ETMA the Enterprise Technology Management Association, announces a new initiative to build on its recent Inventory Standards paper (https://etma.org/4379-2/). The focus will be on Bill Quality. It is releated to inventory because bills contain inventory information. This is an opportunity for Carriers, IT, Cloud and Cable companies to join with enterprises and ETMA members to frame “Bill of Rights” for what should be included in customer bills.
Chris Lee, ETMA At Large Board Member and CEO of InvoiceIQ, stated, “Often we hear there is no funding to improve bills, but service providers should consider that bills, the data in the bills and how they are delivered are an integral part of the product that communications, and IT providers sell. We will create a win-win-win outcome for enterprises, TEM and MMS Solutions Providers, Carriers, Operators, IT Providers and Cable Companies. This is an opportunity for firms with better bills to capture more business.”
Initial plans call to:
- Develop a directory of carrier contacts for ETMA members.
- Proactively discuss billing issues and improvements on monthly web conferences for ETMA members that feature carrier billing personnel.
- Establish a communications conduit for upcoming format changes to bills and billing issues.
- Publish an Industry Guide – to define bill standards. (Providers will be able to benchmark: set-up; transmission; content: completeness/level of detail and support.)
- A State of Billing report on current and new issues/challenges.
Larry Foster, EVP of Calero Software LLC said, “ETMA working with Carriers and our Enterprise clients can help transform from the legacy mindset that billing data is simply a periodic accounting and allocation of charges. The business world is rapidly adopting on-demand PayGO services. Billing data is a continuous stream of business intelligence that enterprises and solutions providers can use to optimize their business. Billing improvements enable business analytics and help create a compelling value proposition for enterprises that is underpinned by the collaboration of TEM and MMS solutions providers with Carriers, Operators, Cloud Service Providers and Cable Companies.”
Neil Buckley, Managing Director of Apex Business Intelligence, said, “As our firm begins to move into technology management, Carriers and Cable companies need to realize that Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) are encroaching into their areas. Most CSPs provide APIs to access all the details related to invoices, daily usage feeds and configuration items. In many cases, we find this information is more robust than the information available from legacy providers. By aligning and standardising their billing to end customer and TEM provider standards, they stand to benefit in terms of customer retention, and they could also use it as a sales tool to gain additional business.”
Dean Keeler, Vice President of Operations, CTO of AMI Strategies, said, “This seems like a natural fit for ETMA. Improvements in bills will help all parties reduce unnecessary expenses and overhead in an area of inefficiencies caused by billing deficiencies. This will enable our market to focus on areas that provide greater value to enterprise customers.”
ETMA welcomes feedback on this initiative online through its website. The Bill Quality Coalition will meet each month to work though issues and at its upcoming April 2-4 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee where the meeting theme will be “Managing in the Age of Disruption.” Speakers will address: What areas are likely to disrupt our market? There will also be a spotlight on ways to profit from disruption and partner with emerging players to increase profits.
About ETMA
ETMA’s ongoing mission is to raise awareness, to improve the quality and value of solutions and to cultivate shared industry knowledge for Enterprise Technology Management, Managed Services, Expense Management, Telecommunications Management, Telecom Expense Management, TEM, Mobile Expense Management, Managed Mobility Services, MMS, Mobile Device Management MDM and Enterprise Mobility Management, EMM solutions. ETMA seeks to do this through the development and promotion of open industry standards, and industry knowledge among solutions providers, business partners, telecom service providers, and enterprise clients. Further, ETMA members subscribe to a Code of Ethics, which clearly establishes standards and differentiates their level of commitment to their clients.
Learn more about ETMA online at https://www.etma.org
Twitter: @ETMAssoc | LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2015779
