Recession concerns emphasize need for Teleom expense management

Recession Concerns Emphasize Need for Telecom Expense Management by Peter Verhoeff

Despite dropping telecom rates, many companies have seen a steep rise in total telecom costs in recent years, sometimes as much as double. This is due in part to the introduction of new technologies. Also, in good times there is a mistaken belief that the economy will continue to expand indefinitely and fiscal conservatism tends to take a backseat to the promise of profits. With a declining dollar, the subprime disaster and soaring oil prices the fear of recession is raising its ugly head and corporate executives are scrambling for ways to economize on unnecessary expenditures. Unfortunately, for many enterprises this is not just a good thing to do, but essential for their survival. The good news is that telecom expense management (TEM) can assist greatly with this endeavor.

Telecom expense management can bring about substantial cost savings as well as assist in raising productivity and profitability. And, with telecom costs many times being among the top five corporate expense categories, telecom savings can have a dramatic effect on corporate financial health. According to the Aberdeen Group, annual telecom costs typically average between $3,000 and $5,000 per employee.

Surprisingly, many companies only have a vague idea of what their total telecom costs are. For example, one company, when asked about their T1 line replied that they did not have one, yet an examination of their telecom bills revealed that they had an unused T1 line for years, for which they paid over $500 per month.

Enterprises routinely spend 10% of their telecom payments on outdated or unused services, according to the Gartner group. For example, old expensive cell phone plans, or worse, cell phone service for employees who have longs since left the company. Or, the company or one of its branches moves to a different location and continues to get billed for the old location, either through the carrier's oversight or because they were never told to disconnect the service. One company found it was still paying for services at a location it had left three years before.

With the advent of cell phones, many people are no longer using pagers, yet many companies continue to pay for their unused pagers. With the proliferation of wireless devices and other technological innovations, it becomes progressively harder to keep track of telecom costs, let alone to reduce tem.

It is recommended that enterprises seeking to economize on their telecom expenditures consult with a reputable telecom expense management systems provider. Typically, such a consultation will lead to a review of the company's current telecom services and resources and what they are being billed for. This often will result in immediate savings that will justify the investment in a comprehensive telecom expense management service. Three areas commonly addressed by TEM systems are inventory management, invoice management and resource optimization. In addition to saving money, the system will also provide improved protection against unauthorized and fraudulent telecom use and maintain accurate usage and call detail records (CDR) that will assist in meeting legal requirements, such as those of the Sarbanes-Oxley act.

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.