Telecom expense and inventory management (TEIM) suppliers offer products and services designed to save companies money. Literally hundreds of suppliers say they are in this industry. We looked at the demand side for TEIM services by CIOs and IT Heads at Global 2000 companies, part of our 2008 Global Enterprise Telecommunications Survey. We find that most large multinational enterprises are looking for integrated TEIM suppliers capable of taking the TEIM functions out of their hands completely, with the key ingredient being a regional presence close to the headquarters of Global 2000 companies.

Our 2008 Global Enterprise Telecommunications Survey shows that while there is a need felt for TEIM systems and services, most suppliers of these services may not be meeting the demand criteria of their customers.

Here are some results of what is important to Global 2000 enterprises when it comes to TEIM solutions:

Global 2000 companies are looking to outsource TEIM functions. This is good news for companies such as ProfitLine, Control Point Solutions that offer BPO-based TEIM offerings. 66% of Global 2000 companies (329 out of 500 companies surveyed) felt that having a supplier that is capable of completely taking on all TEIM solutions on an outsourced basis, was an important value proposition when it came to selecting a TEIM vendor (rated 5 – 7 on a 7 point importance scale).

Pure software licenses or ASPs may only get traction among Global 2000 enterprises that have a geographically diversified workforce and only in specific industry segments. The executives we surveyed did not feel that a “software-only” or a “software-plus-ASP” model was an attractive value proposition for a TEIM solution. Only about 10% of respondents (50 out of the 500 respondents) felt that a software only or software-plus-ASP model was an important factor when selecting a TEIM vendor.

Value-added managed services such as telecom price benchmarking, RFP management, and carrier negotiations may need more traction among Global 2000 TEIM customers. Given the increasingly competitive environment in the TEIM vendor space, many TEIM suppliers have added new functions that traditionally have been outside of core or ancillary TEIM capabilities. For instance, many BPO/managed services TEIM suppliers (like ProfitLine) are entering the lucrative telecom price benchmarking, request for proposal (RFP), and service provider negotiations markets. Our survey results suggest that uptake of these value-added managed services may be slow among Global 2000 companies, with only 16% of Global 2000 companies saying that these value-added managed services are an important factor when considering a TEIM vendor.

Regional Presence close to Head Quarters of Global 2000 companies is important. IEMR’s 2008 Global Enterprise Telecommunications Survey found that most Global 2000 companies prefer to have their TEIM services rendered close to Head Quarters (HQ). 64.6% of respondents said that having a TEIM supplier delivering services in the country where their HQs are located was important.