A Better Way To Source Telecom And IT Services

Sourcing with Optelcon takes 1/2 the time, reduces internal workloads by 80%, delivers pre-qualified pricing that is 35-40% less, and best-in-class contract terms.  We make sourcing Easy!

Unless you do this for a living, sourcing services like Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) Software Defined Networks (SDWAN), cloud-based network security, hosted voice, and contact center is complex and full of pitfalls.  The Optelcon sourcing team members are experts in the field.  We can help design the right solution to meet your objectives. Once the right solution is selected, we can help your company get the best price and terms.

Optelcon clients get access to the market data and independent channel/wholesale pricing from over 100 global telecom and IT vendors.

Types of services Optelcon helps clients source

• Broadband
  
• Cloud Backup & Disaster Recovery
  
• Collocation
  
• Connectivity
  
• Contact Center as a Service
  
• Desktop as a Service
  
• Hosted Exchange
  
• Hosted Fax
  
• Infrastructure as a Service
  
• SD-WAN
  
• Security
  
• UCaaS

Optelcon Professionally Managed RFQ

Without Optelcon: Typical Client Run RFQ

Prior to sourcing with Optelcon, our Clients typically had to:

• Prepare the RFQ and determine what questions to ask.
• For non-incumbent vendors, identify the rep who should receive the RFQ
• Deal with Multiple emails, meetings & calls back and forth between each vendor
  Manage receipt of quotes
• Endure having to listen to multiple sales rep’s pitches on why one vendor is better than another
  and deal with high-pressure sales tactics
• Review each proposal to ensure completeness of vendor responses
• Deal with multiple quote formats that do not allow easy side by side comparisons
• Multiple back and forth calls and emails to each vendor with questions
• Negotiate with short list vendors for pricing and terms
• Create ROI and TCO analysis
• Review final paperwork
• Project manage vendors to ensure the shortest install times

With Optelcon: Optelcon’s Professionally Managed RFQ

Optelcon works directly with each carrier’s wholesale pricing desks. With 80% less internal effort and in half the time, we can get better pricing for our clients vs. a carrier’s traditional retail sales channels.

Optelcon performs the following:

• Pre-qualification research
• Solution engineering
• Preparation and distribution of the RFQ
• Management of the RFQ distribution, vendor responses, and questions
• Shielding from high-pressure sales tactics from multiple vendors
• Review of each proposal to ensure completeness of vendor responses
• Consolidation of multiple quote formats for easy side by side review
• Creation of a matrix of features and capabilities
• Presentation of data from actual customer experiences
• Professional contract and pricing negotiations
• Preparation of ROI and TCO analysis
• Creation of a side by side contract analysis of key business terms
• Account setup and assignment of the direct vendor account team
• Project management of the project through to implementations

How Does Optelcon Outperform Traditional RFQs?

Optelcon has created a vast database of capabilities from over 150 global telecom and IT vendors.  This allows our clients to evaluate vendors even before the RFQ is distributed. Here is an example of what one of these matrices looks like.

Vendor Pre-Qualification

All carriers will give you a price and say “no problem” connecting before they even check to see if they can deliver.  We know for a fact that carriers do not waste engineering resources until something becomes a deal. Before Optelcon even gets quotes, we pre-screen vendors by performing pre-engineering and network pre-qualifications. Optelcon has a database of building and street-level fiber maps. This allows us to tell who “really” has the capability to deliver on-net services and who will have to build fiber or order the last mile from another carrier.  By selecting carriers that are “really” on-net, installs are faster and the last mile price is generally lower.

Pricing Analysis

Vendors all have different quote formats that make true side-by-side comparisons difficult. Optelcon does all of the work by putting quote data into a side-by-side format; similar to below. For those who have had to deal with consolidating multiple quote formats, you know that this is of great value.

Contract Comparison

Contracts can be confusing.  Optelcon analyses each contract and provides side by side analysis of key business and legal terms.  This takes the guesswork out of figuring out what contract has the best terms.

Provisioning Project Management

Once our clients decide on which carrier they want, Optelcon manages the provisioning process with each carrier.  Our team has managed thousands of services installs and knows how to get things done in the shortest amount of time possible. We take 90% of the work out of the process for our clients.

Data Center Sourcing

Looking for the right data center is complicated. One has to take into consideration things like power, connectivity options, space, security, PCI & HPPA compliance, remote hands, geography, and other elements. Where do you start looking? Optelcon’s Data Center Sourcing is the first place you should go.  Optelcon has amassed a searchable database of data center specifications and capabilities from over 4,500 global sites.  Below is an example of how we can quickly find the right data center. In seconds, a list of data centers, with the criteria you establish, is located. Here is an example of a client that was looking for Data Center space in Hong Kong.

Filter Applied

In this case, there were only 10 sites that have access to the private cloud. The rest are ruled out.

Only one site matched all of the client’s requirements.  This saves time contacting each data center to find out if they can support your needs.

Clients can even see a street-level view of the data center to assess the neighborhood, building type, and other parameters.

Once selected, Optelcon helps with the implementation of project management. It could not be easier

To find out more, please contact us and a consultant will provide you with more details. Contact Us