Telecom Expense Management and Call Accounting Technology!
Now More Than Ever: Get Your IT Basics Right
For CIOs and IT managers there's a lot more to manage these days. We have long stretched beyond the days of maintaining "dial tone" and are now in an era where strategic contributions are not only needed but expected by senior management, under pressure to secure the best technologies to help meet operational and intelligence needs.
If you're in IT, there's plenty on your plate as you scramble to manage more data, automate processes, implement AI applications, and generally create more actionable data for your users. But that's not all. You must also get up to date and stay up to date with what's on the horizon and plan your budget accordingly.
Often, because of the demands placed on IT leaders and CIOs to be visionaries within their organizations, the basics of running their departments can get sidelined.
Forbes's recent article outlining the IT best practices is important because it reminds those of us in technology fields how important the basics are and should remain in all organizations.
Here are some of those basics, paraphrased and summarized below:
- Make sure your goals are aligned with your company’s goals.
- It’s key to remain aligned with the objectives of your business to make sure your technology and efforts are supporting the growth and objectives of the company as a whole.
- Invest in your employees.
- That means continuous training and development. Today’s young talent will gravitate to IT departments with programs to keep their skills current and which foster innovation.
- Don’t take your eyes off the cybersecurity ball.
- This is especially important given the sheer amount of technology and apps that are being used in most companies. Make sure you have a robust cybersecurity program to protect your infrastructure and data from hackers and breaches.
- Use your data analytics.
- And today they are richer and more actionable than ever before. Data, when organized properly will give you insights into your corporate operations and can help you achieve greater efficiency, while supporting your decisions for growth.
- Keep tabs on your vendors.
- Make sure they are there when you need them and that they are true partners with your best interests in mind. Make sure they are cost effective and can keep pace with your company’s needs.
And a few of our own …
- Stay up to date.
- That means upgrading systems and equipment and streamlining processes. Old equipment can become costly to maintain, and you may be getting billed for applications you no longer use. Taking the time to weed out old equipment, applications, software and contracts will pay off in greater efficiency and money savings.
- Keep an eye out for billing errors.
- You may be surprised to know that 85% of invoices contain some kind of error or other anomaly. If you are using a TEM (Telecom/technology expense management) system you can easily spot those errors and save a lot of money.
- Conduct regular audits.
- You can do these yourself and save around 3-5% on your annual telecom spend, but you’ll recoup much more through a professional audit. As an example, a TTI audit will typically save you between 25-40% off your annual telecom spend.
When IT departments are doing the basics right, a lot of other good things follow. When your department is running efficiently and saving money it gives you more time to evaluate new technologies and plan for future investments. It will help you to optimize your end users' work environment and support corporate growth.
We talk with IT managers and CIOs every day. Give us a shout and we'll be happy to learn more about your challenges and how we might help.
About TeleManagement Technologies, Inc.
Since 1987, TTI has been designing software products that provide a better solution to managing corporate technology, inventory, expenses and services. For more information, visit www.telmantec.com.
