An 8-Part Series

The Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Industry Has to Change

Part Three: The Buy & Sell Process

Scroll to read Part 3 of the series now, or download the PDF.

Introduction >

Part 1: The Industry >

Part 2: Value Beyond Cost Savings >

Part 3: Buy & Sell Process >

Part 4: The Dichotomy of Savings >

Part 5: The Buyer & Seller Relationship >

Part 6: Building a Center of Excellence >

Part 7: Message to the Buyers >

Part 8: Message to the Sellers >

The TEM Industry has to Change An Eight-Part Article Series

We’ll be publishing these eight articles between September and December 2022. Be sure to subscribe to AOTMP® Insights to be notified of the latest releases.

Part 1: The Industry

So much has changed and yet so much has stayed the same.
$4+ trillion in products, services, and solutions … a huge industry.
There is a reason we can’t get more than a handful of $50 million plus TEM providers.
Why is it that many other industries have gone from nothing to billion-dollar industries … but not TEM?
The service provider environment – carriers, mobility providers and others.
Call it technology, cloud, SaaS, network, or anything else … it doesn’t fix the problem.
Why is there so much churn in this industry?
We’re stuck in the past – the hamster wheel
The impact of private equity – what it has helped and what it has not.
Opportunities are everywhere … for businesses, for vendors and for financial partners.
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 2: Value Beyond cost Savings

When will enterprises place value on other aspects of TEM, and not just cost savings?
Is there value on just having an accurate inventory?
Is there value on just getting your invoices processed and ready to pay on time?
Is there value on leveraging the buyer knowledge with seller technology?
How do vendors better demonstrate value other than hard-dollar cost savings?
A great presentation with not one word of hard dollar cost savings … would a buyer buy it?
How do organizations like Salesforce or ServiceNow sell without a focus on hard dollar savings?
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 3: The Buy & Sell Process

What must change in the selling and buying process?
Procurement has a role, but it’s not to stop all communications between the buyers and the sellers.
Communications must change, be more transparent and open throughout the process.
The fishing expedition – why do enterprises send out 300 question RFP’s, make the TEM vendors jump through hoops, when they plan to stick with what they have, or they don’t even have budget approval?
What do the vendors gain by pitching smoke and mirrors and saying they can do everything, even when they can’t?
You’re looking for your 4^th, 5^th, 6^th or even 7^thTEM provider. Isn’t it time to look in the mirror?
You’re pitching to an organization on their 4^th TEM provider? That should prompt a different discussion.
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 4: The Dichotomy of Savings

Say What? The $30 million annual spender who saves $1 million each year. Soon it should be free?
The more spend I manage, the more I need to charge versus the more savings I create for my customer, the better I am.
My TEM provider is no longer saving me any money and therefore I can’t justify the cost and need to change providers? Is the provider doing a poor job or a good job?
Save Me Money? Yes, but not so much that it makes me look bad.
What do you mean you found me $5 million in savings? That’s going to cost me my job.
The CIO of a $100 million spender who said “if you save me more than $1 million a year, you will be fired”
It’s Ground Hog Day. I keep saving the same money over and over again.
What about the root cause? Where is the focus on the core challenges?
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 5: The buyer & Seller Relationship

When will there be real partnerships created between buyers and sellers?
Why is it that buyers and sellers can’t seem to communicate at the first sign of trouble … and it only gets worse from there?
When will the enterprises realize that there is no perfect solution in this very complex and difficult industry?
When does an accurate inventory become the most important discussion point?
Everyone wants a great relationship, but enterprises oftentimes don’t let the vendors talk to the business owners during the initial sales process. How does that create a foundation for a successful relationship?
The Quarterly Business Review (QBR) … the focus needs to change. It’s not about all the great things we have done. We just love to drive from the rear-view mirror and you know how that ends up.
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 6: Building a Center of Excellence

What is a Telecom and Mobility Management Center of Excellence anyways?
Vendors and business customers really can work together to build a world class telecom and mobility management environment.
Who are the critical stakeholders on the vendor side and what role do they play?
Who are the critical stakeholders on the enterprise / buyer side and what role do they play?
Telecom and mobility management functions don’t need to be the support organization in your company – position it to be a driver of business results.
How do all parties show more value and contributions to the business?
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 7: Message to the Buyers

AOTMP®’s top five recommendations to buyers.
Recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 8: Message to the Sellers

AOTMP®’s top five recommendations to sellers.
Recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Series Overview

AOTMP® is a 19-year-old company that has both vendor and business customers in the telecom, mobility, and IT management industry. We have been consultants and trusted advisors for all customers in the past. We have collected data from our database of over 100,000 emailable industry professionals. We know what works. We know what doesn’t. Today, AOTMP® is an information services company supporting telecom, mobility, and IT professionals across the globe through training, certifications, association memberships, events & programs, best practices, publications, resources, and professional development.

We see the great relationships. We see the churn. We hear about the great buyers and the unreasonable buyers. We hear about the effective and the ineffective vendors. We see the buyers who will never have a successful TEM program until they change internally. We see the sellers who will say anything and go beyond reasonable ethics to get a deal. We hear the vendors who say they have never lost a customer, yet we can easily dispute it. We see the enterprise buyers who put 100% of the blame on their vendor, yet the greatest challenge is within their own organization. We see the many happy relationships and we see the many relationships that just exist because it’s too painful to change. And we see the major investor wins along with huge investor losses in the tens of millions of dollars. We see it all.

So, the question is how do we move the industry forward? How do we move to a new level? Or can we? If not, what happens to the industry? Does the waste and inefficiency just continue, and we live with it? Do we just continue to make marginal improvement? Do we continue in the very fast-moving hamster wheel we live in? After all, we do have a lot of great vendors and a lot of great buyer environments, but not enough to make an industry out of the huge opportunity sitting in front of our eyes.

Given the multi-billion-dollar industry opportunity, offset by the significant growth inhibitors, we had to do something. We had to start. It will be like moving a mountain, but for the good of the industry, we had to take the first step. We started with two articles, the first focused on vendor recommendations for buyers followed by buyers’ recommendations for vendors. Then, in July, we held our first Industry Solution Showcase where we re-imagined how buyers and sellers connect. It was a great success from both sides. Everyone is looking for something different.

Armed with all the insight and experience, and feedback from the first three initiatives, we decided to author this eight-part article series, not to just point out all the challenges, but to bring awareness to all the growth opportunities right in front of us if we can work together to affect change. It must start somewhere, and it starts with one vendor and one buyer, then two vendors and two buyers, and builds from there.

You can follow along with the eight-part series in our AOTMP® Insights publication. And you can be assured there will be more initiatives to follow. It doesn’t stop here. Already in planning are initiatives at our annual AOTMP® Engage conference, potential webinars, and promoting Industry Value Challenge submissions we mention and receive throughout the Series. And there will be plenty more.

Given what we have seen in the industry over the years, along with what we see and hear today, we believe the greatest opportunities for growth for both the vendors and the businesses lie in five core areas. You will see this theme throughout the Series.

We believe the greatest opportunities for growth for both the vendors and the businesses lie in five core areas.

See the Complete Overview

Improving the buy and sell process.

Agree to open and transparent communications throughout the process, regardless of the issue.

Developing stronger vendor – customer partnerships.

Problems are going to happen; commit to focusing on solutions, not penalizing each other.

Focusing on value beyond cost savings.

Help each other identify, quantify, and realize value beyond cost savings.

Building world class telecom and mobility management Centers of Excellence.

Work together to build environments that contribute to overall strategic business results.

Accelerating buyer and seller growth opportunities.

Help each other identify opportunities for growth in their respective businesses.

In this Article...

The Process is Broken >

The Fishing Expedition >

Procurement Says So >

The Smoke and Mirrors >

You’ve Had How Many TEM Providers? >

Imagine a Different World >

Thoughts From Our Growth Partners >

The Process is Broken

For the Telecom Expense Management (TEM) industry to thrive, the buy-sell process must change. We see very little positive in how it’s done today, at least in most cases. Business buyers, the ones who will ultimately be held accountable for the success or failure, are often taken out of the process by procurement. Vendors get invited to the table late in the process and maybe only get one or two conversations before a decision is made. There is so much wasted time with full RFPs just to get comparison pricing while fully intending to keep the incumbent provider. Oh, and let’s not forget all the RFPs that get distributed, when there is no finance approval for the budget. In addition, there is no thought of any relationship building, which we will argue is more important than any of the rest of it. You really need to know who you are working with, from the buyer and the seller side. And finally, we can’t leave out all the smoke and mirrors that get pitched or the “we are the only ones who do this” pitch, which is flat-out not true. So, we want to grow the industry and our current approach to the buy-sell process…

Wastes a lot of time
Stops or hinders communications
Ignores relationship building
Puts up walls between the most important parties to the ongoing success
Pitches smoke and mirrors
Misleads by saying you are the only ones, when you are definitely not
Driven by the lowest price, regardless of value

Right or wrong, that’s what we have seen for years and still do today. True, it’s not every case, but in a significant number of cases, it is enough to hinder our abilities to grow the industry.

Normally, we would like to talk about changes we can make or what we can do differently. In this case, it’s obvious what we need to do, and it shouldn’t require a lot of discussion.

Quit wasting vendors’ time
Quit blowing smoke to the enterprises
Focus on building relationships
Focus on communications
Quit misrepresenting
Buy value and results, not low price

You get the picture. There is a reason this buy-sell process is listed in every one of our papers as a top 5 priority that must change in this industry, and just maybe there is a reason it is always listed first.

The Fishing Expedition

To get a little more specific, the business-driven fishing expeditions must stop. We can quickly summarize it:

Businesses need to stop lying to vendors
Stop pretending you have the intent to buy when you do not
Stop issuing RFPs when it’s just an inquiry event
Stop using ineffective current state processes and requirements as a benchmark to measure a prospective new vendor

Should we say it again, the fishing expeditions have to stop.

Over the years, we have seen hundreds of RFPs go out with tight response timelines. Vendors stop everything else they are doing to meet the timeline only for months to go by with no communication and ultimately no decision made. You just must ask yourself what really got accomplished with all that wasted time and effort? Was it worth it? Is there just no respect for anyone’s time? Isn’t there a better way to do it?

Full transparency is a good place to start. What is the real purpose of the RFI/RFP document? Maybe a different type of document when you are just making an inquiry might be more beneficial for everyone? More on this in a moment.

Procurement Says So

Procurement is one of the greatest challenges we see in the process, and it needs to change.

Procurement has a role, but it’s not to stop all communications between the buyers and the sellers, which is what we see more often than not. You would think procurement is the President’s traveling detail – nobody gets by them and they don’t care who you are or what you want. That’s ridiculous in a procurement process. We are killing the most important aspect of what drives success: the relationship. Strong relationships most times yield strong results. Weak relationships most times yield failure. That is common sense not only in this industry but in just about anything, including our personal lives. But in this industry, it doesn’t seem to be that important, as we are more concerned about building walls then building relationships. That doesn’t work and will keep us from building a strong relationship, or ultimately, advancing the industry.

Don’t get us wrong. Procurement is a very valuable part of the process. It’s just that procurement needs to get involved much later and focus on what procurement should be focused on … terms, conditions, final pricing, and risk mitigation … not trying to sort out features and functionality and the things that are important, to the business on a day-to-day basis. Or our favorite thing that needs to go – procurement trying to compare everything in a nice little grid or box.

Nearly every single checkbox in an RFP, relating to whether a vendor does something or not, has so many variations. For instance, we see questions about global capabilities or MCADs, just to name two. Whether the vendor does it or not is not the right question as there are many variations and meanings to both of those questions that need to be discussed and understood. And the discussion needs to be had between the vendor and the business, not just the business and procurement. The bottom line is most RFPs, as we see them today, are a joke and are a significant cause of industry challenges. Between RFPs and the walls that are put up, the industry has no chance of significant growth.

The Smoke and Mirrors

The smoke and mirrors in this industry coming from vendors is off the charts. It is pure misrepresentation and only destroys vendor credibility.

We have witnessed many post-demo sessions with buyers after listening to vendor pitches. Vendor 1 says we are the only ones who have these SLAs. Vendor 2 says we have these SLAs for you to measure our performance. Vendor 3 says we have these SLAs for you to measure our performance.

In 99 out of 100 post demo meetings, Vendor 1 gets one big strike against them for saying they are the only one when they clearly are not. Vendor 1 gets another strike against them for being out of touch with reality. Vendors think they are making themselves look good while it is quite the opposite in the mind of the customer. The business says, “if they are going to mispresent that, what else do we have to look forward to?”

Some advice for vendors that will help you win more deals, and in return, help advance the industry.

Vendors need to stop lying to customers and prospects.

You don’t win by making yourself feel better with what you say.

Eliminate unsupportable claims that start with “we are the only vendor that…”

By the way, how do you know you are the only one? Have you seen demos or had conversations with the 100 or so other TEM providers?

Stop pitching features and benefits before you understand a prospect’s business problem.

Eliminate up-front demos; that just adds to the industry problem.

Stop competing on price as your major differentiator.

If your price is lower than your cost, you will eventually fail your customers.

This industry is like a dark, back-alley street fight … vendors bringing the lowest price to every fight and buyers placing their bets on the lowest cost. It is dark, it is ugly, it is bloody, and nobody really wins. That’s what we have as an industry. And we wonder why we can’t grow. We need to take the high road and focus on value, not low price.

Vendors should place themselves above the rest. Again, take the high road. You should never talk about your competitors as you really don’t know them. Focus on your value and what you bring to the table. Be honest. Say “here is what we can do and here is what we can’t do. And on the things we can’t do, we would love to work with you and figure out joint solutions. There are opportunities for us to improve and opportunities for you to improve. Let’s commit to working together to help each other.”

Vendors, that approach alone will differentiate you and guarantee you will win more business.

You’ve Had How Many TEM Providers?

You are lying to yourself if you think the next provider will solve the problem. You’re looking for your 4th, 5th, 6th or even 7th TEM provider? That just says you really need to look in the mirror before you do one more thing. And yes, we have a number of organizations we are aware of that are on their 7th TEM provider. That’s a problem, and the problem is internal, not with the TEM providers.

What is the time, effort and cost to switch TEM providers? It is huge. But it is easier to blame the TEM providers than to look in the mirror and admit you have internal issues that are likely causing at least 50% the problem. Most times it is more like 75% of the problem. Or on the vendor side, if you are pitching to someone who has had 4 other TEM providers, that should raise an immediate red flag and prompt a different set of questions. That usually doesn’t happen, as vendors are just so happy to talk to someone who might want to buy something. Most think “I am willing to take my shot even though I am likely going to be taken out down the road, for problems out of my control.”

In the case where the business has had multiple previous TEM providers, 50% of the sales process should be on talking through each of the previous challenges – what could have the provider done differently and what could have the business done differently. And really focus on what the business could have done differently.

Imagine a Different World

Imagine a world where we had a different buy-sell process like this:

Document #1 Environment Profile

Business buyer creates a three-page environment profile document.

Describes environment – how many of what, spend, devices, geography, top vendors, MACD activity, contracts, etc.
Top 5 current challenges looking to solve
Top 5 objectives of company leadership
Top 5 objectives of IT leadership
Top 5 things business is looking for in a new TEM provider
Services we are looking at – invoice processing, bill auditing, device procurement, contract negotiations, device kitting and shipping, bill payment, MACDs, etc. Check all that apply and indicate with each what’s most important with that service.
Where we are in the process – be transparent about it all, select all that apply

1. Just seeing what my options are

2. Looking for budgetary numbers but not committed to change

3. Looking for budgetary numbers and have internal agreement to change

4. Have budget approval for change

5. Committed to change in the next 6 months

6. Committed to change providers in the next 12 months

7. Other

Business distributes this profile document to appropriate TEM providers.
TEM providers respond in a standard high-level format that addresses how they can or can’t support in each area, no pricing is included.

Document #2 Vendor Response

Response document includes the following responses from the vendor.

Overview of vendor solution as it relates to business environment
How you support their top 5 current challenges
How you can contribute to the objectives of company leadership
How you can contribute to the objectives of IT leadership
How you address the top 5 things the business is looking for in a new TEM provider
How you support each of the services they are looking for
Vendor company profile – history and what you bring to the table

Working Session #1

Three-to-four-hour session to review each area and each answer, clearly understand each other – business teams are involved, not procurement. The process may not go beyond this session if buyer just looking for basic budgetary information or does not have commitment to move forward.

Working Session #2

Three-to-four-hour deep dive session into functionality, demo as it applies specifically to the needs, etc.

Working Session #3

Implementation and pricing session specifically to review pricing, variables, SLAs, dependencies, and implementation plan.

Business selects best 2 solutions to present a full proposal.

Document #3 Proposal Submissions

Proposals are submitted by vendors.

Working Session #4

One follow-up session between the buyer and seller is scheduled to discuss the proposal.

Procurement Involvement

Procurement gets involved and delivers standard questionnaire that addresses:

Pricing
Terms and Conditions
SLAs
Risks
Dependencies to deliver

There should be complete transparency from the business buyers and procurement on where things stand and a commitment for full updates every two weeks to the vendor participants. If the business or procurement teams cannot be transparent and communicate every two weeks to vendors, that already tells us something about the potential relationship going forward.

In this scenario, procurement is involved for pricing and contract initiatives, not business requirements and alignment to the vendor. The lack of total alignment, conversations, communications, and a relationship between the vendor and the business buyer is a huge component to stunting industry growth and opportunity.

We spend way too many hours on RFIs, RFPs, etc. just to address the 50 shades of beige, while missing out on what’s most important for mutual success. Like technology builds – the more time you spend up front on requirements and understanding each other, the less time and money it takes on the back end.

As a side note, AOTMP® expects to develop two industry standard documents. A timeline is yet to be determined.

1) Business Environment Profile – standardized document businesses can use for their initial outreach as described above.

2) Vendor Response Form – standardized document businesses can provide to vendors for their responses.

We expect each procurement department to create their own pricing and terms request form in alignment with their specific business requirements around risk, terms, etc.

AOTMP Industry Growth Partners

AOTMP® Industry Growth Partners are organizations that are committed to “moving the needle” in one or more of the following areas:

Improving the buy and sell process → Agree to open and transparent communications throughout the process, regardless of the issue.

Developing stronger vendor-customer partnerships → Problems are going to happen; commit to focusing on solutions, not penalizing each other.

Focusing on creating or realizing value beyond cost savings → Help each other identify, quantify, and realize value beyond cost savings.

Building world class telecom and mobility management Centers of Excellence → Work together to build environments that contribute to overall strategic business results.

Accelerating buyer and seller growth opportunities → Help each other identify opportunities for growth in their respective business.

Join us if you are:

A buyer/business customer who wants to capitalize on more opportunities to bring a greater contribution and more value to your organization.

A seller/vendor who wants to see more opportunities to grow and help build world-class telecom and mobility management organizations.

An investor/financial partner in the market who wants to see more opportunities and a much higher ROI from telecom and mobility management investments.

Become an Industry Growth Partner

Motus is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

What do you believe are the greatest challenges that need to be changed or improved in the sales process between buyers and sellers if we are going to accelerate growth opportunities for both sides?

➞ Today’s buyers need to truly analyze their problems and identify achievable mobility program goals. Vendors, even incumbents, need to use a consultative sales approach to ensure their solutions align to evolving customer needs. Too often a client becomes unhappy with an MMS/TEM provider based on missed, misunderstood or changing expectations. Errors will never be completely eliminated since most MMS programs are dependent on people, but evolving client needs or gaps when a vendor places a new POC on an account lead to disappointment that is avoidable.

➞ Canned RFP templates for procuring various IT or telecom products or services can lead enterprises down the wrong vendor selection path. Truly identify the problems that need to be resolved and focus on alignment to those needs rather than seeking out the lowest price or the company that claims to save the most on carrier bills.

– Mitch Black, Executive Vice President – Device Solutions

Lightyear is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ Service providers must work on digitizing workflows in order to improve the sales process. Still in 2022, requesting a quote for or purchasing any telecommunications service requires phone calls / emails, discovery meetings, and lots of other “fluff” that take time away from enterprises. There are situations where meetings are beneficial, but the vast majority of enterprise RFP interactions could be digitized, especially for commodity services like internet or WAN circuits.

➞ Better and more streamlined communication around the circuit implementation process would make for a significantly better buying experience. Often, sales and implementation project management are completely detached from one another and the lack of communication and overall care in the install process undermines what salespeople communicate pre-sale. Better expectation setting on timelines upfront, faster order acceptance / PM assignment, digitized installation trackers, and easier escalations would significantly help sellers retain and grow business with customers.

– Dennis Thankachan, CEO and Co-Founder

CloudAdmin is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

→ Automation. By far the most valuable part of the sale process is providing real time accurate insights. Giving customers the ability to onboard in 5 minutes or less creates a lot of trust between the buyer and seller, as it enables the reporting of accurate data without any misinterpretation.

→ A fully automated, quick, reliable onboarding process is the difference between a 3% close rate and a 67% close rate. TEMs must provide thorough, constant support to the customer throughout the selling process, ensuring that the customer is at all times informed and armed with the facts.

– Dave Shepard, EVP Sales & Marketing

Sakon is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ We would like to see buyers and sellers working together more during the Sales process to align the initiatives of the TEM Services towards the IT department’s strategic initiatives.

➞ To help facilitate this, and the chances of successfully selecting the right provider, buyers should engage TEM sellers from various vendors earlier in the buying process. Of course the TEM sellers should not be over bearing, but rather help guide the process. In some instances, RFPs are the best way to go, whereas in many others proof of concepts and meaningful conversations with subject matter experts will be a better way to learn the art of the possible and how this translates to the higher company objectives.

– Dan Hughes, President

Asignet is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ The sales process should be viewed as a partnership, both parties need to enter the process with the correct mentality. It is imperative that real expectations are set from the very beginning and vendors must listen closely to customers pain points and come up the right solution.

➞ Our approach is not to conform with the norm and always find different ways to improve customers efficiencies and outcomes. We have proven that when Vendors and Enterprises work together with the same goal in mind the results are outstanding for both.

– Carolina Lobos, VP Marketing

Calero-MDSL is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ Transparency – Rather than playing it close to the vest, the sales process needs an open line of communication that surfaces goals, needs, and expectations on both sides, and forms a mutual trust between parties. Connecting the right people at the right time to the right information throughout the journey ensures visibility and alignment and will unlock maximum efficiency and optimization on both sides.

➞ Partnership – The sales process is the beginning of a true partnership, a relationship that goes beyond vendor and customer. The courtship between TEM provider and customer should nurture and build on the trust that stems from transparent communication, setting the foundation for a successful partnership. The provider becomes a natural extension of the team, an embedded subject matter expert that brings depth and breadth of industry knowledge and best practices, a visionary approach, and cohesion across all touchpoints of expense management, optimizing results and satisfaction.

– Andrew Taylor, President and CRO

Valmont Industries is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ Have patience with the sales cycle. Develop the relationship and bring business value.

➞ Understand our landscape – a global enterprise will have complex infrastructure, application, and security frameworks. See Bullet 1, develop the relationship and understand how your solution fits – helps with our business case.

➞ STOP the guilt trips with the barrage of email messages asking why we haven’t returned your calls or messages. Guilt tactics are not an effective method to get us to respond.

– Glenn Leatherwood, IT Manager

G2, Inc. is showing their commitment to change by becoming an AOTMP® Industry Growth Partner.

➞ One of the biggest challenges faced during the sales process are buyer misconceptions. For example, a buyer may agree that a firm has the resources and expertise to drive substantial value out of their telecom agreements, but they believe the telecom agreements cannot be impacted because of remaining contractual commitment obligations. When in reality, and if partnered with the correct consultant, almost every telecom agreement can be opened Mid-Term by the consultant’s ability to establish the appropriate leverage or carrier motivations. This of course, significantly accelerates growth opportunities by generating a very pure form of value by helping the client attain savings earlier and retaining money that would otherwise be paid to the carrier over their remaining term.

➞ Another misconception is that a consultant may replace or override the buyer’s own internal procurement resources. This can make the sales process become very political and territorial. However, it is simply not the case. A good consultant partners with their clients to compliment the buyer’s procurement team by becoming an extension of their own existing resources. It is the combination of the buyer’s resources PLUS the consultant’s resources that will yield the best results. It is impossible to dispute that the combination of the two won’t have better results than either resource going at it alone.

– Justin Fuller, Chief Executive Officer

Coming Next in the Series

Be sure to subscribe to AOTMP® Insights to be notified of the latest releases.

Part 4: The Dichotomy of Savings

Say What? The $30 million annual spender who saves $1 million each year. Soon it should be free?
The more spend I manage, the more I need to charge versus the more savings I create for my customer, the better I am.
My TEM provider is no longer saving me any money and therefore I can’t justify the cost and need to change providers? Is the provider doing a poor job or a good job?
Save Me Money? Yes, but not so much that it makes me look bad.
What do you mean you found me $5 million in savings? That’s going to cost me my job.
The CIO of a $100 million spender who said “if you save me more than $1 million a year, you will be fired”
It’s Ground Hog Day. I keep saving the same money over and over again.
What about the root cause? Where is the focus on the core challenges?
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 5: The buyer & Seller Relationship

When will there be real partnerships created between buyers and sellers?
Why is it that buyers and sellers can’t seem to communicate at the first sign of trouble … and it only gets worse from there?
When will the enterprises realize that there is no perfect solution in this very complex and difficult industry?
When does an accurate inventory become the most important discussion point?
Everyone wants a great relationship, but enterprises oftentimes don’t let the vendors talk to the business owners during the initial sales process. How does that create a foundation for a successful relationship?
The Quarterly Business Review (QBR) … the focus needs to change. It’s not about all the great things we have done. We just love to drive from the rear-view mirror and you know how that ends up.
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 6: Building a Center of Excellence

What is a Telecom and Mobility Management Center of Excellence anyways?
Vendors and business customers really can work together to build a world class telecom and mobility management environment.
Who are the critical stakeholders on the vendor side and what role do they play?
Who are the critical stakeholders on the enterprise / buyer side and what role do they play?
Telecom and mobility management functions don’t need to be the support organization in your company – position it to be a driver of business results.
How do all parties show more value and contributions to the business?
Quotes, recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 7: Message to the Buyers

AOTMP®’s top five recommendations to buyers.
Recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Part 8: Message to the Sellers

AOTMP®’s top five recommendations to sellers.
Recommendations, or commitments from our sponsors.

Background

AOTMP® is a global organization, empowering professionals in the dynamic $4+ trillion telecom, mobility, and IT management industry. AOTMP® delivers value through training, certifications, association memberships, events & programs, best practices, publications, resources, and professional development. Learn more at www.aotmp.com.

As we watch many other industries become multi-billion-dollar industries, from the CRM industry to the bill payment industry to ITSM with ServiceNow growing to nearly $6 billion in 20 years, the TEM segment of our telecom, mobility, and IT management industry just continues to struggle. That’s concerning given the significant opportunities on both the buyer and seller side, which in turn drives the investor side. There are so many growth opportunities; however, they are offset by so many inhibitors. It all just says, as buyers and sellers, we just haven’t yet figured out how to execute. There is no reason we can’t work together and have billion-dollar telecom and mobility management vendors serving world-class telecom and mobility management Centers of Excellence, with both sides making a much more significant contribution to overall business results. So, the question is how do we move the industry forward? How do we move to a new level? Or can we? If not, what happens to the industry? Does the waste and inefficiency just continue, and we live with it? Do we just continue to make marginal improvement? Do we continue in the very fast-moving hamster wheel we live in? After all, we do have a lot of great vendors and a lot of great buyer environments, but not enough to make an industry out of the huge opportunity sitting in front of our eyes.

Given the multi-billion-dollar industry opportunity, offset by the significant growth inhibitors, we had to do something. We had to start. It will be like moving a mountain, but for the good of the industry, we had to take the first step. We started with two articles, the first focused on vendor recommendations for buyers followed by buyers’ recommendations for vendors. Then, in July, we held our first Industry Solution Showcase where we re-imagined how buyers and sellers connect. Now we are going to take it a step further and explore the industry, the challenges, and the opportunities, all in an eight-part series to be published in AOTMP® Insights.