establish an effective closed loop, “procure-to-pay” process across the enterprise:
- Request Management – Advocate Networks will provide a device and services catalog based on your corporate policy and negotiated carrier contracts. Requests can be routed through three approval levels, and then sent electronically to the Advocate Networks team of order managers, where they are placed with the carrier.
- Order Management – Advocate Networks will track an order from request through fulfillment. Once receipt is confirmed, the device becomes part of the central inventory, where it can then be audited through the invoice audit and management service.
- Inventory Management – As device configurations change throughout their lifecycle (as plans are added, removed, or changed), Advocate Networks will maintain the changes within its central inventory management system. This improves the accuracy of audits and optimizations, and serves as a system of record for internal reporting needs.
Through this closed-loop Order and Inventory Management service, your mobile inventory is kept accurate, resulting in improved audits and greater telecom cost reduction.
Analysis and Reporting
Information is the key to effective telecommunications management. Within the suite of Advocate Networks mobile managed services, our clients have access to a library of operational and business intelligence reports. Access to information can be controlled based on user-prescribed rules, allowing departmental managers to access departmental reports, and executives to view organization-wide reports. All reports can be exported to Excel, PDF, RTF, and RPT files.
Mobile reports accessible include cost and usage reports at the user level, department level, or any other level of the organizational hierarchy. Reports can be run for a given month or over a time period of up to 12 months to provide trending information. International cost and usage reports are also provided.
Wireless Helpdesk Service
The Advocate Networks wireless helpdesk service provides our clients with an effective, low-cost solution for supporting their mobile device users. Advocate Networks helpdesk personnel are experts in mobile technology and have access to a comprehensive knowledge base of mobile devices, services, applications, and carrier data. Issues are resolved quickly and accurately, allowing your workforce to stay on task.
The Advocate Networks helpdesk includes technical support Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 7 PM (ET). A dedicated toll-free number is provided to your organization, from which we can provide monthly call metrics.
The Advocate Networks wireless helpdesk service, combined with our other services, enables your organization to fully outsource effective telecom expense management.