Services
We Can Help at Any Contract Stage
Contracts can be opened at any time. Though, different carrier leverages and negotiation strategies must be applied depending upon the current contractual situation, carrier liabilities and the long-term plans of your business.
The carriers operate in a highly competitive and dynamic environment. The contract negotiation process is their primary tool to retain margin, maintain market share and secure long-term revenue. It is understandable that the carriers have devoted a great deal of time and resources to perfect negotiations to ensure they receive the most favorable outcome.
After a lengthy and intensive carrier negotiation, many companies feel they have earned the best possible rates, terms and conditions for their business. They believe that large commitments and market changes drove savings. However, after conducting, leading and witnessing literally thousands of negotiations, G2 has seen that the majority of companies never reach their potential, despite revenue commitments, internal efforts, brand or carrier relationship.
As single-focused experts, G2 has developed specific strategies to address multiple negotiation scenarios and best-in-class solutions to help you better manage your business.
Our Services
- Mid-Term Negotiations
- Multiple-Carrier RFP
- Carrier Consolidation
- Incumbent-Only
- Wireless Optimization
- End-of-Term Negotiations
- Recently Executed Contracts
- Terms & Conditions
- Commitment Shortfalls
- International Negotiations
- TEM Sourcing Advisory
- Restructuring
- Mergers/Acquisitions
- Shared Services
- Advisory Services
Mid-Term Negotiations
Contracts can be opened at any time. Though, different carrier leverages and negotiation strategies must be applied depending upon the current contractual situation, carrier liabilities and the long-term plans of your business.
Mid-Term negotiations are necessary to truly maximize long-term savings. Often, misconceptions prevent enterprises from taking advantage of very sizeable savings opportunities.
In our practice within this narrow space of the telecom industry, we can immediately and with 100% success negotiate world-class pricing through mid-term negotiations. Carrier contracts can be opened up and evaluated at any time.
We use our Insider Knowledge and Benchmark Intelligence to go beyond just creating new agreements and savings through market rate decreases. By definition, most deals signed on any given date will be average. G2 aggressively leverages the carriers to provide leading-edge pricing, terms and conditions provided only to the top 2% of the market.
- Maximizes long-term savings
- Strategy may be Incumbent-Only or Multiple Carrier RFP
- Certain and immediate opportunity for major cost reduction
- Any delay results in lost savings that cannot be recovered
- Carriers want customers to pay high rates for as long as possible
- Current carrier commitments are minimized and managed appropriately
- A competitive RFP is not necessary to leverage carriers for world-class pricing
- No carrier or technology migration is necessary
- Purely a financial exercise to reduce costs
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Multiple-Carrier RFP
Telecom RFP’s are the most time consuming, tedious and difficult sourcing exercises – and they do not guarantee the best results.
G2 leads and manages the entire RFP process covering all aspects of data collection, inventory creation, document development, carrier administration, process management, timeline enforcement, proposal evaluations, savings analysis, Carrier Coaching, legal reviews and rate implementation validation.
However, the competitive RFP environment is not enough. Incumbents know they do not need to approach non-incumbent pricing due to migration costs. Non-incumbent carriers rarely provide enough savings to justify network migrations because they believe the incumbent will naturally win. Simply put, non-incumbents are motivated to protect disclosing their best rates in an environment where historically they lose over 90% of the time. As a third party, professional negotiator using our Benchmark Intelligence and Insider Knowledge, we force the carriers to dismiss these notions and provide their absolute best-in-class contracts.
Vendor perceptions, motivations and reservations can only be managed by consultants with experience as true carrier negotiators.
- We deliver savings earlier through our 6 to 8 week process
- Our 100% management of the RFP reduces your internal time and resources by 95%
- Carriers are invited based upon your selection or our recommendations
- Only with extreme savings and sound business principles will G2 recommend carrier migration
- We provide the statistical information to all carriers so that incumbents and non-incumbents have the same information to create a pure competitive environment
- 100% of our negotiations include the Tier-1 local, long distance and wireless carriers
- Our streamlined RFP is founded on each clients’ specific requirements and single-focused on improving carrier contracts
- We provide all the carriers with the statistical information they need to price your business aggressively
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Carrier Consolidation
The first step in combining services is contractually consolidating carriers. Carrier and contract consolidations result in more elastic commitments, streamlined and simplistic procurement processes, centralized and consolidated carrier invoices, deeper discounts and overall flexibility for your business.
Carrier Minimum Annual Commitments (MAC/MARC) and other liabilities are purposeful and inhibit companies from strategically managing their telecom volumes. While commitments cannot be completely eliminated, leverage can be applied in the negotiation to better manage your carriers and ultimately consolidate your business.
Carrier consolidation is defined to be both internal and external. Internal consolidation occurs when the products and service categories with the same carrier are brought under one contract and one commitment. External consolidation is the pulling together of multiple carrier services under a primary (and perhaps secondary) carrier while eliminating other vendors.
Companies almost never have their complement of carrier agreements be “Coterminous.” Typically, every contract has a unique end date, therefore precluding consolidation. The solution is not a quick fix. The first step is to negotiate all carriers across the board (both Mid-Term and Incumbent-Only negotiations will be the predominate strategy) and put all carrier agreements under the same start date and consolidate internally. During this initial negotiation, carrier leverages may exist to implement some external consolidation based upon uncommitted revenue. The second step occurs during subsequent negotiations when all carrier agreements expire on the same date and any further consolidation is desired.
- G2 negotiates coterminous agreements across all carriers and service types
- Consolidating carriers and agreements results in streamlined and efficient procurement processes
- Centralized invoicing through account and service consolidation
- Establish true single point of contacts and vendor management
- Our precedents allows us to remedy the carriers purposeful voice and data contract segregation
- Consolidate local, long distance and wireless under a single carrier contract with a single commitment
- Better leverage your business with incumbent carriers for future negotiations and with more options
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Incumbent-Only
G2 does not rely upon a competitive environment, large commitments or other commonly held carrier leverages that are utilized to extract carrier savings. We hold the carriers to a simple standard. We know the very best rates in the industry, the Top 2%, and we hold your carrier to this requirement.
In order to maximize long-term savings, Carrier agreements should be opened up and negotiated when sufficient leverage exists and market changes allow. It is not necessary to wait for the end-of-term to leverage incumbent carriers for better price points. Over 50% of our practice is negotiating solely with the incumbent carrier, where a competitive environment does not exist.
It is a misconception that a Multiple Carrier RFP (Request for Proposal) is the only way to extract the largest amount of savings during a contract negotiation. As an independent consultancy, and as former carrier negotiators, we have the immediate credability needed to instill the threat of loss even when negotiating solely with an incumbent carrier. Our benchmark intelligence gives us the ability to identify the leading edge of the market and the authority to request of the carriers the specific price points, terms and conditions to create a World Class agreement at any time.
The strategy with the carriers is simple, either write down your business today or lose it tomorrow.
- We leverage our benchmark intelligence to extract savings that is identical as to what that carrier would offer in a fully competitive RFP
- Negotiations result in a pure decrease in cost with zero impact to service or end users
- An RFP is not necessary to maximize leverage with your incumbent carrier
- Through carrier coaching we help the carrier help themselves in retaining your business
- We utilize a Carrier Requirements LetterSM that is detailed on the price points, terms and conditions necessary to retain your business
- This strategy remains 100% successful in over a decade of professionally negotiating contracts
- 50% of the negotiations we conduct are incumbent only
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Wireless Optimization
The Wireless industry requires customers to pay a significant price for unused minutes or for “overage” minutes that cost the carriers the same as a standard “plan” minute. Every month that a company is billed for wireless accounts that are not optimized represents one month of charges that can never be recovered.
Negotiations must be conducted in conjunction with a wireless optimization. Wireless Optimizations alone do not maximize savings.
With G2, Wireless Optimization is a mechanism to decrease cost coupled with a streamlined provisioning mapping process. Complicated carrier billing formats, ever changing rate plans & features, and unstable end user usage volumes creates a wireless environment that is clearly in favor of the carriers. We change the paradigm in which wireless services are procured by extracting wireless billing and usage data at the lowest carrier billing element and benchmarking current price points against the leading edge of the market. G2 forensically aligns each and every wireless subscriber line and all associated plans, usage, discounts & features with World Class pricing to enforce an enterprise-wide strategy directed at minimizing cost and maximizing flexibility.
- Immediate opportunity for cost reduction so why wait for savings that are non recoverable
- Pure financial exercise with no impact to service or disruption to end-users
- There is typically no carrier or technology migration
- Optimization alone will not produce the savings our clients require, a true optimization must also include the negotiation of industry leading plans & pricing
- With an accurate inventory and volume trend, we establish the optimal rate plan configuration for each subscriber line based on unique usage & feature requirements
- We create, at the most granular carrier billing & inventory level, a detailed analysis of your voice and data usage trends, feature procurement and overall wireless consumption volume that is unavailable utilizing standard carrier reporting platforms
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
End-of-Term Negotiations
We use our Insider Knowledge and Benchmark Intelligence to go beyond just creating new agreements and savings through market rate decreases. By definition, most deals signed on any given date will be average. G2 aggressively leverages the carriers to provide leading-edge pricing, terms and conditions provided only to the top 2% of the market
Agreements that are near the end of their term typically have the fullest flexibility regarding negotiation strategies. Common strategies are either a fully competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) or an incumbent only bid. In either scenario, as former carrier negotiators, G2 has the instant and full credibility needed to apply the appropriate leverage points and employ the most aggressive strategy. Many things need to be evaluated in a new negotiation such as technology changes, network migration costs and any possible commitment shortfalls.
Telecom RFP’s are the most time consuming, tedious and difficult sourcing exercises. G2 leads and manages the entire RFP process – data collection, inventory creation, document development, carrier administration, process management, timeline enforcement, proposal evaluations, savings analysis, Carrier Coaching, legal reviews and rate implementation validation. However, the competitive RFP environment is not enough. Incumbents know they do not need to approach non-incumbent pricing because of migration costs. Non-incumbent carriers rarely provide enough savings to justify network migrations because they believe the incumbent will naturally win. Simply put, non-incumbents are motivated to protect disclosing their best rates in an environment where historically they lose over 90% of the time. As a third party, professional negotiator using our Benchmark Intelligence and Insider Knowledge, we force the carriers to dismiss these notions and provide their absolute best-in-class contracts.
It is also a misconception that a Multiple Carrier RFP (Request for Proposal) is the only way to extract the largest amount of savings during a contract negotiation. As an independent consultancy and former carrier negotiators, we have the immediate creditability needed to instill the threat of loss even when negotiating solely with an incumbent carrier. Utilizing our benchmark intelligence to identify the leading edge of the market we have the authority to request of the carriers the specific price points, terms and conditions to create a World Class agreement at any time.
- Depending on negotiation strategy an RFP may or may not be necessary, an RFP is not needed to apply the proper amount of leverage with the carriers to obtain leading edge rates
- We have the precedents to thwart carrier threats of reverting to tariffed rates
- We can manage the negotiation process even past contract expiration dates while eliminating any carrier-imposed liabilities due to expired agreements
- With contract expiration dates fast approaching, we can prepare and create the necessary customized inventory in less than two weeks
- We typically close out negotiations in 6-8 weeks
- Through carrier coaching we help the carrier help themselves in retaining your business
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Recently Executed Contracts
Agreements that have been recently signed are without question the most difficult to negotiate. However, applying G2’s superior resources can establish savings that are as drastic as if the agreements were at the end of their term.
Ethics, fair business practices and legal terms confine a company to live up to signed contractual documents. That being said, as former carrier negotiators with insider knowledge, G2 has the instant and full credibility needed to apply the appropriate pressures on the carrier to open those agreements up and maximize long term savings. As a credible third party, G2 shifts leverages away from the carriers through managing commitments to a minimum, positioning unprofitable price points and establishing the overall threat of loss. The ultimate position is that the carriers need to concede to G2’s pricing requirements or this will be the beginning of the end for the relationship. The concept is simple; the carriers write down their business today or lose it tomorrow.
The best way to see if there is an opportunity for cost reduction is to allow G2 to conduct a risk free Value Assessment of where your new contractual rates lie in the market.
- Carrier contracts and associated commitments can be “opened up” and evaluated at any time
- Telecom expenses that are billed at correct contractual rates, regardless of whether or not those rates are competitive, are non recoverable. If a telecom contract has recently been executed, time is of the essence to verify if those rates are leading edge
- Even in newly signed agreements we can hold the carriers accountable for supplying non competitive rates
- Although this is incumbent only and early in term negotiation, if the carrier does not perform to our requirements we will manage the commitments to a minimum
- We can set the stage for instilling with the carrier the threat of loss
- 50% of the negotiations we conduct are incumbent only
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Terms & Conditions
Establishing a best in class telecommunications contract does not end with negotiating leading edge pricing, best in class terms and conditions are equally as powerful.
Price points are constantly changing but there is a limit as to how good terms and conditions can get. G2 knows the very best terms & conditions in the market and leverages that knowledge and precedent in every negotiation we conduct. In order to provide your company with the flexibility it needs, while minimizing your liabilities with the carriers, terms and conditions need to be established that relate to your business – not just the carrier’s. The largest strength is the knowledge of what the carriers are willing to concede.
Do not let the carriers enforce an agreement that only protects their interests and security. G2 negotiates terms and conditions that equally protect yours.
- With our experience as carrier negotiators we have been witness to the very best terms and conditions offered
- The terms and conditions we negotiate minimize your carrier liabilities and maximize your flexibility
- Terms and conditions are typically standard and off the shelf. We negotiate terms and conditions that are specific to the needs of your business while further gaining flexibility within your commitments
- Carriers will often claim that many points within proposed terms and conditions are standard and non negotiable. We have the insider knowledge and precedents to dispel those claims
- Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Quality of Service (QoS) standards can be extremely difficult to negotiate but can have powerful impacts to your business when negotiated to the leading edge of what the carriers will concede to
- Best in class rates are not reliant upon large commitments
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Commitment Shortfalls
No company should ever pay shortfall penalties to the carriers.
G2 has the precedents to know what the carriers are willing to concede to when attempting to apply shortfall penalties. The reality is, carriers attempt to use volume commitments as a ploy to offer better rates. Through our experience as former carrier negotiators, G2 has the Insider Knowledge to dispel what the carriers want you to believe. Volumes and price points are not linear. When a client is facing shortfall penalties, G2 will stop the carriers from applying those penalties based on the precedents we have, establish a commitment that is appropriate for the client’s volume of business and most likely reduce costs. G2 can accomplish this because we have the instant and full credibility with the carriers to establish that the volume commitments enforced were inappropriate in the first place.
The fundamental argument is a simple one. No one knows your volumes better than the carriers themselves so why would they allow you to over commit yourself?
- Carriers use shortfall penalties as leverage to force you into a new bad deal
- Commitments are arbitrary and should not be imposed for better pricing
- We are a source of precedents to hold the carrier accountable for their inequitable correlation between price points and commitments
- We have seen countless carrier contracts that have the same price points as yours with half the volume commitments
- We have the experience and credibility to hold the carriers accountable for imposing commitments on you that were improper
- The carriers know your usage and spend volumes better than you do
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
International Negotiations
G2’s experience negotiating international telecom services, both wireless and wireline, is extensive through over a decade as a consultancy and also in terms of negotiations on behalf of the carriers. Due to the scope and size of clients that G2 represents the majority of our negotiations include many components of international negotiations. Most of these negotiations involve complex, multipoint wireline network services that span the full spectrum of MPLS, Private Line, Frame Relay and International Access. Our expertise is inclusive of international locations throughout Canada, Latin America, South America, virtually all of Europe, Australia, and Asia (with an extensive focus on Pac-Rim countries).
Within the carrier-world, there were many instances of negotiations that took place that incorporated wireless concerns. Specifically, G2’s Cofounder & President John Sinsley negotiated Sprint’s contract agreement with Iridium, a unique carrier with an expansive global reach. Other companies that were negotiated by John for international concerns (he was lead for National Accounts and all of Sprint’s Government Accounts) include Boeing-Rockwell, Exxon, NASA, the operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Office of the White House, and the former FTS-2000 bid that was won jointly by Sprint and MCI.
G2 feels that international-specific negotiations for segments of business do not dramatically differ from the domestic US – though, we recognize that the domestic US is “much more easily” served in many capacities. It is commonplace that many carriers with domestic concerns have strategic counterparts internationally, so there are two points of contact to work through on the “account team” basis, and furthermore on the financial, decision-making side of business negotiations.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
TEM Sourcing Advisory
Typically, cost reduction is not the only driver for outsourcing. It has the potential to have a significant impact on business through improving the quality of operations and administrative services along with reducing fixed and variable costs. Establishing the right outsourcing solution can result in substantial optimization of critical business functions.
G2 is the leader in Outsourcing Advisory Services specific to the narrow industry of Telecom Expense Management & Mobile Device Management. Through these advisory services, we provide our clients with the strategic business expertise and operational experience needed to create the foundation for successful sourcing solutions and partnerships. When engaging in a sourcing relationship, it is imperative to establish value now and flexibility for the future.
From the needs assessment to implementation, all the way through to vendor performance management, our experts have the fullest depth and capabilities in all areas of TEM & MDM to manage and support every step of the outsourcing lifecycle. With so many outsourcing options (SaaS/hosted, licensed or BPO/managed) and a vast array of TEM suppliers, our Insider Knowledge of the industry is an essential asset in analyzing the cost and risk, implementing the right sourcing solution and minimizing the impact to business. The result, increased process efficiencies and deep sourcing savings that directly impact your bottom line and further increase profitability.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Restructuring
With so many industries in a very fragile state, it is not uncommon for an organization to find itself in a distressed situation. There are a multitude of opportunities and solutions that can provide relief to a company in distress. One such opportunity is often overlooked. The opportunity to decrease telecommunications expenses and minimize carrier contract liabilities can have a significant positive impact to a business. Telecom expenses are generally a top five, non-core expense with annual spends ranging from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
In business, a dollar saved does not translate to a dollar earned. A dollar saved equates to twenty dollars in new revenues. Over G2’s near decade of helping clients reduce telecom expenses through strategic sourcing and contract negotiation services we have saved our clients 35.6% on average. An example of the impact G2 can have on a distressed company is illustrated by some very simple, yet proven math.
_____________________________________________________________
Annual Telecom Expense – $1,200,000
Cost Reduction via G2 – 35.6%
Annual Cost Reduction – $427,200
Cost Reduction translated to new revenues – $8,544,000
_____________________________________________________________
The savings opportunity and financial relief that G2 can deliver is immediate. Our typical telecom negotiation and cost reduction process is initiated and completed with in eight weeks with zero impact to business. These savings stem from a pure financial exercise that is 100% led and managed by G2. If your business is restructuring you cannot afford to over look one of your largest expenses.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Mergers/Acquisitions
The merging of two or more companies is an extremely complex and difficult task. Every phase in the acquisition or merger process has a very high probability of costly and time-consuming errors being encountered. The most successful mergers follow a structured and focused road map with clear strategic objectives, detailed implementation plans and a focus on minimizing disruptions to business.
One of the many M&A complexities is the alignment and consolidation of telecommunications networks, inventories, carriers, buying agreements and carrier support teams. A disciplined approach to managing a successful telecom consolidation lies in the leadership and execution. G2’s experience provides companies undergoing M&A’s with the detailed framework, strategic objectives and flexible approach to provide a customized solution to successfully accomplish what is other wise a daunting task.
ANALYZE – EXECUTE – INTEGRATE
We fully understand that each company has internal resources that have direct responsibility over specific segments of the day-to-day telecom and information technology business operations. G2 interacts with those teams to identify where improvements should be made in order to fully capture the value of the M&A. Properly merged networks, consolidated carrier agreements and improved pricing, terms and conditions result in drastic cost reductions and process efficiencies.
- Carrier billing and invoice extraction, compilation and consolidation
- Inventory and Network Services Profile creation and analysis
- Cross network analysis
- Carrier agreements vs network services GAP analysis
- Current pricing vs Benchmark evaluation
- New, consolidated carrier agreement negotiations, entire negotiation process managed by G2
- Commitment volume management, carrier liability control
- Strategic telecom sourcing strategies for cost containment supporting long term growth and profitability
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Shared Services
Today’s environment for corporate executives is filled with stringent shareholder demands, highly dynamic markets and ever-changing technologies. Even after achieving drastic cost reductions and increases to productivity, there is still no relief from the next generation of business obstacles. These challenges coupled with decentralized environments stemming from mergers, acquisitions and partnerships make today’s world for business leaders a difficult one. Within this nest of challenges lies a very real and growing problem – how to manage telecom sourcing with severe decentralization and disparate business units.
Through G2’s Shared Services Advisory solutions we lead clients in assessing, consolidating and executing world-class telecom agreements, thus streamlining telecom sourcing and drastically reducing costs. Leveraging the telecom volumes and commitments of stand alone business units, consolidating carriers and carrier agreements, minimizing liabilities and applying rates that are at the leading edge of the market has a powerful impact on business.
- Carrier migration and consolidation
- Inventory and Network Services Profile creation and analysis
- Coterminous and consolidated carrier agreement execution
- Contract negotiation process 100% led and managed by G2
- Single POC for carrier support teams
- Leveraged volume commitments
- Carrier agreements vs network services GAP analysis
- Current pricing vs Benchmark evaluation
- Commitment volume management, carrier liability control
- Managed telecom sourcing strategies for cost containment supporting long term growth and profitability
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Advisory Services
G2 provides Advisory Services to Fortune 500 and Global 100 companies across all industries. Our clients are some of the most well-known names in business with telecom infrastructures spanning across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Companies face similar struggles but not all scenarios are the same. By employing certain segments of G2’s core competency, Telecom Contract Negotiations, we can apply niche solutions to address specific client environment needs. Whether a company is facing mergers & acquisitions, experiencing business downturns & restructuring or working to centralize disparate business units G2’s results driven solutions can provide the crucial leadership necessary to achieve corporate goals.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Mid-Term Negotiations
Contracts can be opened at any time. Though, different carrier leverages and negotiation strategies must be applied depending upon the current contractual situation, carrier liabilities and the long-term plans of your business.
Mid-Term negotiations are necessary to truly maximize long-term savings. Often, misconceptions prevent enterprises from taking advantage of very sizeable savings opportunities.
In our practice within this narrow space of the telecom industry, we can immediately and with 100% success negotiate world-class pricing through mid-term negotiations. Carrier contracts can be opened up and evaluated at any time.
We use our Insider Knowledge and Benchmark Intelligence to go beyond just creating new agreements and savings through market rate decreases. By definition, most deals signed on any given date will be average. G2 aggressively leverages the carriers to provide leading-edge pricing, terms and conditions provided only to the top 2% of the market.
- Maximizes long-term savings
- Strategy may be Incumbent-Only or Multiple Carrier RFP
- Certain and immediate opportunity for major cost reduction
- Any delay results in lost savings that cannot be recovered
- Carriers want customers to pay high rates for as long as possible
- Current carrier commitments are minimized and managed appropriately
- A competitive RFP is not necessary to leverage carriers for world-class pricing
- No carrier or technology migration is necessary
- Purely a financial exercise to reduce costs
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Multiple-Carrier RFP
Telecom RFP’s are the most time consuming, tedious and difficult sourcing exercises – and they do not guarantee the best results.
G2 leads and manages the entire RFP process covering all aspects of data collection, inventory creation, document development, carrier administration, process management, timeline enforcement, proposal evaluations, savings analysis, Carrier Coaching, legal reviews and rate implementation validation.
However, the competitive RFP environment is not enough. Incumbents know they do not need to approach non-incumbent pricing due to migration costs. Non-incumbent carriers rarely provide enough savings to justify network migrations because they believe the incumbent will naturally win. Simply put, non-incumbents are motivated to protect disclosing their best rates in an environment where historically they lose over 90% of the time. As a third party, professional negotiator using our Benchmark Intelligence and Insider Knowledge, we force the carriers to dismiss these notions and provide their absolute best-in-class contracts.
Vendor perceptions, motivations and reservations can only be managed by consultants with experience as true carrier negotiators.
- We deliver savings earlier through our 6 to 8 week process
- Our 100% management of the RFP reduces your internal time and resources by 95%
- Carriers are invited based upon your selection or our recommendations
- Only with extreme savings and sound business principles will G2 recommend carrier migration
- We provide the statistical information to all carriers so that incumbents and non-incumbents have the same information to create a pure competitive environment
- 100% of our negotiations include the Tier-1 local, long distance and wireless carriers
- Our streamlined RFP is founded on each clients’ specific requirements and single-focused on improving carrier contracts
- We provide all the carriers with the statistical information they need to price your business aggressively
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Carrier Consolidation
The first step in combining services is contractually consolidating carriers. Carrier and contract consolidations result in more elastic commitments, streamlined and simplistic procurement processes, centralized and consolidated carrier invoices, deeper discounts and overall flexibility for your business.
Carrier Minimum Annual Commitments (MAC/MARC) and other liabilities are purposeful and inhibit companies from strategically managing their telecom volumes. While commitments cannot be completely eliminated, leverage can be applied in the negotiation to better manage your carriers and ultimately consolidate your business.
Carrier consolidation is defined to be both internal and external. Internal consolidation occurs when the products and service categories with the same carrier are brought under one contract and one commitment. External consolidation is the pulling together of multiple carrier services under a primary (and perhaps secondary) carrier while eliminating other vendors.
Companies almost never have their complement of carrier agreements be “Coterminous.” Typically, every contract has a unique end date, therefore precluding consolidation. The solution is not a quick fix. The first step is to negotiate all carriers across the board (both Mid-Term and Incumbent-Only negotiations will be the predominate strategy) and put all carrier agreements under the same start date and consolidate internally. During this initial negotiation, carrier leverages may exist to implement some external consolidation based upon uncommitted revenue. The second step occurs during subsequent negotiations when all carrier agreements expire on the same date and any further consolidation is desired.
- G2 negotiates coterminous agreements across all carriers and service types
- Consolidating carriers and agreements results in streamlined and efficient procurement processes
- Centralized invoicing through account and service consolidation
- Establish true single point of contacts and vendor management
- Our precedents allows us to remedy the carriers purposeful voice and data contract segregation
- Consolidate local, long distance and wireless under a single carrier contract with a single commitment
- Better leverage your business with incumbent carriers for future negotiations and with more options
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Incumbent-Only
G2 does not rely upon a competitive environment, large commitments or other commonly held carrier leverages that are utilized to extract carrier savings. We hold the carriers to a simple standard. We know the very best rates in the industry, the Top 2%, and we hold your carrier to this requirement.
In order to maximize long-term savings, Carrier agreements should be opened up and negotiated when sufficient leverage exists and market changes allow. It is not necessary to wait for the end-of-term to leverage incumbent carriers for better price points. Over 50% of our practice is negotiating solely with the incumbent carrier, where a competitive environment does not exist.
It is a misconception that a Multiple Carrier RFP (Request for Proposal) is the only way to extract the largest amount of savings during a contract negotiation. As an independent consultancy, and as former carrier negotiators, we have the immediate credability needed to instill the threat of loss even when negotiating solely with an incumbent carrier. Our benchmark intelligence gives us the ability to identify the leading edge of the market and the authority to request of the carriers the specific price points, terms and conditions to create a World Class agreement at any time.
The strategy with the carriers is simple, either write down your business today or lose it tomorrow.
- We leverage our benchmark intelligence to extract savings that is identical as to what that carrier would offer in a fully competitive RFP
- Negotiations result in a pure decrease in cost with zero impact to service or end users
- An RFP is not necessary to maximize leverage with your incumbent carrier
- Through carrier coaching we help the carrier help themselves in retaining your business
- We utilize a Carrier Requirements LetterSM that is detailed on the price points, terms and conditions necessary to retain your business
- This strategy remains 100% successful in over a decade of professionally negotiating contracts
- 50% of the negotiations we conduct are incumbent only
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Wireless Optimization
The Wireless industry requires customers to pay a significant price for unused minutes or for “overage” minutes that cost the carriers the same as a standard “plan” minute. Every month that a company is billed for wireless accounts that are not optimized represents one month of charges that can never be recovered.
Negotiations must be conducted in conjunction with a wireless optimization. Wireless Optimizations alone do not maximize savings.
With G2, Wireless Optimization is a mechanism to decrease cost coupled with a streamlined provisioning mapping process. Complicated carrier billing formats, ever changing rate plans & features, and unstable end user usage volumes creates a wireless environment that is clearly in favor of the carriers. We change the paradigm in which wireless services are procured by extracting wireless billing and usage data at the lowest carrier billing element and benchmarking current price points against the leading edge of the market. G2 forensically aligns each and every wireless subscriber line and all associated plans, usage, discounts & features with World Class pricing to enforce an enterprise-wide strategy directed at minimizing cost and maximizing flexibility.
- Immediate opportunity for cost reduction so why wait for savings that are non recoverable
- Pure financial exercise with no impact to service or disruption to end-users
- There is typically no carrier or technology migration
- Optimization alone will not produce the savings our clients require, a true optimization must also include the negotiation of industry leading plans & pricing
- With an accurate inventory and volume trend, we establish the optimal rate plan configuration for each subscriber line based on unique usage & feature requirements
- We create, at the most granular carrier billing & inventory level, a detailed analysis of your voice and data usage trends, feature procurement and overall wireless consumption volume that is unavailable utilizing standard carrier reporting platforms
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
End-of-Term Negotiations
We use our Insider Knowledge and Benchmark Intelligence to go beyond just creating new agreements and savings through market rate decreases. By definition, most deals signed on any given date will be average. G2 aggressively leverages the carriers to provide leading-edge pricing, terms and conditions provided only to the top 2% of the market
Agreements that are near the end of their term typically have the fullest flexibility regarding negotiation strategies. Common strategies are either a fully competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) or an incumbent only bid. In either scenario, as former carrier negotiators, G2 has the instant and full credibility needed to apply the appropriate leverage points and employ the most aggressive strategy. Many things need to be evaluated in a new negotiation such as technology changes, network migration costs and any possible commitment shortfalls.
Telecom RFP’s are the most time consuming, tedious and difficult sourcing exercises. G2 leads and manages the entire RFP process – data collection, inventory creation, document development, carrier administration, process management, timeline enforcement, proposal evaluations, savings analysis, Carrier Coaching, legal reviews and rate implementation validation. However, the competitive RFP environment is not enough. Incumbents know they do not need to approach non-incumbent pricing because of migration costs. Non-incumbent carriers rarely provide enough savings to justify network migrations because they believe the incumbent will naturally win. Simply put, non-incumbents are motivated to protect disclosing their best rates in an environment where historically they lose over 90% of the time. As a third party, professional negotiator using our Benchmark Intelligence and Insider Knowledge, we force the carriers to dismiss these notions and provide their absolute best-in-class contracts.
It is also a misconception that a Multiple Carrier RFP (Request for Proposal) is the only way to extract the largest amount of savings during a contract negotiation. As an independent consultancy and former carrier negotiators, we have the immediate creditability needed to instill the threat of loss even when negotiating solely with an incumbent carrier. Utilizing our benchmark intelligence to identify the leading edge of the market we have the authority to request of the carriers the specific price points, terms and conditions to create a World Class agreement at any time.
- Depending on negotiation strategy an RFP may or may not be necessary, an RFP is not needed to apply the proper amount of leverage with the carriers to obtain leading edge rates
- We have the precedents to thwart carrier threats of reverting to tariffed rates
- We can manage the negotiation process even past contract expiration dates while eliminating any carrier-imposed liabilities due to expired agreements
- With contract expiration dates fast approaching, we can prepare and create the necessary customized inventory in less than two weeks
- We typically close out negotiations in 6-8 weeks
- Through carrier coaching we help the carrier help themselves in retaining your business
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Recently Executed Contracts
Agreements that have been recently signed are without question the most difficult to negotiate. However, applying G2’s superior resources can establish savings that are as drastic as if the agreements were at the end of their term.
Ethics, fair business practices and legal terms confine a company to live up to signed contractual documents. That being said, as former carrier negotiators with insider knowledge, G2 has the instant and full credibility needed to apply the appropriate pressures on the carrier to open those agreements up and maximize long term savings. As a credible third party, G2 shifts leverages away from the carriers through managing commitments to a minimum, positioning unprofitable price points and establishing the overall threat of loss. The ultimate position is that the carriers need to concede to G2’s pricing requirements or this will be the beginning of the end for the relationship. The concept is simple; the carriers write down their business today or lose it tomorrow.
The best way to see if there is an opportunity for cost reduction is to allow G2 to conduct a risk free Value Assessment of where your new contractual rates lie in the market.
- Carrier contracts and associated commitments can be “opened up” and evaluated at any time
- Telecom expenses that are billed at correct contractual rates, regardless of whether or not those rates are competitive, are non recoverable. If a telecom contract has recently been executed, time is of the essence to verify if those rates are leading edge
- Even in newly signed agreements we can hold the carriers accountable for supplying non competitive rates
- Although this is incumbent only and early in term negotiation, if the carrier does not perform to our requirements we will manage the commitments to a minimum
- We can set the stage for instilling with the carrier the threat of loss
- 50% of the negotiations we conduct are incumbent only
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Terms & Conditions
Establishing a best in class telecommunications contract does not end with negotiating leading edge pricing, best in class terms and conditions are equally as powerful.
Price points are constantly changing but there is a limit as to how good terms and conditions can get. G2 knows the very best terms & conditions in the market and leverages that knowledge and precedent in every negotiation we conduct. In order to provide your company with the flexibility it needs, while minimizing your liabilities with the carriers, terms and conditions need to be established that relate to your business – not just the carrier’s. The largest strength is the knowledge of what the carriers are willing to concede.
Do not let the carriers enforce an agreement that only protects their interests and security. G2 negotiates terms and conditions that equally protect yours.
- With our experience as carrier negotiators we have been witness to the very best terms and conditions offered
- The terms and conditions we negotiate minimize your carrier liabilities and maximize your flexibility
- Terms and conditions are typically standard and off the shelf. We negotiate terms and conditions that are specific to the needs of your business while further gaining flexibility within your commitments
- Carriers will often claim that many points within proposed terms and conditions are standard and non negotiable. We have the insider knowledge and precedents to dispel those claims
- Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Quality of Service (QoS) standards can be extremely difficult to negotiate but can have powerful impacts to your business when negotiated to the leading edge of what the carriers will concede to
- Best in class rates are not reliant upon large commitments
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Commitment Shortfalls
No company should ever pay shortfall penalties to the carriers.
G2 has the precedents to know what the carriers are willing to concede to when attempting to apply shortfall penalties. The reality is, carriers attempt to use volume commitments as a ploy to offer better rates. Through our experience as former carrier negotiators, G2 has the Insider Knowledge to dispel what the carriers want you to believe. Volumes and price points are not linear. When a client is facing shortfall penalties, G2 will stop the carriers from applying those penalties based on the precedents we have, establish a commitment that is appropriate for the client’s volume of business and most likely reduce costs. G2 can accomplish this because we have the instant and full credibility with the carriers to establish that the volume commitments enforced were inappropriate in the first place.
The fundamental argument is a simple one. No one knows your volumes better than the carriers themselves so why would they allow you to over commit yourself?
- Carriers use shortfall penalties as leverage to force you into a new bad deal
- Commitments are arbitrary and should not be imposed for better pricing
- We are a source of precedents to hold the carrier accountable for their inequitable correlation between price points and commitments
- We have seen countless carrier contracts that have the same price points as yours with half the volume commitments
- We have the experience and credibility to hold the carriers accountable for imposing commitments on you that were improper
- The carriers know your usage and spend volumes better than you do
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
International Negotiations
G2’s experience negotiating international telecom services, both wireless and wireline, is extensive through over a decade as a consultancy and also in terms of negotiations on behalf of the carriers. Due to the scope and size of clients that G2 represents the majority of our negotiations include many components of international negotiations. Most of these negotiations involve complex, multipoint wireline network services that span the full spectrum of MPLS, Private Line, Frame Relay and International Access. Our expertise is inclusive of international locations throughout Canada, Latin America, South America, virtually all of Europe, Australia, and Asia (with an extensive focus on Pac-Rim countries).
Within the carrier-world, there were many instances of negotiations that took place that incorporated wireless concerns. Specifically, G2’s Cofounder & President John Sinsley negotiated Sprint’s contract agreement with Iridium, a unique carrier with an expansive global reach. Other companies that were negotiated by John for international concerns (he was lead for National Accounts and all of Sprint’s Government Accounts) include Boeing-Rockwell, Exxon, NASA, the operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Office of the White House, and the former FTS-2000 bid that was won jointly by Sprint and MCI.
G2 feels that international-specific negotiations for segments of business do not dramatically differ from the domestic US – though, we recognize that the domestic US is “much more easily” served in many capacities. It is commonplace that many carriers with domestic concerns have strategic counterparts internationally, so there are two points of contact to work through on the “account team” basis, and furthermore on the financial, decision-making side of business negotiations.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
TEM Sourcing Advisory
Typically, cost reduction is not the only driver for outsourcing. It has the potential to have a significant impact on business through improving the quality of operations and administrative services along with reducing fixed and variable costs. Establishing the right outsourcing solution can result in substantial optimization of critical business functions.
G2 is the leader in Outsourcing Advisory Services specific to the narrow industry of Telecom Expense Management & Mobile Device Management. Through these advisory services, we provide our clients with the strategic business expertise and operational experience needed to create the foundation for successful sourcing solutions and partnerships. When engaging in a sourcing relationship, it is imperative to establish value now and flexibility for the future.
From the needs assessment to implementation, all the way through to vendor performance management, our experts have the fullest depth and capabilities in all areas of TEM & MDM to manage and support every step of the outsourcing lifecycle. With so many outsourcing options (SaaS/hosted, licensed or BPO/managed) and a vast array of TEM suppliers, our Insider Knowledge of the industry is an essential asset in analyzing the cost and risk, implementing the right sourcing solution and minimizing the impact to business. The result, increased process efficiencies and deep sourcing savings that directly impact your bottom line and further increase profitability.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Restructuring
With so many industries in a very fragile state, it is not uncommon for an organization to find itself in a distressed situation. There are a multitude of opportunities and solutions that can provide relief to a company in distress. One such opportunity is often overlooked. The opportunity to decrease telecommunications expenses and minimize carrier contract liabilities can have a significant positive impact to a business. Telecom expenses are generally a top five, non-core expense with annual spends ranging from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
In business, a dollar saved does not translate to a dollar earned. A dollar saved equates to twenty dollars in new revenues. Over G2’s near decade of helping clients reduce telecom expenses through strategic sourcing and contract negotiation services we have saved our clients 35.6% on average. An example of the impact G2 can have on a distressed company is illustrated by some very simple, yet proven math.
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Annual Telecom Expense – $1,200,000
Cost Reduction via G2 – 35.6%
Annual Cost Reduction – $427,200
Cost Reduction translated to new revenues – $8,544,000
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The savings opportunity and financial relief that G2 can deliver is immediate. Our typical telecom negotiation and cost reduction process is initiated and completed with in eight weeks with zero impact to business. These savings stem from a pure financial exercise that is 100% led and managed by G2. If your business is restructuring you cannot afford to over look one of your largest expenses.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Mergers/Acquisitions
The merging of two or more companies is an extremely complex and difficult task. Every phase in the acquisition or merger process has a very high probability of costly and time-consuming errors being encountered. The most successful mergers follow a structured and focused road map with clear strategic objectives, detailed implementation plans and a focus on minimizing disruptions to business.
One of the many M&A complexities is the alignment and consolidation of telecommunications networks, inventories, carriers, buying agreements and carrier support teams. A disciplined approach to managing a successful telecom consolidation lies in the leadership and execution. G2’s experience provides companies undergoing M&A’s with the detailed framework, strategic objectives and flexible approach to provide a customized solution to successfully accomplish what is other wise a daunting task.
ANALYZE – EXECUTE – INTEGRATE
We fully understand that each company has internal resources that have direct responsibility over specific segments of the day-to-day telecom and information technology business operations. G2 interacts with those teams to identify where improvements should be made in order to fully capture the value of the M&A. Properly merged networks, consolidated carrier agreements and improved pricing, terms and conditions result in drastic cost reductions and process efficiencies.
- Carrier billing and invoice extraction, compilation and consolidation
- Inventory and Network Services Profile creation and analysis
- Cross network analysis
- Carrier agreements vs network services GAP analysis
- Current pricing vs Benchmark evaluation
- New, consolidated carrier agreement negotiations, entire negotiation process managed by G2
- Commitment volume management, carrier liability control
- Strategic telecom sourcing strategies for cost containment supporting long term growth and profitability
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Shared Services
Today’s environment for corporate executives is filled with stringent shareholder demands, highly dynamic markets and ever-changing technologies. Even after achieving drastic cost reductions and increases to productivity, there is still no relief from the next generation of business obstacles. These challenges coupled with decentralized environments stemming from mergers, acquisitions and partnerships make today’s world for business leaders a difficult one. Within this nest of challenges lies a very real and growing problem – how to manage telecom sourcing with severe decentralization and disparate business units.
Through G2’s Shared Services Advisory solutions we lead clients in assessing, consolidating and executing world-class telecom agreements, thus streamlining telecom sourcing and drastically reducing costs. Leveraging the telecom volumes and commitments of stand alone business units, consolidating carriers and carrier agreements, minimizing liabilities and applying rates that are at the leading edge of the market has a powerful impact on business.
- Carrier migration and consolidation
- Inventory and Network Services Profile creation and analysis
- Coterminous and consolidated carrier agreement execution
- Contract negotiation process 100% led and managed by G2
- Single POC for carrier support teams
- Leveraged volume commitments
- Carrier agreements vs network services GAP analysis
- Current pricing vs Benchmark evaluation
- Commitment volume management, carrier liability control
- Managed telecom sourcing strategies for cost containment supporting long term growth and profitability
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Advisory Services
G2 provides Advisory Services to Fortune 500 and Global 100 companies across all industries. Our clients are some of the most well-known names in business with telecom infrastructures spanning across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Companies face similar struggles but not all scenarios are the same. By employing certain segments of G2’s core competency, Telecom Contract Negotiations, we can apply niche solutions to address specific client environment needs. Whether a company is facing mergers & acquisitions, experiencing business downturns & restructuring or working to centralize disparate business units G2’s results driven solutions can provide the crucial leadership necessary to achieve corporate goals.
For more information on G2’s capabilities in this practice area please contact us.
Let Our Work Speak for Itself
G2 provides Contract Negotiation services to Fortune 500 and Global 100 companies across all industries. Our clients are some of the most well-known names in business with telecom infrastructures spanning across the Globe. It is only through the synergy of our exclusive Benchmark Intelligence and Insider Knowledge that G2 redefines the market
