In many instances, establishing a baseline or snapshot of the existing telecommunications deployments
is a desirable prerequisite to regular analysis and reporting services. This is the purpose of our
Discovery Services.
This is sometimes referred to as an ‘Audit’ but we don’t want to scare you! Establishing the true
state of your deployments can be a revealing exercise. The Discovery Services are primarily focused
on mobility deployments because that is where the majority of telecommunications issues exist in today’s
world.
Some setup is always required before the implementation of regular monthly reporting, but a formal
discovery process is scaled to address specific client needs, which may include:
Directories
A major organizational aspect of the reporting is the Employee Directory which embodies the clients’
organizational structure. Most analysis will be based on the directory information supplied and the
accuracy of subsequent reporting will be affected by that directory.
A complete Employee Directory listing containing the following information will be established:
- Employee First & Last Name
- Employee PBX Extension
- Cell Phone Numbers
- Department, Division, Cost Centre, etc.
An optional Customer Directory contains numbers of interest, such as external telephone
numbers for suppliers or employee home telephone numbers.
Equipment and Service Verification
This phase of the Discovery Services is where the bulk of the audit work is completed.
Activities include the following:
| Equipment: |
Verify the user information on all the units being billed by each provider which
includes cell phones, pagers, BlackBerrys, etc. This can be a full reconciliation
or a sampling.
|
| Plans: |
Verify that the appropriate local, long distance and roaming rates are being applied
based on the current service plan assigned to each unit. The review will be done on
a sample (10% - 25%) of the equipment assigned to each service plan. All service
plans will be examined.
|
| Billing: |
Using standard billing data available from your wireless suppliers, verify that the
data obtained from the service providers matches the invoices received and
cross-reference by:
- Total costs and number of units.
- The services included with each plan are not being charged separately.
- Any additions to a plan are being charged at the correct negotiated rate option.
- Verify and summarize the start and end date of the network plan agreement and
hardware agreement for each unit, based on the information supplied in the data
retrieval (i.e. ensure contract conformance to the online database).
|
| Usage: |
Review exceptional usage (high and low) through management or employee interviews.
The results may influence policies and practices in regards to device allocation and
service plan subscription.
|
Recommendations
This phase provides an analysis, comparison and recommendation of all the wireline and mobility
services, including:
- Plan and equipment changes based on user needs analysis.
- Recommend the most appropriate plans based on the previous quarter’s usage.
- Provide a summary of the optimal plans available from each provider for both voice and data usage.
- Provide a summary of the most appropriate hardware available from each provider for voice and data usage.
- Provide a summary of the cost impact of early cancellations.
At this point, at the discretion of client, we can assist in negotiations with providers based on
the clients’ requirements and the Discovery Service findings.
Policies and Practices
Smart Thought can assist the client in developing policies covering its wireless usage and deployments:
- Provide recommendations/best practices for controlling the issuing of new and replacement hardware.
- Provide recommendations/best practices for controlling the choosing of new and modified network service plans.
- Provide recommendations and sample policies for staff with multiple devices.
- Provide recommendations and sample policies for wireless units required for job function.
- Create user profiles to assist management in effective deployment of devices and service plans.