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.

Hiring a Telecom Conslting Firm

Important Questions to Ask From a Telecom Consulting Firm by johnmak

Every company at certain extent uses external consultants help to reduce the cost and help in managing specific projects. Telecommunication is one such area where consultants can only help your company to reduce expenses, but also provide complete support as your company grows and your telecom requires change.

Deciding on which telecom consulting company to bring on board can be quite difficult. Options are enormous. Most of the companies are reputable, but the industry is chocked full of “fly by night” firms looking to make a quick buck by conducting insufficient telecom audits or hawking telecom services under the semblance of bring a “telecom consulting” company. Before you select a company, make sure to ask few questions that will help you sort the good from the bad.

1) How Long You Have Been In This Business - Select a telecom consulting company that has been in business for at least 10 years, preferably 20 years or more. A reputed company that is in the telecom consulting market will have an excellent track record for success for their success.

2) Area of Telecom Consulting Is Your Expertise - While seeking for telecom consulting companies, make sure to ask them what areas they feel their strong points. A prospective consultant will assume that you have narrowed down your own specific telecom needs or problems that you want and need addressed. Check out your concerns regarding telecom consulting. Once you have pointed out your own particular telecom requirements, it becomes more convenient for you to match those concerns with the perspective consultant’s strong areas of expertise.

3) Size of the Consulting Company - Check out the size of the telecom consulting company. How many employees they have? Before contracting with any telecom consultant, ensure that you understand exactly who will be doing the work and identify the contact person responsible for status reports, updates and to get your questions properly answered during the course of the project.

4) Ask for Some Particular Case Studies and Results of Your Current or Past Clients - A reputed telecom consulting services provider will have experience in a massive range of industries. While asking for references, don’t just get a few names and numbers to call. Ask them to show one or two successfully accomplished projects which are similar to your industry. Seek for a company that gives consistent success in a variety of industries.

Patni, a leading name associated with telecom consulting services, provides proven IT infrastructure assessment tools and methodologies to design solutions which are closely associated to the customers’ business technique.