Success Story
Ford Motor Company Drives Down Telco and IT Costs with MBG
Goal
As part of an overall initiative to streamline its internal businesses using the Web, Ford wanted a solution that could simplify the reallocation of IT and telecom costs. Additionally, the company wanted to be able to supply detail to support General Ledger (GL) postings that could easily be accessed by its employees. The goal for Ford was to create a single internal IT bill, allowing managers to easily access cost and consumption information for their departments.
Challenge
As with most large companies, due to their sheer size, it is important for Ford's IT and telecom departments to be able to manage consumption by each business unit to identify areas where costs can be lowered. Ford realized it could greatly simplify its recharge structure by having one system to handle all types of costs. The first challenge was to find a service provider that could supply Ford with information to feed into its internal solution.
Solution
Ford had originally built an internal Web-based system to support this initiative. MBG processed all of the telecom data, which Ford then fed back into its internal solution. However, it became clear to the auto maker that its system needed an overhaul to truly reallocate and manage the consumption of its IT and telecom costs. Ford requested that MBG provide them with a chargeback solution to handle multiple feeds, encompassing a wide range of data. After reviewing what Ford needed, MBG configured its call accounting solution to support data down to the individual level, providing Ford’s users with more detailed cost information than they had previously been able to see. The MBG system also provided Ford managers with excellent graphical and reporting capabilities to quickly conduct analysis.
Result
With the new system, more than 1,500 Ford managers have the ability to view aggregate IT costs broken down into various categories, such as Telecom, Computer/Network Services, etc. They can then drill down into each category to see additional detail. The system allows for an unlimited number of users, and each user can be assigned privileges to view only a specific part of the hierarchy. MBG has branded the system "Ford's IT Billing System" for the company’s internal use.
Implementation was both seamless and cost effective. Ford presented MBG with the desired hierarchy structure, and MBG configured its call accounting / chargeback system to display the charges accordingly. MBG processes approximately 50 different data feeds for Ford, allocated into its specific hierarchy, and presents them back to Ford. A key feature is that the data in the chargeback system directly support Ford’s General Ledger (GL). The call accounting data (at a very broad level) is passed through to Ford's GL. Managers, after seeing charges on the GL, can go to the MBG Chargeback system to view the detailed data behind the charges. This allows for easy verification of costs and identification of abnormalities or mistakes.
Based on this project with Ford, MBG developed this updated solution and released it generally as Chargeback. It is now used by more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies
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