Telecom expense management platform CAAB Enterprise

Transcription

1 Telecom expense management platform CAAB Enterprise NEC Australia au.nec.com

2 Introduction CAAB Enterprise is a market leading Telecom Expense Management platform that enables organisations to manage and optimise their investment in Telecommunications. CAAB is a software based solution utilised by organisations in several modes including: Purchased and operated at the client premise. Managed Service where TSA provide all operational efforts including data collection and report generation. A combination of the above where the organisation owns the license and TSA provide the operational support for data collection and report generation. CAAB Enterprise has a date effective data model ensuring that you can track the allocations and charges accurately over time. For Hardware specifications appropriate for your Enterprise size, refer to the Environmental Requirements document. 2

3 Business benefits CAAB Enterprise has been designed to validate and allocate all forms of Telecommunications expenses. Reduction in telecom expenses There are several methods in which CAAB Enterprise can reduce overall Telecom Expense including: 1. Validation of Invoices from Telecom Carriers including checks on: a. Rates b. Rental Charges c. Valid Services d. Duplicate Invoices e. Mismatch in hard copy versus soft copy invoice f. Out of date charges g. Unapproved Transaction Types 2. Changing User Behaviour including informing users of potential breaches in fair use policy such as: a. High Cost Calls b. High Call Volume c. Long Duration Calls d. Web Sites Visited e. Files Downloaded f. Utilisation of Assets 3. Accurate Provisioning of Services a. Carrier ISDN Circuits b. End user equipment such as handsets, headsets, computers, licensing etc. c. Managing Telecom Contracts including start and end dates 4. Improving Negotiating Position with Telecom Carriers a. Modelling proposed rates and service charges against actual usage b. Managing and Controlling Carrier Inventory c. Remove reliance on Carrier based billing systems to allocate expenses to business units and end users 3

4 Improve overall productivity of process To achieve accurate validation and allocation of all Telecom Expenses requires significant effort by various areas of the organisation including the IT Department, Finance and often Human Resources. The processes used to perform these tasks are cumbersome and often inaccurate. CAAB resolves these issues by providing the following: 1. Automating the validation of the carrier invoices against your specific contractual terms 2. Automating the allocation of expenses by providing an interface to the organisations directory system to understand the business unit structures and end user s identities 3. Automating the integration to the organisation s financial system to enter charges into the General Ledger 4. A historical reporting interface to allow managers to query end user s expenses and behaviours over time 5. A historical reporting interface for end users to view and monitor their expenses and behaviours over time Reduce risk and increase visibility There are several methods for allowing organisations to reduce risk and increase visibility over telecom expenses and end user behaviours: 1. Monitoring inappropriate Internet content 2. Understanding how end users communicate with each other 3. Benchmarking individuals and departments against company targets 4. Identify compromised equipment such as telephone systems that are being used for toll fraud Overview of the Device Modules CAAB Enterprise has been designed to be very modular and scalable to meet the needs of medium to large organisations. 4

5 Following is an overview of the Core Modules needed. Each Module can be purchased independently and includes: Extension Expense Management This module is designed to collect usage records from one or more telephone systems deployed at the client premises. CAAB supports many different telephone systems and is committed to updating these interfaces as new makes and models are released from major vendors. Features include: 1. Collecting usage data in near real time to facilitate reporting before the carrier invoice arrives 2. Forensic tracing of both inbound and outbound calls 3. Monitoring behavioural use of extensions for statistics such as: a. Average Speed to Answer b. Average Talk Time c. Number of inbound versus outbound calls 4. Monitoring the congestion of routes and trunks Fixed Line Expense Management This module is designed to import your fixed line electronic invoice from multiple carriers to facilitate accurate validation and allocation of incurred expenses. CAAB currently supports the following Telco s: Telstra Optus AAPT There are various electronic invoice formats within each Telco. TSA makes every effort to keep up with these formats as they are released to market. All clients with a current maintenance agreement receive updates to these interfaces on a regular basis. Mobile Expense Management This module is designed to import your mobile electronic invoice from multiple carriers to facilitate accurate validation and allocation. CAAB currently supports the following Telcos: Telstra Optus Vodafone AAPT There are various electronic invoice formats within each Telco. TSA makes every effort to keep up with these formats as they are released to market. All clients with a current maintenance agreement receive updates to these interfaces on a regular basis. Internet Expense Management 1. Authenticating Users a. RADIUS b. CAAB Internet Access Client Software c. Web Portal 2. Reporting on usage by protocol for traffic. Examples include: a. HTTP (web pages) b. POP3, SMTP, IMAP ( ) c. FTP (file transfer) d. SIP (unified communications) e. Other protocols may require third party hardware with deep packet inspection 5

6 3. Reporting on specific behavioural elements such as: a. Top Web Sites Visited b. Top Files Downloaded 4. Sophisticated Classification of Traffic based on upstream provider such as: a. On and Off Net b. Domestic and International Video Expense Management This module is designed collect usage records from video conferencing equipment in order to allocate these costs to end users and business units. Features include: 1. Collecting usage data in near real time to facilitate reporting before the carrier invoice arrives 2. Forensic tracing of both inbound and outbound calls 3. Monitoring behavioural use of video end points for statistics such as: a. Average Talk Time b. Common Destinations c. Bandwidth Used Asset Expense Management This module is designed to track the ownership and allocate the costs associated with the various assets used in the Telecommunications infrastructure. This includes devices such as: Handsets Headsets Software Licenses Gateways Servers Workstations This module can be customised to interface into existing asset tracking systems that perform auto discovery techniques within the network to identify features and versions in use. Overview of optional modules Unified Reporting This module is designed to provide a self-service interface for staff, both at manager-level and end user level, to obtain usage and behavioural information such as: 1. Cost per device such as extension, mobile and data card 2. Historical trend per device 3. Benchmarking per device against organisational peers 4. Detailed call log of all inbound and outbound calls 5. Managers have visibility over all staff and sub-units under them 6. Managers also have access to the Reporting tab to run detailed reports against their staff and business units 6

7 CAAB Enterprise and the Unified Reporting portal are enforced by a complex security model, based upon per user logins, and per functional roles. Roles and visibility can be customised to suit your organisation s needs. 7

8 Directory Synchronisation This module is used to automate the process of identifying: 1. Who people are 2. What business unit they belong to 3. What devices they use 4. What their association is in the financial system 5. What permissions the users have This information is often obtained from multiple directory systems and consolidated using CAAB. The process is commonly scheduled to run on a daily basis to increase the accuracy of the allocation over time. This information is contained within the date effective structures of CAAB Enterprise ensuring that historical data is reported accurately. Interfacing to these directories is performed by mechanisms such as LDAP, CSV import and SQL query. Operator Directory Client This module is designed to provide a high speed lookup and maintenance directory tool for users who handle a high volume of calls. Features include: 1. Customisable interface 2. Sub second search on any field in the directory 3. Offline local database in the event of network or server failure 4. Ability to edit the directory to update user and device information 8

9 Data Quota Management This module is designed to provide a mechanism to control the Internet access capabilities of users across multiple devices and access mechanisms. Quota management is aware of the: Subscriber Device Application in use Network Congestion Peak and Off Peak Conditions Quota is managed across all devices including: Wired Computers Wireless Devices Mobile Phones Servers There are many sophisticated quota techniques including: 1. Rate limiting specific protocols and domains 2. Rate limiting specific traffic classes such as On and Off Net as well as Domestic and International traffic based on the classification of the upstream provider 3. Rolling quotas where a user s traffic is measured within a moving time frame such as the last 30 days or within a fixed period such as calendar month Users manage their quota via a web page providing detailed information on past internet sessions, active sessions, and data consumption. 9

10 Administrators may view and generate data to analyse: User data usage and quota purchase history Device data usage and quota history Generate reports showing data usage across Business Units Generate reports showing data usage across Cost Centre Generate reports for whole of business Reports generated by administrators may be exported for further analysis using traditional tools. 10

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12 For more information, visit au.nec.com, or call About NEC Australia. NEC Australia is a leading technology company, delivering a complete portfolio of ICT solutions and services to large enterprise, small business and government organisations. We deliver innovative solutions to help customers gain greater business value from their technology investments. NEC Australia specialises in information and communications technology solutions and services in multi-vendor environments. Solutions and services include: IT applications and solutions development, unified communications, complex communications solutions, network solutions, display solutions, identity management, research and development services, systems integration and professional, technical and managed services. CAAB Enterprise v NEC Australia Pty Ltd reserves the right to change product specifications, functions, or features, at any time, without notice. Please refer to your local NEC representatives for further details. Although all efforts have been made to ensure that the contents are correct, NEC shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages resulting from the use of the equipment, manual or any related materials. The information contained herein is the property of NEC Australia Pty Ltd and shall not be reproduced without prior written approval from NEC Australia Pty Ltd. Copyright 2014 NEC Australia Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. NEC, NEC logo, and UNIVERGE are trademarks or registered trademarks of NEC Corporation that may be registered in Japan and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. Printed in Australia. Note: This disclaimer also applies to all related documents previously published. Australia Corporate Headquarters (Japan) NEC Australia Pty Ltd NEC Corporation au.nec.com North America (USA) NEC Corporation of America Asia Pacific (AP) NEC Asia Pacific Europe (EMEA) NEC Enterprise Solutions