Manage those invoices with Telecom expense management

Manage Those Invoices With Telecom Expense Management by Peter Verhoeff

Managing telecom invoices is a challenge for most businesses. Their volume and complexity can be overwhelming. Companies may receive many invoices and simply keeping track of them can be a major task. Telecom expense management (TEM) is the tool of choice in getting telecom invoices under control.

The first step in setting out to manage invoices is to establish a single control point for processing all telecom invoices. This should include all kinds of telecom: wireline as well as wireless, voice and data channels. All telecom invoices should be routed to this central control point for processing.

Manually processing the telecom invoices can be very labor-intensive and costly. There can be dozens, or hundreds or more invoices every month, so simply paying them all on time can by itself be a challenge, not to mention verifying them for correctness. Moreover, telecom invoices are complex. In fact, it sometimes seems that telecom carriers go out of their way to make them hard to understand.

In order to be able to verify the correctness of invoices, the agreed upon rates have to be known and recorded. So all contracts have to be gathered in one place. In addition, invoice line items have to be compared against actual usage. Any discrepancies should be noted and reconciled.

Actual usage can be measured on traditional voice channels, using Call Detail Records (CDR) that provide data for each call, such as where it originated, what number was dialed, the time and date of the call, as well as its duration and cost. These CDRs are generated by the PBX system and can be stored on a computer. Similar facilities exist for cell phones and other wireless devices.

Manually comparing all invoice line items against actual usage can be next to impossible and many companies settle for periodic samples. However, most telecom carriers now can provide electronic invoicing, which avoids the need for data entry. With electronic invoicing, telecom expense management software can store the carrier data and compare invoices against actual usage and alert personnel to any discrepancies or unusual activity.

The computerized TEM system not only will save expensive manpower in processing the invoices, but it can do it much faster and more thoroughly. In short, the TEM system:

- Automates and organizes invoice processing. By tying into the corporate accounting system, payment can be automated and late payment penalties eliminated.

- Verifies invoices against contracted rates and ensures the correct rates are being applied.

- Compares invoices against inventory. It is not uncommon for companies to be billed for facilities they no longer have.

- Compares billed line items against actual usage data from PBXs and wireless devices and reports on discrepancies.

In many companies telecom costs are the second or third largest expense item. A good telecom expense management system can reduce these costs by up to 25% or more and, even more importantly, keep future cost increases in check. With returns like these, a TEM system can pay for itself many times over. For more information about telecom expense management, visit the Telsoft Solutions website at www.telsoft-solutions.com.

Author, Peter Verhoeff, writes articles on the business benefits of call accounting and call detail record technology. More information can be found at http://www.telsoft-solutions.com.