Comment Article
ITAnalysis – Downturn dodging - New Year resolutions to address
telecoms costs
There is no doubt that many companies, as well
as individuals, will look to keep budgets under
control throughout 2010, and Quocirca research
often shows that the cost of telecoms is among
the more difficult to constrain. Organisations
and individuals gain corporate and personal
value from remote access, internet connectivity,
mobile phones and so on, however, increased
use means spending rises, even as tariffs come
down.
Telecoms services are not something
organisations can do without or arbitrarily cut,
but they can better understand and control their
use and cost. During a recession, even services
previously considered invaluable have had to
justify their costs. Some may even turn out on
scrutiny to deserve increased investment, but
only better use of all services through improved
visibility of their true value will justify total
telecoms expenditure.
Those responsible for telecoms budgets have a
choice in 2010 – take proactive control or have
changes enforced them and where budgets are
cut, heads follow. So here are some suggestions
for New Year resolutions for those embattled
budget managers:
- Rationalise: Assess the current state of
supply - what services are currently in
use and how will that change? Look to
rationalise and consolidate, do not blindly
cut back on items bringing in value or
that are saving costs elsewhere, but
make sure the value is being measured
and most importantly clearly visible
elsewhere in the business. Make ongoing
assessments as employees come and go,
or when services and suppliers are
replaced. Mind the gaps and do not pay
for leavers who have not been replaced.
- Prioritise: Important for shared or
limited resources, such as internet access
or wide area data connections that often
© 2009 Quocirca Ltd http://www.quocirca.com
By Rob Bamforth, Principal Analyst, Quocirca Ltd
run many services. Identify and protect
the business critical ones – this is no time
or place for being even-handed. Does the
capacity and network performance meet
business needs? Are service level
agreements (SLAs) being measured and
met? Unreliable or cheap connectivity is
a false economy if it fails, especially when
applications such as e-commerce and
conferencing can save other costs such
as transport, energy and rent.
- Shop around: look at supplier
alternatives to ensure the best deal.
Could an existing supplier offer a better
discount or an improved quote or could a
new one with more options offer a bundle
to reduce overall costs? Short term
discounts, while welcome, do not address
underlying inefficiency issues, so take a
strategic view of total communications as
well as trying to make item-by-item
savings. Staffing or skilling up is
expensive, so can elements be
incrementally outsourced, e.g. device
management, security or billing? This
would avoid costly in-house support and
keep costs predictable by exploiting flat
rate tariffs and per user per month
services.
- Converge: The priority should be to
combine budgets, not simply buy-in to a
technology or vendor solution. However
technologies are converging, so keeping
IT and communications costs separate —
mobile phones, fixed lines, laptops, data
cards are often the responsibility of a mix
of IT, procurement, finance and facilities
– will tend to increase total complexity
and cost. Move to consolidated budgets
so that decisions are more strategic and
less territorial. Then assess real need,
and use the ‘shadow IT’ effect of
consumer technology entering the
workplace to business advantage. Not
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 Comment Article
everyone needs a company supplied
laptop, mobile email, smart phone or
mobile phone. Work out who does and
then support employees' own technology
choices where it benefits the business,
providing this does not cause other costs,
e.g. support and security, to run away.
- Lead: Take active control of access,
network resource use and end point
devices. This is not only for security and
consistency, but also to avoid unexpected
costs e.g. from former employees
continued use or services they no longer
have right too (eg lingering mobile
phones).It will also be necessary to face
up to personal usage; phone systems,
home broadband, business supplied
mobile phones and Wi-Fi access are
rarely exclusively for business use.
This does not necessarily need to be
curtailed, but must be recognised and
managed. Employees need to be aware
of their personal usage and commitments
to their employer and the tax collectors,
and employers must manage responsibly
based on a sensible controls and well-
communicated company policy.
Many personal New Year’s resolutions are made
with good intentions, but are quickly broken as
time passes, and other matters take precedence.
For many organisations it is unlikely that cost
concerns will fall in importance in 2010, and
resolving to tackle them head on will benefit any
business. This may be especially important if
preserving their own job is a personal resolution
telecoms budget managers would really like to
keep.

About Quocirca
Quocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology
and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the
views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Its analyst team is made up of real-
world practitioners with first hand experience of ITC delivery who continuously research and track the industry
and its real usage in the markets.

Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption – the personal and
political aspects of an organisation’s environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in
any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables
Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises.

Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC
has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocirca’s
mission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of
understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time.

Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC
products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of
long term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community.

Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promise
that ITC holds for business. Quocirca’s clients include Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, EMC,
Symantec and Cisco, along with other large and medium sized vendors, service providers and more specialist
firms.

Details of Quocirca’s work and the services it offers can be found at

http://www.quocirca.com

© 2009 Quocirca Ltd http://www.quocirca.com +44 118 948 3360