Dialtone are contracted to manage Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) for many reasons but probably most often when the client struggles to get engagement from the incumbent Vendor resulting in poor customer service and uncompetitive pricing. Throughout any process, be that auditing, benchmarking or procurement projects Dialtone endeavors to improve efficiency, service delivery, communication and thereby developing a positive partnership between the Client and Vendor.
Dialtone were contracted to manage the procurement of telecommunication services for the New Zealand operation of an international business that supplies the foodservice, hospitality and leisure markets with fresh, chilled and frozen products. With an annual spend of over $1.0m for Voice, Data and Mobile services and their contract due for renewal our client was offered a new improved deal by the incumbent Vendor to re-sign and extend their current services for a further 3 years reducing costs by 7%! Our client rejected the proposal and were instantly motivated to ‘go to market’!
During the RFP process their current vendor improved their proposed offer to reduce costs by 30% whilst improving data speed and quality but their lack of urgency and ‘call to action’ weighed against any possibility of winning the bid. By the end of the RFP Dialtone achieved a cost reduction of 48% in annual spend together with huge improvements in data speed over their entire network with an alternative tier 1 provider.
Whilst the RFP provided a clear winning bid a number of challenges needed to be assessed and managed to ensure a smooth transition;
As this client operated on a 24/7 basis it was essential that any proposed Voice and Network changes would be carried out in parallel and then transitioned in real time. The client required a fully backed up network that supported disaster recovery processes and data warehousing. And in order to lay the foundation towards building a SIP network our client required fibre to all sites including those in less technically well serviced regional centres.
Contrary to the previous provider’s opinion there was no network downtime necessary for solution deployment and at the end of the project, SLA’s, contract management and compliance yielded improved customer service and ongoing cost savings.