Telecom expense network security concerns SMBs

Telecom Expense Network Security Concerns SMBs According to CompTIA Study by Lisa Santora

According to a recent study commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) of 350 SMBs (of 500 or fewer employees), only 50 percent of respondents trust the security offered by IP telephony vendors. Telecom expense management networks are prime targets for hackers and companies cannot rely on IP telephony vendors for security; they need to employ their own security measures to protect their VoIP networks.

By installing today's sophisticated call accounting software systems, attacks on VoIP networks can be mitigated. VoIP Lowdown.com offers a 25 point list that can help organizations secure their VoIP networks. Included near the top of their list of recommendations is this advice: "Monitor and track traffic patterns on your VoIP network: Monitoring tools and intrusion detection systems can help identify attempts to break into your VoIP network. Scrutinizing your VoIP logs can bring to light irregularities such as international calls made at odd hours or to countries your organization has no ties with (toll fraud), multiple log-on attempts like in a brute-force attempt to crack a password, or a surge in voice traffic during off-peak hours (voice spam)."

A full featured call accounting system provides the capability to track all calls from every wireline, wireless, and VoIP phone across the enterprise. This comprehensive protection and the peace of mind it offers can more than justify the cost of installing the call accounting system. By deploying a call accounting system companies can track call detail records in real time so they can be alerted immediately to potential threats.

Real time call data also makes reporting easier as system users can run standard and custom reports either on the fly or per a set schedule. Reports can be scheduled to output to the user's screen, an e-mail list (reports can be sent as attachments to email), posted to a corporate web site, printed to a local or network printer, or saved as a file on the network. With the security and convenience features of today's telecom expense management systems, it is easy to see why increasing numbers of SMBs are turning to these systems to protect their telephone networks.

Author, Lisa Santora, 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.

Tips to slash Telecom costs

Tips for Slashing Your Telecom Costs by Peter Verhoeff

One of the many ways in which telecom expense management (TEM) can assist in cutting unnecessary telecom costs is with so-called reverse auctions.

A reverse auction is where you decide what your company's telecom requirements are for your wireline and wireless services and then getting several telecom carriers to bid for the contract. You would of course let their sales representatives know that they are not the only ones doing the bidding.

As they are competing with each other, you will get progressively better prices. Price, however, is not the only criterion. You also need to take into account the terms of the contract, also negotiable, such as early termination clauses and service level agreements.

According to the Aberdeen Group's report, The Cost of Not Acting, "Reverse auctions are driving significant incremental gains, with average cost reductions of 33%, but user adoption is low with 14% currently using this technology and 61% indicating they have no plans to use reverse auctions." With savings like that, it is puzzling why not more enterprises are taking advantage of this tool.

Another way to save money is to make sure all telecom bills are paid on time. This may seem obvious, but it is amazing how many corporations spend considerable amounts on late fees. With a centralized call accounting or telecom expense management software system it is fairly easy to ensure payments are made on time, as alerts can be issued when payments are becoming due.

Centralized telecom invoice processing, payments, ordering and contract negotiations are a key factor in effective telecom expense management.

Another tip for reducing costs is chargeback. Reports can be generated that list calls by department and by employee. Departments can be made to pay their part of the monthly telecom bill, which will make department heads sit up and take notice, as it affects their bottom line.

Having the reports further broken down by employee will impose a discipline and discourage them from making frequent and lengthy private calls. Some TEM systems provide the option that allows employees to mark calls as private, which permits them to make private calls and have them pay the company back, which is good for the employee's conscience, as well as the company's financial condition.

For more information on call accounting and telecom expense management, visit the Telsoft Solutions website.

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.

TEM outsourcing

Telecom Expense Management Outsourcing Gaining Ground by Peter Verhoeff

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is not a broadly known concept. In most businesses, telecom services are not well controlled and tracked, which hurts their bottom line. Corporations are becoming more aware of the need to control telecom costs. TEM, which includes call accounting and bill tracking, is the tool for successfully controlling these expenses. Some areas where telecom costs can be reduced are:

* Carrier billing errors

* Charges for discontinued resources

* Inefficient use of inventory

* Contract terms negotiation

* Limiting telecom abuse and fraud

Substantial savings can be realized. According to a Gartner report 12 to 20 percent of corporate telecom charges are in error, 85 percent of which are in the carrier's favor. Thus it is apparent that companies that do not use telecom expense management are wasting money.

Some carriers are now beginning to offer TEM services for customers, but does that make sense? Would you put the fox in charge of guarding your chickens?

A far better solution is to deal with a reputable independent TEM provider to either purchase the software or to outsource with them. Both approaches have merit. While owning the system provides greater control, outsourcing has some distinct advantages, not the least of which is the availability of the provider's expertise. Many companies that want to acquire a TEM solution choose to outsource, rather than purchase the system outright. Some of the benefits of outsourcing are:

* No large capital outlay

* Managing telecom expenses is less time consuming

* Frees up personnel resources

* Invoices are processed by the provider's expert staff

* Big savings with little effort

* No worries about software maintenance and upgrades

* Concentrate on the big picture without worrying about the details

A large financial institution recently decided to go that way. Up until then they struggled to control their telecom expenses. Two employees were charged with processing thousands of telecom invoices in addition to providing resources for thousands of employees.

With a lack of free time to check for billing errors, they had to be content with the occasional spot checks to see if this month's charges are more or less in line with last month's. While any system is better than none, this did not make for great accuracy. Now billing errors are caught by the new outsourced TEM system.

With the aid of the TEM provider, the financial institution saved over 10 percent, or about $600,000 a year, after renegotiating contracts with the carrier. This being only a fraction of their total savings, it can be seen that TEM can provide amazing returns on investment (ROI).

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.

Containing Telecom Costs

Cost Containment with Telecom Expense Management by Peter Verhoeff

While Telecom Expense Management (TEM) also known as telecom cost management (TCM), is becoming fairly well known, not every enterprise has yet taken advantage of its many potential benefits.

There are two main aspects to effective TEM: * Catching billing errors from the carriers (often in their favor) * Optimizing the company's utilization of telecom resources

Billing is a complex issue, with many factors entering into it. The cost of your telecom bill depends on the number of calls, their duration, their destination, the time of day, as well as what plan has been agreed upon with the carrier.

Carriers are in business to make money and they will bill for whatever they think they are entitled to bill for. Sometimes they bill for resources or services you did not get. As is the case with taxes, while the company should pay its fair share, the object is not to pay more than is needed.

Overpayment is not limited to billing errors, though. Without a well-controlled system of handling telecom billings, it is not uncommon for enterprises to run up additional and unnecessary charges for late payments.

For many enterprises, however, most of the cost savings will come from making the best use of existing resources. This is particularly true of new technologies, such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and mobile devices. Lack of know-how is the main cause of these areas being relatively uncontrolled in many companies.

One large corporation, for example, found during an audit that it was still paying for thousands of cell phones belonging to people who were no longer employed there.

Often, when switching to new technology, the company will temporarily run both systems in parallel until the new system proves out. That approach makes sense, but management might then forget to discontinue the old system, resulting in much unnecessary expense.

The same is true for branch locations that are being closed. The company typically will take care of most of the details, but might omit to notify the carrier and make sure they are no longer being billed for the discontinued service. When ordering telecom services, a company may overestimate required resources, resulting in overpayment, or underestimate needed resources, resulting in lost business. TEM can help find and correct these errors.

The above are a few examples of how a Telecom Expense Management (TEM) system can improve a company's return on investment.

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.

Prospect of TEM

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Will Become a 1.5 Billion Dollar Industry by 2010 by Lisa Santora

According to a recent TMCnet IPCommunications.com article, Eric Goodness of Gartner predicts that telecom expense management (TEM) will become a 1.5 billion dollar industry by 2010. Universities, law firms, hotels and convention centers, healthcare organizations, and government offices are but a few of the organizations that can benefit from telecom expense management solutions. Today's call accounting and telecom billing software works with any combination of PBX types and models and is compatible with Nortel, NEC, Avaya, Cisco, Intertel, Mitel, Intecom (EADS), Ericsson, Hitachi, etc.

TEM systems can save enterprises money and time identifying phone billing errors in telecom carrier bills. Analyzing carrier phone bills by line and by call is possible using today's call accounting software and electronic billing by carriers. By installing a centralized, enterprise wide, large-scale, high speed, call accounting and telecom billing software solution companies can detect phone billing errors and recover costs. Administrators can examine which departments make the most calls, and assign costs to individual divisions.

Documenting and responding to threats can be rapidly accomplished using automated call accounting software technology. Data is made available in real-time allowing users to act quickly when they need to respond to security threats and other alerts. The best call accounting systems process millions of calls a second and provide instant reporting so companies can examine large volumes of data fast.

Users of today's call accounting software technology enjoy convenience features including Web access to their call data records. System access can be easily provided to many users because call accounting software applications reside on a server and do not require installation and maintenance at individual workstations. The scalable designs of current call accounting systems allow companies to add sites, modules, users, and call volume as their needs change.

Author, Lisa Santora, 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.