Wholesale Cost Management

This group is a newly constituted interest group within the Supply Chain/Supplier/Partner area of Revenue Management.

The supplier / partner cost assurance practice receives relatively less attention than its peer functions that comprise Revenue Management. However, in challenging economic times, where Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are struggling to unlock profits, the ability to identify and drive out waste (in the form of over-payments) demands significant attention than it currently draws.  This group acts as a catalyst to analyse the challenges around supplier / partner cost assurance and in so doing define standards and best practices in order to overcome these challenges.

To begin with the group focuses on those services provided by fellow CSPs but you will soon realize that the resulting process and procedure definitions may have resonance across any supply chain. This group sits within the supplier / partner relationship management horizontal tile.

The larger goal of the group is to establish cost assurance as a recognized function within the communications industry and help carriers squeeze out excess costs and develop processes to ensure that partner cost assurance is replicable and executed in an efficient manner. 

Initial deliverables envisaged include:

(1) A best practice guidance in supplier invoice reconciliation and supplier SLA management

(2) A series of KPIs to gauge and govern the success of Partner / Supplier cost assurance 

Among the intended audience is any CSP purchasing services from a fellow CSP (access circuits, bandwidth, minutes, content).  If you have contact with this audience, you should join the group and plan to participate.

The Partner Settlement group has touch points across many of the Fulfilment, Assurance and Billing vertical groups.