The Undisputed Guide to
You’ve signed a Telecom Management Agreement with vCom Solutions. Now what?
This document explains the five key steps to converting to the vCom service and your
final destination - telecom management bliss.
The sTeps are:
1. Meet your team
2. Inventory analysis
3. Convert your services to vCom
4. Software enablement
5. Ongoing optimization
STEP 1. MEET YOUR TEAMFirst off, breathe a sigh of relief. You now have experts in each area of the telecom lifecycle on your team. This extension of your internal IT team has specialized expertise to flawlessly execute your telecom program. Key members that you will now meet include:
Executive Sponsor: This vCom executive ensures that flawless execution of your telecom program. This
person is directly available to you for any questions or concerns that arise.
Business Development Manager: You already know this friendly face. Your “BDM” is your field Account
Executive and will introduce you to the following VIP…
Engagement Manager: Your “EM” is your lead advocate at vCom. She is your “go to” person for training
on the vManager software, converting spend to the platform, implementing A/P functionality, and any customized reporting. She will oversee your relationship, and guide you through the remaining four steps on your journey to telecom management bliss.
Order Desk: Your Engagement Manager will employ vCom’s Order Desk on your behalf, using our Sales
Engineers and Telecom Analysts to optimize your telecom services.
Client Relationship Manager: Your “CRM” is your primary point of contact at vCom and “go to” person for
Adds, Moves and Change Orders, training on the vManager software, and any billing questions.
Project Team: Your Project Team includes a Project Coordinator and a Provisioner. These two people manage
all technical aspects of carrier orders to ensure successful and accurate delivery, testing and acceptance of ordered services. They also manage all implementation timelines, communication and deliverables - so you don’t have to.
Support Team: Although you may not see them, these folks are working “in the background” to make your
life better -
Technical Support manages all technical issues and trouble tickets on a 24x7x365 basis.
Bill Consolidation and Audit analyzes and audits all carrier bills, disputing carrier errors on your behalf, before you ever see them.
Carrier Negotiations relentlessly negotiates contract terms and drives down pricing with the carriers, leveraging the buying-power of all vCom’s customers.
Your team will join you for a kick off meeting to establish priorities and provide education on vCom’s Methodology.
STEP 2. INVENTORY ANALYSIS
After the kickoff, your Engagement Manager will request your carrier invoices, customer service records, contracts, and any network diagrams. vCom’s Engineers and Telecom Analysts will audit all of these materials and benchmark your current spend against industry standards. They will present you with an “Inventory Summary and Benchmark,” which includes a snap shot of your current services along with benchmarking of your spending. You will finally know definitively exactly what you are paying for! Your team will then make recommendations as to where you can improve your technology and your spend. Using vCom’s aggregate buying power, you can expect to save an average of 20% on your services.
Together, you will build a new technology blueprint by carrier and product. You will determine your areas of highest impact, so that you can start your conversion process on the services that will bring you the most benefit. Now you are ready to start reaping the rewards of moving your telecom environment under vCom’s management.
“Our experience with the vManager software has been excellent. We use vManager to find out how and where we’re spending money, and to allocate it back to our individual cost centers. We also use the analytics to see how we can further reduce our spend.”
Senior Manager of IT Workflow One
vCom Solutions - The Undisputed Guide to Telecom Management Bliss Page 3
STEP 3. CONVERT YOUR SERVICES TO VCOM
Based on the technology blueprint you created in step two, your Engagement Manager will establish and lead a migration plan by product or by site. You will attend project update meetings and provide the appropriate local contacts needed to coordinate the transitions. Your EM will work with your Accounts Payable department to track active telecom vendors and general ledgers associated with telecom to ensure a smooth and effective migration. Your vCom team will provide frequent status updates as to the delivery and implementation of new services. You will begin to recognize cost savings and productivity enhancements. During this process, you will begin to use the vManager tool for:
• Order Management – viewing of all orders, the project outline,
status updates by site and product, and issuing approvals for electronic service orders
• Inventory Management – accessing any of your circuit and
hardware specifications, opening or viewing progress on any trouble tickets
• Billing – seeing a detailed breakdown of charges, sorted by site,
product or charge type
• Document Library – accessing a centralized repository of project
plans, network diagrams, router configurations, contracts, etc.
STEP 4. SOFTWARE ENABLEMENT
Next is the moment you’ve been waiting for – the ability to see a consolidated view of your telecom spend and inventory across all phone and data products and all carriers through vManager! No installation needed here – it’s in the cloud. Just log in, or download the iPhone app.
First, you’ll receive training from your account team on how to manage orders, cases, and trouble tickets, how to view, analyze and slice and dice your inventory any way you choose – and even to perform budgeting and forecasting – with accuracy! – for your future telecom spending. You’ll also learn how to set up electronic invoice approval workflows, and your EM will meet with your accounting team to define the cost allocation requirements they need as well as their A/P file specifications.
“If you are used to dealing directly with AT&T, Verizon, or really any other provider, you will be shocked by the difference in customer service that you receive from vCom.”
Telecom Manager Duane Morris
Next, vCom’s software developers will customize your dashboards in vManager so that you can view your data the way that you like. There are more than 100 “canned” reports in vManager, but if you need to see your data in a particular way, your EM will engage our developers to create customer reports for you. We’ll automate exception reports to your specifications so that you are alerted to any errant activity that requires action. Finally, we will create your customized A/P file so that your expenses are coded to the cost centers that you specify, and so you can easily upload them directly into your accounting system.
STEP 5. ONGOING OPTIMIZATION
Now the fun starts. Sit back and watch as your vManager dashboard puts your entire newly-optimized telecom
environment at your fingertips. Perform trend analysis, slicing and dicing data however you desire. Watch your savings ideas dashboard for items such as 90-day no activity inventory, and
disconnect them with a quick task to your CRM. Feel confident that vCom’s automated assurance processes are constantly analyzing your environment.
As your contracts expire, vCom will notify you and re-negotiate them on your behalf, getting you our massive volume discounts. Your vCom team will continue to
identify areas for technology recommendations and savings. Your EM will conduct period reviews with you, and your account team will meet with you regularly to understand how your business is evolving and how your telecom environment needs to change to accommodate that evolution. And your entire well-managed telecom environment will always be at your fingertips, from the highest level trend report, to the smallest inventory detail. You have arrived – ultimate telecom management bliss.
ABOUT VCOM SOLUTIONS
vCom Solutions revolutionizes the way enterprises manage their entire telecom lifecycle. vCom customers gain control over inventory, expenses and carrier relationships, achieving better business intelligence that drives profitability. vCom’s Telecom Management as a Service (TMaaS) solution includes a suite of cloud-based telecom management software tools, complemented by a full portfolio of professional services.
