Verizon Business Launches Comprehensive Communications Expense Monitoring and Analysis Service

May 15, 2006

Provides Ability to Track Wireline and Wireless Costs; Designed for Large-Business Customers; Identifies Cost-Savings Opportunities

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Verizon Business unveiled today a new service that tracks and manages the communications costs of large-business customers, identifying potential cost savings and enabling the customers to focus more time and resources on their businesses’ core priorities.

The new offering, called Verizon Business Integrated Telecom Expense Management Service, is designed for expenditures associated with all communications services and related devices. Verizon Business is one of the first service providers to offer an integrated platform to identify and assess both wireline and wireless communications assets.

“Large-business customers operate in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, and their communications infrastructure mirrors that complexity,” said Nancy Gofus, vice president of product management, Verizon Business. “Effective management of communications expenditures can have a direct and positive impact on the corporate bottom line. By transitioning the time-consuming task of expense management to a third party via our new value-added service, customers can focus on revenue-generating priorities that are core to their business.”

The service, to be offered to large-business customers based in the United States, is the latest addition to the Verizon Business managed services portfolio and addresses all aspects of managing communications expenses for these customers.

“As large-business customers strive to streamline business processes and drive costs out of their businesses, telecom expense management services offer a valuable tool enabling companies to focus on what really matters to drive top-line revenue growth,” said Eric Goodness, research vice president for Gartner Inc., a leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry.

Through an agreement with Symphony Services, a global provider of collaborative, full life-cycle outsourcing solutions for commercial software product development and analytic processes, Verizon Business will utilize Symphony’s total Telecom Expense Management capabilities to manage assets and invoices for wireline services. The capabilities include inventory asset tracking, contract administration, invoice auditing and dispute resolution.

Verizon Business will work with customers to compile comprehensive inventories of wireline assets, including lines and circuits, customer premises equipment and telephony equipment and services. The company will also manage and track the provisioning of new and disconnected services, as well as perform general ledger financial allocations through electronic, or e-bonding, capabilities.

For wireless communications expenses, Verizon Business will manage the procurement of wireless services through a customer-established corporate catalog of approved services and analyze wireless plans to identify unauthorized usage and rogue devices. Advanced analytical capabilities will enable Verizon Business to compare a customer’s wireless plans against a database of more than 35,000 national plans to determine cost-effective alternatives.

Financial management capabilities can be custom-tailored to meet an individual customer’s needs and include invoice processing and validation and cost allocation.

Verizon Business Integrated Telecom Expense Management Service is a critical addition to company’s portfolio of managed services and is consistent with the Verizon Business philosophy of providing a wide range of choices to meet every customer’s needs. This service, the first in a series of initiatives designed to enable customers to focus on controlling communications expenses through process automation and information management, is specifically designed for large-business customers that have multiple service providers and are seeking to outsource communications expense-management tasks.

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a leading provider of advanced communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced technology and professional service capabilities, Verizon Business delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world.

Contact Information

Kevin W. Irland

Verizon Business

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