Control Point Solutions Uses Logi Info
to Help Clients Optimize their Telecom Spending

About Control Point Solutions

Control Point Solutions, a worldwide leader in telecom expense management (TEM) software, TEM Outsourcing, and Professional Services, offers a range of Telecom Expense Management products and services designed to help clients manage their costly voice, data, wireless and equipment services and expenses.

A dynamic, global company formed by the merger of Broadmargin
and Teldata Control in September 2004, Control Point Solutions has more than $7 billion in customer telecommunications spending under management and has helped reduce their clients' expenses by more than $1.5 billion to date.

The Challenge

Control Point Solutions was seeking robust reporting software for their client Web reporting portal, which is one of the most visible aspects of their service and an important customer-facing elements of the solution. They made a careful evaluation of a range of products, including those originally developed for client/server applications and retrofitted for the Web and pureplay products based on new Web browser technologies.

Control Point Solutions had offered reporting capabilities based on earlier technologies but decided to make a strategic move to Web browser-based reporting to assert their leadership in their market. Their large multi-national clients were committed to the Web as the technology for accessing and sharing reports about their telecom usage and expected Control Point Solutions to provide a very high level of flexibility in report presentation and performance.

The Solution

"Our clients around the world rely on Control Point Solutions to help them aggressively manage their utilization of telecom spending," said Rodney Sampson, Vice President of Operations at Control Point Solutions. "We needed to present complex reports via a zero-footprint web browser system to satisfy their demands and give them the information they need to make vital decisions. We chose LogiXML because they offered a superior Web browser-based reporting platform that could respond to our clients' high standards for functionality and speed."

The Logi Business Intelligence (BI) Platform for delivering Web-based reports was their choice. Rather than simply a replacement technology, Control Point Solutions saw LogiXML's reporting tools as a dynamic platform for developing an inventory of reports that could grow as their clients' reporting needs grew or changed.

All of LogiXML's Web-based reporting tools leverage XML technology and a drag and drop user interface that work together to shorten and simplify report development process and remove developers from extensive coding and scripting. The tools can be deployed across any Web architecture as long as a Microsoft IIS Web server is available and can connect to any ADO.NET, OLEDB or ODBC database including Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and DB2.

"Large multi-nationals who need data-intensive reporting to pinpoint where their telecom costs are occurring are very demanding in terms of what they need to see, when they need to see it and how quickly new data need to be incorporated into their report. Often these applications are accessing multi-gigabyte databases and need to report data in near real time. They need to evaluate whether the costs match their business operations and opportunities. LogiXML has helped us to package that information to our clients and really showcase the value of our service."

"Of course, large companies have large databases that present unique challenges for a reporting platform. Several key clients had specific requirements that are beyond the scope of the better known reporting products. For example, one company demanded sub 15 second response time returning 5 million rows from a 10 gigabyte database," noted Sampson. "This meant that we had to challenge the LogiXML team to deliver a product that could handle throughput demands that only the top ten manufacturing and financial services companies in the world might present."

The Results

LogiXML takes the challenges of its partners very seriously because these partners often represent the leading edge of technology trends. Control Point Solutions was able to take advantage of powerful Logi features already in the products to address Sampson's needs. In cases where features need to be developed to meet a special need, LogiXML responds quickly. "At one point, a key client presented a set of last minute demands that needed to be met within a few weeks to win the contract upgrade we sought. The LogiXML team responded as a true partner with a seven-day plan to evaluate the problem, define a solution and then actually add that capability to their report development platform," Sampson added.

"We are very happy with LogiXML's products and support services," continued Sampson. "Their developers have responded to our challenges, and their technical support has always been superb, even as we push them to meet our demanding clients' specifications. And because they incorporated these enhancements into the report development platform, all their clients benefit from the work they did for us."

"The need for zero-footprint, Web browser-based reporting grows everyday with more and more corporate IT departments, ISVs and ASPs as they realize that a Web client is the model end users expect today or will demand in the future," notes Arman Eshraghi, LogiXML CEO. "Control Point Solutions is a perfect example of this need and an outstanding partner for us because they take advantage of many of the critical features that differentiate the Logi Info Development platform to serve their world-class customers."