Meet Ted. Ted manages the technology infrastructure for a mid-sized, not-for-profit licensee of a major health insurance association. Ted deals with multiple vendors covering a myriad of service contracts. Constant organizational change and the need to streamline and increase efficiencies means Ted needs to be hyper-aware of these various agreements and stay vigilant of the latest technologies.
To that end, Ted sought to renegotiate contracted voice and data services with his global telecom provider. Ted suspected he was paying too much for services the company wasn’t really using and that there were efficiencies to be gained, but didn’t have the visibility or clarity to make an informed decision. Complicating matters and further muddying the waters, a significant portion of the telecom agreements were managed at the association level.
Ted needed a clear way to see all the current agreements and understand how each was being utilized within his company in order to decide on a strategic path forward to greater efficiencies and savings.
Enter Acculus.
Ted engaged Acculus to help make sense of the current state and assist with ongoing telecom contract negotiations. He wanted to avoid any fees associated with switching suppliers, but also wanted to achieve lower cost, improved terms, comprehensive scope, and favorable positioning for the next negotiation.
The team first had to understand what agreements were in place and how each were being utilized by Ted and his company. Acculus performed a detailed service audit and categorized each into primary buckets, including local, long distance, and data. Not surprisingly, these are all telecom services that Ted’s company depended on so the scale and impact of change for this particular project was glaring. It required a holistic approach to streamline the various agreements without negatively impacting the company’s ability to do business. This exercise helped Ted understand what services they were currently using and allowed him clarity to make more informed decisions. Although Ted did not want to switch providers, alternative quotes were obtained and used as leverage to compel the current provider to address all services and re-negotiate pricing.
Through persistence, process execution, and dedicated teamwork, nearly all the telecom contracts were renewed and all identified primary goals were achieved, including estimated savings of $5 million over three years. These savings were already being realized within a few weeks of final negotiations, and within a year actual savings totaled $3.5 million.
By grouping certain contract documents into one master contract and more closely aligning expiry dates, Ted now had greater visibility to the services his company was paying for. This would streamline future negotiations. Ted also had independent validation that he had the right-sized contracts for his company… all without disrupting the regular flow of business for his colleagues or the overarching association.
