Where do I start?

You have been mandated to take on the wonderful experience and sometimes hilarious and complex world of outsourcing. You need to find a Telecom Agent who will be your eyes and ears in the convoluted world of telecommunications. Where to start! I recently read an article that laid it out in a nutshell. Unless you have the in-house expertise, this is an area that is best left to those who have the patience, humour and knowledge of the industry. Trust me on this one.....Lots of patience is needed and this sprinkled with humour will keep your Agent going like the energizer bunny. There are so many things to consider and the list of services that an Agent may or may not offer is so widespread that it is hard to determine a finite structure. For this reason, I will break this into several posts related to the topic at hand. This is in no means a definitive list of services, however, it is written with a bit of humour and a safe place to land where you can obtain food for thought. I hope you enjoy reading it.

1. A Telecom Agent takes a holistic approach to the industry and will give you the good, the bad and the ugly and you can tap into their wealth of knowledge since this is what they breathe, eat and sleep.

2. An Agent understands your business needs and preferences. This is a relationship that is nurtured and will sustain the test of time whereas you may need to repeat your needs to the telco/vendor every few years when they rotate their Account team. This can be painful if you are dealing with more than one telco/vendor.

3. An Agent has your best interest at heart and is invested in your success. Let me simply say that the benefits of utilizing a Telecom Agent can be a blessing when you start weighing the efficiencies gained for the Payable function such as electronic invoicing, electronic payment, automate ways to reduce errors, maintain more accurate records and speed up the payable process. Other huge benefits are the single point of accountability, the reduced Administrative hassles, cost reduction, maximizing efficiencies, immediate results and win back productivity time for internal resources along with simplified streamlined processes.

Definitely more on this topic in a future blog.