Centralized Telecom
Billing
How Cisco IT Reduced Telecom
Costs Through Centralized
Invoice Tracking
A Cisco on Cisco Case Study: Inside Cisco IT
Presentation_ID
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
1
Overview
ƒ Challenge:
Consolidating all invoices and providing meaningful spending
details to users and managers
ƒ Solution:
A central corporate database with tools to automate invoice
reconciliation and report generation
ƒ Results:
Telecom spending has been reduced by 15% without taxing the
IT department
ƒ Next Steps:
Taking it global with support for international currencies
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© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
2
Challenge: Getting All the Facts
ƒ Consolidating corporate telecom expenses:
Invoices were coming in to multiple departments, locations
ƒ Giving managers the data they needed:
Without spending details, costs were not being controlled
ƒ Educating users:
Some employee’s were spending in excess of $1500 per month
on cellular and other services
ƒ Catching billing errors:
Manually checking invoices was labor intensive
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© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
3
Solution: Centralized Control
ƒ Corporate databases:
A centralized provisioning database tracks all vendors,
employees, and services. Invoice entry was outsourced.
Invoice
Update Database
START
Service or
Circuit
Ordered
via EMAN
Data Stored in
Central
Inventory
Database
Match Service
ID to DB
•EMAN Database
•Provisioning Group
•Vendor Research
ET Detail
Account 67100
Accounts Payable
Database
Approve Invoice
for Payment
Requires central database with the following information:
•Chargeback department
•Vendor account information
•UserName or support contact
Cisco IT Billing Metrics via above process:
ƒ70,000+ transactions/month
ƒ800+ invoices/month
ƒ$9 million/month
Presentation_ID
Research
Yes
Service Supplied
by Vendor
Payment to Vendor
No
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
Distribution File for
Chargeback to
Internal
Departments
REPORTS
Monthly Mgmt
Reports
High Usage
Reports
Accrue for Missing
Invoices at end
of Month
Auto Upload
to Oracle G/L
FINISH
4
Solution: Tools and User Education
ƒ Automatic invoice reconciliation:
The system flags overcharges, errors, and invoiced charges for
discontinued services or for ex-employees.
ƒ Services Expense Report Tool (SERT):
Detailed usage reports are generated for users and managers.
ƒ User Education:
“Top Talker” and “Tips & Tricks” raise visibility for big spenders
and guide users to adopt more cost-effective service habits.
Presentation_ID
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
5
Results: Telecom Expenses Drop By
15%
ƒ Billing errors caught:
Overcharges are flagged and vendors notified promptly
ƒ Increased spending awareness:
SERT reports inform users and managers about their spending
for each service
ƒ Changed behavior:
Users have been quick to adopt cost-saving suggestions
ƒ Beginnings of global entitlement guidelines
Presentation_ID
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
6
Next Steps: Taking it Global
ƒ Multiple currencies:
Tracking the effects of currency fluctuations on expenses will
allow managers to better budget for global teams
ƒ Extension of tools beyond the U.S.:
Europe, middle east, and Africa countries are being brought
online one country at a time
ƒ Services expansion:
Today the solution tracks client services; soon it will be able to
track and manage network circuits and other departmental
services
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© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Vital to the Program’s Success
ƒ Centralization of tracking data
ƒ Education of users
ƒ Executive-level support
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© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
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To read the entire case study, or for additional Cisco IT case studies on a
variety of business solutions, visit Cisco on Cisco: Inside Cisco IT
www.cisco.com/go/ciscoit
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© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cisco Public
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