Business Coach and Business Coaching
Is Telecom Expense Management A Misnomer?
By Peter Verhoeff
Jun 4, 2008

The term, telecom expense management (TEM) has been around for some years, but TEM does far more than manage expenses and some folks want to rename it to telecom environment management. After all, they say, a good TEM system also includes telecom inventory, procurement and network maintenance among the things it manages.

In recent years in particular, a merger has been taking place between telephone and IT, due to the increasingly digital character of telephone service, such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Thus, we are not dealing with a simple telephone network, but also digital information interchange as well wireless. This includes computers with Internet access, cell phones, smart phones, Blackberrys, laptops, PDAs, pagers and more.

TEM is not a simple, one-time approach to cutting telecom costs, but an ongoing process of monitoring and optimizing telecommunications networks. Nor is it just about software. For successful implementation, corporate policies need to be created or enhanced to provide for better control and management of telecommunications resources. Effective TEM also requires interdepartmental cooperation. For example, IT should liaise with Finance and Human resources for optimum results.

In some circles, people equate telecom expense management with auditing telecom invoices. While telecom audits certainly have their place and fit into the context of TEM, this is too narrow a view. TEM not only detects problem areas, but also reveals the underlying causes of those problems.

The field of telecommunications is changing constantly and while TEM software is highly sophisticated, it requires human interaction to stay abreast of those changes. Not many years ago, telephone call
accounting was the main ingredient of telecom expense management, but with the advent of voice over Internet and wireless communications, the lines between IT and telephony have blurred. Periodic TEM software upgrades will be needed to allow for new developments.

Another area of human intervention is the negotiation of favorable terms with telecom carriers, which can make a huge difference in cost. TEM service providers can provide valuable advice in this area, or may even offer to negotiate the best deals for their clients.

TEM systems can save telecom costs in a number of ways, such as catching billing errors that are not uncommon and typically run in the carrier's favor. Then, too, there are corporate mistakes. This includes failure to notify carriers of changes in service, forgetting to discontinue mobile services for employees who have left the company, and forgetting to pay telecom invoices resulting in late fees or even service interruption.

Aside from the direct savings, TEM can provide indirect benefits as well, such as increased productivity, improved security and greater efficiency. So the case is a good one for naming it telecom environment management, rather than telecom expense management, though the former phrase is likely to remain. Either way, TEM is a very worthwhile investment for a corporation to make.

For more information about telecom expense management, visit the Telsoft Solution website at www.telsoft-solutions.com.