Most people don’t wake up in the morning thinking about their company’s telecoms environment. They don’t think about the mobile network connecting their employees, the connectivity supporting their cloud applications, the voice services connecting them to customers or the network infrastructure moving information between offices, employees, suppliers and customers.
And that’s exactly the point.
We rarely notice telecoms when it’s working.
We notice it when it isn’t.
Until Everything Suddenly Stops
Imagine arriving at work tomorrow and discovering that your connectivity isn’t working.
Emails aren’t sending.
Teams calls aren’t connecting.
Your CRM is inaccessible.
Customers can’t get through to your business.
Employees working remotely can’t access the systems they need.
Branches can’t communicate with head office.
Cloud applications are suddenly unavailable.
Within minutes, something that normally sits quietly in the background becomes the most important issue in the organisation.
People start asking: “What’s happening with the network?”, “When will it be back?”,
“Who is fixing it?” and “How much business are we losing?”
It’s quite remarkable how quickly telecoms moves from being invisible to being everyone’s priority.
Telecom Has Become the Infrastructure Behind Everything
The traditional view of telecoms was phones, internet, mobile services and connectivity, which was relatively straightforward. But that view has changed quite a bit and modern business now depend on connectivity for almost every part of their operation. Here are just a few examples of the number of systems that rely on it:
- Cloud applications
- Microsoft 365
- Customer relationship management platforms
- Contact centres
- Video conferencing
- Online payment systems
- Cybersecurity platforms
- Remote working
- Digital collaboration
- IoT devices
- Business-critical applications
Reliability Isn’t the Same as Good Management
A telecoms environment that’s working today doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s being managed effectively or that it’s optimised. A business can have functioning connectivity while still having:
- Services it no longer needs
- Legacy infrastructure
- Complex supplier arrangements
- Poor visibility across its telecoms infrastructure
- Contracts that no longer reflect business requirements
- Limited understanding of usage and demand
It’s important to distinguish the difference between optimised and functioning.
The Challenge of Modern Connectivity
Telecoms environments are no longer static like they used to be with employees working from different locations and businesses operating across multiple offices and regions. Cloud applications have replaced many traditional on-premise systems and communication has moved from desk phones to mobile devices, unified communications and collaboration platforms. As these changes have occurred so have the businesses connectivity requirements and the challenge comes in when trying to ensure that the telecoms environment is evolving alongside the organisation.
Making the Invisible Visible
The ideal telecoms environment should work so seamlessly that employees don’t need to think about it. But those responsible for managing the business should have a clear understanding of what’s happening underneath the surface.
They should be able to see:
- What services exist
- Where they are being used
- How the environment is evolving
- What the business is dependent on
- Where potential risks exist
- How connectivity supports business requirements
That visibility becomes increasingly important as the telecoms environments become larger and more complex.
Technology Can Help
Modern Telecoms Expense Management Services (TEMS) can provide organisations with a more complete view of their telecoms environment.
Our Telegence platform helps bring telecoms information together, providing organisations with greater insight into their services, usage, spend and overall telecoms estate.
The objective isn’t simply to make telecoms cheaper but to make an environment that is often invisible understandable, measurable and manageable because you can’t effectively manage something you can’t see.
The next time your business sends an email, answers a customer call, joins a video call, accesses a cloud application or processes a digital transaction, consider what’s happening behind it all.
