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CASE STUDY: Rock-Tenn Company | View PDF version

Realization - A review of the outcome produced by Telwares

A customized demand set of Rock-Tenn’s telecom usage for voice, data, local and wireless services, was established as the baseline of the engagement. The critical factors were identified to ensure successful strategic negotiations of multiple carrier agreements by Telwares, which ensured both substantial savings, as well as improvements to contract terms and conditions. As a repeat client of Telwares, Rock-Tenn continued the successful strategic partnership beyond the initial RFP project by re-engaging for a mid-term negotiation to re-align the multiple contracts which were originally negotiated by Telwares with the best pricing and terms available in the current market.

• Implementation and negotiation of multiple telecom contracts for both wireline and wireless services during the initial engagement yielded savings of over $1.6M annually. The follow-up mid-term review secured an additional $650K in annualized savings.
• Telwares assisted with the development of a comprehensive corporate Wireless Policy to support the corporate vision while minimizing potential legal risks.
• Customized and detailed telecom service inventories were developed to identify pricing improvements at the element level. Robust contract terms and protections were negotiated to mitigate operational risks and position Rock-Tenn with future business flexibility and leverage.
• Federal Excise Tax recovery efforts concurrently were underway and secured additional cost saving recoveries as the claims were filed prior to the post suspension ruling.

Analysis - An overview of the client’s telecommunications challenge

During the original RFP engagement for voice, data, local and wireless services, Rock-Tenn had multiple carrier contracts in place each with different termination periods and two that were due to expire soon. These pending contract expirations required immediate action on behalf of Rock-Tenn and partnering with a strategic partner that could drive the cost savings and contractual improvements in a reduced timeframe. In the subsequent market review, Rock- Tenn’s usage profile had changed due to growth and a major acquisition. Following the original contract negotiations, wireless carrier support had declined. The wireless agreements in place were satisfactory though account team support and billing required improvement. Furthermore, several key carrier mergers were consummated and the carrier integrations created uncertainty about service and operational impacts as well as the consolidation of agreements.

Strategy - Applying Telwares’ expertise, perspective, leverage and process

During the initial RFP engagement, the desired outcome was to secure cost savings and have more robust contract provisions while also using the negotiations exercise as a mechanism to evaluate technology alternatives. After a complete analysis of Rock-Tenn’s telecom environment, the decision was made to construct and issue two concurrent RFP’s. One that would address the wireless market while the other RFP would combine the overall voice and data usage to leverage the aggregate spend to Rock-Tenn’s advantage providing the best ROI opportunity. Subsequently, Telwares was rehired for a mid-term market review. Through leveraging Telwares’ proprietary intellectual property, Rock-Tenn was assured to keep the original agreements negotiated by Telwares fresh relative to the best available market pricing and terms.:

• Initial sourcing strategies were developed to reduce telecommunication expenditures, mitigate risk through terms and conditions providing true contract flexibility and a comprehensive project plan that accelerated the engagement completion and Rock-Tenn’s savings realization.
• Utilizing an RFP for both the wireline and wireless usage, Rock-Tenn was able to evaluate market dynamics and potential technology alternatives while analyzing any technology migration/application expansion alternatives coupled with potential operational impacts.
• Through the development of a comprehensive and customized telecom inventory (Book of Business) Telwares was further able to identify opportunities to optimize services.
• Telwares facilitated Rock-Tenn’s visibility within the carrier market to ensure enhanced carrier support and response times needed in support of Rock-Tenn’s business needs.
• Following renegotiation, Telwares’ expert resources again validated Rock-Tenn’s inventory, and using Telwares’ intellectual property ensured Rock-Tenn’s pricing was market leading. State of the art terms and conditions were structured and refreshed in the renegotiated agreements.