Large global enterprises are losing £12 billion annually through failures in the sourcing and management of their telecom services.

The losses occur because 80 percent of all telecoms sourcing projects are inefficient, according to a joint study from Forrester Consulting and Hudson & Yorke.

Further findings from the report included:

o While CIOs are spending up to 20 per cent of IT budgets on telecom services, they are committing under one fifth of team time to managing their telecom strategy, sourcing and governance, resulting in financial loss

o While nearly three quarters of respondents (74 per cent) had considered their total cost of ownership in detail, only half that number felt they had thoroughly defined their telecoms sourcing strategy,

o At the end of a major sourcing project, one in five of respondents felt they were not satisfied that they had met the objectives set out in the original business case

Harry McDermott, CEO at Hudson & Yorke, comments, “CIOs are increasingly expected by their CEOs and CFOs to deliver more services and improved quality at less cost. There is clearly a significant discrepancy between what large organisations hope to achieve with a major telecoms sourcing project, and the reality of what is currently being delivered with limited experience and resources.”

The independent study surveyed 81 multinational corporations from 12 countries across a variety of industries.