Telecom Expense Management and Call Accounting Technology!
How to Get Your IT Budget Approved This Time!
Getting budget approval for a new year is always challenging. Often the C-level managers look at IT/Telecom as just a necessary expense and leave it at that. It can be hard to get inside their heads and change their thinking. The result is a budget that maintains the status quo, but which fails to give you the flexibility to grow and to adopt new technologies that could really make a positive impact on your company.
How can you change this way of thinking? The key might lie in changing your approach. Here are three adjustments that IT and Telecom managers have found instrumental in helping C-level management to "connect the dots" between a high functioning, strategic IT/Telecom operations and a successful business.
- Talk "value" versus "expense"
- IT and Telecom managers often tell us that senior management looks at IT and telecom costs much like rental space; you just pay it and forget about it. As far as the hardware, software and infrastructure, discussion is more about updates and upgrades than bringing added value throughout the organization. How to change the conversation? Start with a discussion about value, which might include things such as optimizing your array of providers to get the best at a more reasonable cost. You might also include discussion of emerging technologies that, if brought in to your organization, will better support new apps to help employees better connect with prospects and each other.
- Explain how your technology supports business objectives
- How do things like network performance impact your business? Instead of talking about devices and endpoints, talk about people. How does capacity and mean-time between failures impact C-level managers and how they conduct their day to day business? What about security? Viruses and hackers can not only bring a network to its knees, they also can impact the privacy of employees. Instead of using impersonal terms like "end users", talk about "customer specialists" and "team leaders". How will an increased IT/Telecom budget help them reach their goals?
- Include expense management
- Be sure to include in any budget a system that will help you keep track of the expenses associated with providing an optimum infrastructure for your organization. Make sure you include a full featured Telecom Expense Management "TEM" system in your budget. Why? Because it will become your reporting and processing tool to keep your systems in balance. It will also help ensure that senior management is kept in the loop as to how much money you are saving your company by properly managing all points of your infrastructure.
No one would argue that the last five years have brought unparalleled change and innovation into the IT/Telecom world. Subsequently, your role as IT or Telecom manager has changed dramatically. There is no better time to get your ideas in front of your senior management team than the present.
And we're here to help you do it! Contact us and we'll set up a meeting with you and your team to discuss your organization and your needs.
Make this the year that you get in front of the curve by presenting a budget that not only gets approved, but will add significant value to your organization.
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.
