THINKING MACHINE SYSTEMS LTD

Telco Machine (Telecom Expense Management)

Telco Machine is a new breed of Telecom Expense Management that sits at the cross-section of Cost Savings & Expense Management services.

It holds patented technology for integrating analytics between contracts and invoices, automating cost saving identification and simplifying reporting of complex services.

Features

  • Integrates invoices from diverse suppliers, services, geographies, into master invoice
  • Automated identification of cost saving opportunities with detailed recommendations
  • Embedded real-time audit service identifying supplier billing errors
  • Very little integration requirements - offers full functionality from PDFs
  • Automated dashboard creation from PDF invoices
  • Automates manual tasks for complex service reporting
  • Benchmarking database of all UK/EU Telco suppliers
  • Translate written word of contracts to the line item expenses

Benefits

  • Generates immediate savings of 10-15% from existing contracts
  • Generates year-on-year savings of 10-15% from existing contracts
  • Negotiate cheaper contracts by 15-20%
  • Save time by automating data preparation and report creation
  • Create new supplier management capability with a single global invoice

Pricing

£2,000 to £100,000 a licence a month

  • Education pricing available
  • Free trial available

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at Richard@thinkingmachine.co. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

3 2 0 3 6 2 9 9 5 6 5 3 1 3 6

Contact

THINKING MACHINE SYSTEMS LTD Richard Martin
Telephone: 07366195591
Email: Richard@thinkingmachine.co

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
Our standard deployment utilises private cloud with robust data security policies and end-to-end data encryption. A custom deployment, such as on-premise, can be scoped as required.
System requirements
  • Consistent internet access
  • Browsers, e.g. Edge / Chrome / Firefox

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Basic support is provided at a 12x6 level. Responses can be expected within 4 hours.
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
No
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Two support levels are provided:
12x6 (included in base cost)
24x7 for an additional £500 per month

Dedicated account managers are provided as part of the base cost.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
We provide live virtual training for all Primary users up to half a working day. User documentation made available to all users.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
HTML
End-of-contract data extraction
They are provided a manual extract to a nominated stakeholder.
End-of-contract process
Clients may receive full extracts of their data by the end of the contract, with any further reports as may be required. Evidence can be shown of client data being purged at the termination of the contract.

Any further services, like porting data to another platform, will be billed at SFIA rates.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
No
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
None or don’t know
Description of service interface
Users access a web portal which presents them with various reporting, analytic dashboards, recommendations for cost-saving actions, and action trackers.
Accessibility standards
None or don’t know
Description of accessibility
Users can:
* Interact with analytic dashboards
* View and download reports as PDF
* Approve or reject suggested action items
Accessibility testing
None
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
We consult with our users on their API requirements and establish the API according to their requirements.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
Open API (also known as Swagger)
API sandbox or test environment
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Users may customise their reporting structures, such as creating cost centres or configuring reports to display particular dimensions. Customisation is available for all Primary users, however administrators may request to further refine access levels according to user roles.

Scaling

Independence of resources
We use an elastic demand arrangement with our current cloud provider Azure, which will be maintained for any future cloud provider we may use. Customers are also provided standard SLAs we will adhere to within the base cost.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
No

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Staff screening not performed
Government security clearance
Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
Yes
Datacentre security standards
Supplier-defined controls
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
In-house
Protecting data at rest
Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
In-house destruction process

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
Standard exports are available via Excel, PDF, Powerpoint
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • XLSX
  • PDF
  • PPT
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
Custom tables made available on the portal

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
Private network or public sector network
Data protection within supplier network
IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
TMS will perform its agreed function when required and is calculated and reported on a monthly basis. Standard SLA for availability is 99.5%

• Failure to meet SLAs for 2 Consecutive Months results in 3% credit of the 2nd month's Monthly Service Fees
• Failure to meet SLAs for 3 Consecutive Months results in 5% credit of the 3rd month's Monthly Service Fees
• Failure to meet SLAs for 4 Consecutive Months results in 10% of the 4th month's Monthly Service Fees, and any additional months until TMS is back in compliance
Approach to resilience
TMS leverages best-in-practice tools and platform. TMS primarily uses Azure infrastructure with regular Microsoft consultancy to ensure an optimal configuration.
Outage reporting
Email alerts are sent to all affected users with appropriate lead-times given for scheduled events.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Multiple access layers are used to control access. All users (Primary & Limited) are provided credentials to the TMS portal, which can be further refined using RLS (Row Level Security) to restrict access to certain reporting features as well as management features. Customers may nominate further access definitions during deployment.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
No
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
No
Security governance approach
We have implemented an operational model that demonstrably shows data handling is performed in a tightly controlled environment with breaches reported on immediately, with end-to-end encryption applied for incoming / outgoing data.

We have a robust understanding of the standard data we handle and where it falls in line with DPA / GDPR regulations. While the majority of data we handle is sensitive not personal, we have processes in place to identify any unexpected data fields.
Information security policies and processes
We have a information security policy that is delivered to all current and future staff. Should any breaks of policy occur, there is a defined set of processes for managing the non-compliance in an appropriate way.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Configuration and change management approach
TMS has documented processes managing each aspect of configuration & change management (enhancements, bug fixes, changes). We are committed to ensuring that activities can be undertaken in a controlled and efficient manner, where changes are tested in pre-production environment including multiple security tests such as assessment, vulnerability, penetration, compliance testing. Further security tests are performed once changes are made into the production environment.
Vulnerability management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
• Annual third-party vulnerability scans and penetration testing
• Monthly internal vulnerability scans using IDS/IPS tools
• Utilises latest AWS environment to provide services
• Servers are up-to-date with vendor OS and application patches, utilising automatic patching and regular checks to ensure patches are up-to-date
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
TMS uses AWS monitoring tools for compliance tracking or identifying unusual behaviour at different points of data transfer and network connectivity. Where potential compromises are identified, they are reviewed immediately with defined response categories depending on the severity. TMS will notify impacted customers as soon as practical after a security event or breach (1 - 2 calendar days).
Incident management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach
TMS incident management process includes documented maps and process diagrams to describe the incident management process, RACI for role and responsibilities, KPI's to control the effectiveness of processes, and standard operational procedures for using this information.

Customers are able to report incidents directly to TMS at any time, and can request incident reports at any time via TMS support.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Conforms to a recognised standard, but self-assessed

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

N/A

Our service indirectly supports sustainability and social good through efficient generation of added time and financial resources that our customers can choose to put towards sustainability and social good objectives.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

N/A

Our service indirectly supports Covid-19 recovery through efficient generation of added time and financial resources that our customers can choose to put towards additional human resource or sustaining current employment levels.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

N/A
Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity

N/A
Wellbeing

Wellbeing

N/A

Pricing

Price
£2,000 to £100,000 a licence a month
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
We'll produce a free summary report highlighting your cost savings potential.

The summary report is based on analysing your contracts and invoices to identify accurate cost savings figures.

This report is used to align internal stakeholders on the cost saving opportunities available.

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at Richard@thinkingmachine.co. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.