Enterprises that seek to reduce telecom costs should find out what they are actually spending, as an initial step. A company that does not know what it is spending on telecom will not have an accurate picture of savings realized by implementing a telecom expense management (TEM) system. Interestingly, Edge Research recently conducted a survey, which found that only 59 percent of participating corporations knew the total cost of their network services. While it is possible to collect cost information in corporations where telecom invoice processing is decentralized, this task is made much simpler when all telecom invoices are received and processed at one central location. In the Edge Research survey, 81 percent of the companies that knew their total telecom spend figure had centralized management of telecom spend. Another advantage is that a centralized system to manage telecom spend lends itself to processing electronic invoices, which by itself can be a tremendous money saver, requiring much less skilled labor, compared to manually processing them. Telecom spend does not consist of just paying telephone bills. There is the procurement of equipment and services, for example. This too, if centralized, offers great advantages over the decentralized model. The individuals entrusted with the task of telecom procurement will quickly gain expertise in doing so and can secure better prices through standardizing, bulk purchasing and negotiation of terms. On the heels of knowing what the company is paying for its telecom services, there should follow a knowledge of what telecom resources it has. An inventory should be taken of "who has what." It is not unusual for a company to be billed for services or equipment it does not have. With an accurate inventory these mistakes can be caught and corrected. An accurate inventory is especially important with mobile devices. These often are lost or stolen and sometimes corporations keep paying inadvertently for cell phones that were assigned to employees who have long since left the company. Keeping a telecom inventory current and accurate is no small task, especially with mobile devices. Here too, centralization pays off handsomely. In fact, keeping track of inventory changes would be almost impossible if not centralized. As a logical extension, this can also become the central authorization point for acquisition and changes in configuration. In companies where employees have traditionally had a free hand in ordering their own telecom resources, there is likely to be considerable resistance to centralizing telecom management. It is therefore vital to have the cooperation of top management and effective policy must be devised and implemented in appropriate stages. This can be a lot of work, but the results should be well worth the effort. Having all these pieces in place, the thing to do is to invest in a computerized telecom expense management system, which can do away with much of the drudgery, save on manpower, cut telecom costs dramatically, as well as provide useful reports, keep accurate records, assist in the allocation of resources and improve security. Before embarking on a project of managing telecom costs, it is a good idea to contact a reputable provider of telecom expense management systems and consult their expertise on how to go about implementing a TEM system that best suits your enterprise. For more information on telecom expense management, visit the Telsoft Solutions website at www.telsoft-solutions.com.
Author, Peter Verhoeff, writes articles on the business benefits of telecom expense management systems and call detail record technology. More information can be found at http://www.telsoft-solutions.com.
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