Multinational companies are slashing their telecom network expenses by 25 percent or more, according to new primary research from Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company.

"As companies have become more global and more geographically dispersed, communications tools and deployments have become vital to the health of the enterprise," said Hyoun Park, telecom and unified communications research analyst, Aberdeen, in a statement.

The report: Global Telecom Lifecycle Management: Cost-Cutting Solutions for Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World outlines top challenges global companies are facing in the management of their communications investments. It also provides insight into how these companies can improve telecom management practices based on geographies and current expense performance.

"To afford the increasing need for collaboration during a global recession, these firms have had to balance cost, compliance, and visibility concerns with the need to maintain employee productivity and uptime all over the world. Through a mature Telecom Lifecycle Management solution, these companies can improve employee communications while reducing their expenses," added Park.

The Aberdeen report is designed for those companies managing telecom expenses, contracts, service orders and procurement issues across geographic borders. Companies must meet the compliance and cultural challenges of managing telecom and networks in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa as the Telecom Lifecycle Management has evolved to meet global demand.

“In processing of invoices for international carriers that bill US companies like Vodafone, Swisscom or British Telecom, it is imperative for telecom lifecycle management companies to be able to process paper invoices (and not just electronic invoices) effectively and efficiently,” said Spectrum Telecom CEO, Troy McCracken.

Each continent also faces different technology adoptions and management, which presents additional challenges. This report provides companies with industry insight on how to gain centralized the visibility and control necessary to maximize savings and improve communications capabilities.

“Typically U.S. companies do not just have service with one international carrier and even though they may have thousands of devices in the U.S. , they may only have hundreds of devices internationally which doesn't always qualify them to be able to receive electronic invoicing, even if the carrier offers that option in the first place,” added McCracken. “Our patent-pending unmatched process of extracting the data from paper invoices continues to provide us a clear differentiator from our competitors."

No matter what the state of the economy, no company wants to spend money it doesn’t have to spend. In turning to a provider such as Spectrum, multinational companies can significantly decrease their overall telecom spend and gain a better understanding of what their options are and how to maximize the value of any provider.