An Accident and TEM (Telecom Expense Management)...
How an Expert on Perspective Changed Mine, and How You Win By Changing Yours Too.
Welcome to the Acculus blog! I’m your host John Clancy. We’re glad you’re here and trust you will find this blog to be a valuable resource in your efforts to achieve greater value in delivering reliable, secure, and affordable connectivity experiences for people communicating inside and out of your organization.
The year was 1967. Joni Eareckson was just 17. Full of life and a promising future, she was enjoying some time with friends at a lake when tragedy struck. Joni dove from a dock into the water, only to hit bottom unexpectedly. That moment was the first day of Joni’s new normal. She instantly became quadriplegic... relegated to life in a wheelchair.
“Perspective is everything when you are experiencing the challenges of life.”
In rehab, she developed some unique skills and a passion to help others in similar situations. She later channeled that passion into becoming the Founder of Joni and Friends International Disability Center, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities.
Joni once shared her thoughts on perspective. I stumbled on the quote recently, “Perspective is everything when you are experiencing the challenges of life.”
While I cannot begin to imagine the level of difficulty she faces, daily, as a result of her accident, there’s no question she is a subject matter expert on the topic of perspective. And her story got me thinking about perspective with respect to the work you do to make connectivity happen in your organization, as well as the work we do to support you.
Do we (the industry inclusive of users and providers) have a relevant perspective on what is “TEM”?
Telecom. The word wreaks of complexity. Whether the focus is the actual technology or the management of it, telecom is complex. That complexity has reflected into organizations like yours, which have their own complexities. Complex on complex = complicated! Complicated has forced all of us into the weeds with respect to what is commonly called Telecom Expense Management (TEM).
Therein lies the problem. TEM, in concept, represents diminished perspective.
When engaging Acculus, you likely come with business pain points... inconsistencies and difficulties stemming from your telecom-type vendors and the services they provide. These pain points include billing errors, contract term violations, under-utilized and/or unused assets, favorable pricing and terms, eliminating bias in sourcing, and so on. Those pain points are most easily quantified in dollars. Making that pain go away is usually your central concern. And it’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of alleviating those pain points with what is the tedious work of sourcing vendors, auditing invoices, managing assets, and the like. It is in fact important, necessary work. Yet peel back those layers of tedious work, and we rediscover the purpose behind it all...
...people experiencing reliable connectivity in communicating.
While this may suddenly seem obvious, rediscovering it is a rather fresh perspective. Yes, traditionally, the industry refers to the aforementioned work in this space as TEM or Telecom Expense Management. But seeing things through the lens of TEM sells you short on real value.
Real value is achieved by focusing on sharpening the value of your connectivity vendors. “Sharpening value” creates linkage directly to the purpose. “Connectivity vendors” represent a broader and more accurate spectrum of partners than TEM, to include a variety of both technology and telecom providers of products and services.
Simply put, the right perspective can and does make all the difference in achieving value with respect to your core purpose of people experiencing reliable connectivity in communicating.
With that new perspective in mind, we are excited about some of the things to come in this blog! Topics will include stories, pitfalls, and practices in areas such as negotiating vendor contracts, billing management, lifecycle management, asset management, operational best practices, pursuing opportunities, and more. The topics are for you, the audience, to consider and apply in your work stemming from this purpose!
What are your thoughts on this perspective? Do you agree, disagree, or care to offer a different perspective? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
John Clancy
Again, I’m John Clancy, your blog host. Thanks for joining me today! If you found value in this post, share it with your colleagues and friends! And stay tuned for the next blog answering the question, “Why are we always chasing our tail with our vendor bills?”