Building a successful TEM system isn’t just about choosing the right technology. You also need the right telecom category management strategy in place from a business perspective. Here are seven steps to build a winning plan:
1. Define your vision.
Successful category managers and IT Leaders know the value of having a clear, understanding of their telecom and IT spend and inventory, built around an action-oriented category business plan that your team can rally around. It can be many things, from managing inventory contract and service end date renewals, planning out RFPs, defining your strategy for benchmark assessments, to redefining future state network design and supplier relationships across your supplier base. Make sure your vision is both aspirational enough to have an impact, and clear enough that the entire organization including your business partners can understand it.
2. Define your strategy.
Strategy is what makes your vision achievable. Say you want to have a clear understanding of every element of your IT inventory (a.k.a. your vision of euphoria). To achieve this, you must first define what euphoria looks like, e.g. service IDs, mobile device types, plans usage, capacity, service devices, parent child relationships defined etc. How will this data be collected i.e. by forming an internal project and team, completing a network audit, hiring third party consultants? It’s critical to plan your method for reaching your goals.
3. Define your business objectives.
Business objectives are where vision and strategy get translated into day-to-day work. A common mistake when implementing a new TEM system is to replicate in it all the old business objectives and processes, complete with their inefficiencies. Instead, view your implementation as an opportunity to review and optimize how you work.
4. Get your team on board.
Executive sponsorship is vital for your overall vision, TEM strategy, and business objectives — for a successful rollout. A lack of executive sponsorship is one of the top five factors contributing to TEM failure.
5. Identify the metrics.
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure” is an adage attributed to many business thinkers. Metrics should be visible to everyone, and this means creating dashboards for all levels of the organization, from sales reps and managers, to the executive team.
6. Prioritize your initiatives.
You’re not going to get everything done at once, so decide what’s most important to deliver first. Training is often the priority, so everyone is ready to use the new TEM system as soon as it is available.
7. Define your roadmap.
You shouldn’t look at building an effective TEM system as a “big bang” event. Yes, a successful rollout is vital, but being able to deliver enhancements and new features after you go live is equally important. Plan beyond launch day and consider what other capabilities you need to deliver for the business.