| Are you, the business owner, the CFO, or other | | | | paying for two phones instead of one, and nobody |
| individual who is responsible for the financial health of | | | | realizes it. That is money down the drain. |
| you company doing to keep your company strong | | | | What Is The Solution? |
| and profitable during this stormy economic period? So | | | | Telecom Expense Management, or TEM as it is often |
| many of the expense for doing business are beyond | | | | called, is the answer. Not only does a good TEM |
| your control. You can do little about the cost of | | | | team control asset management, it will cover the |
| materials, shipping, heath insurance costs, and similar | | | | following aspects: |
| expenses, but one of the few things over which you | | | | Invoice Validation. |
| have power is your telecom expenses. | | | | The monthly invoices are cryptic at best. The TEM |
| It Is A Big Deal. | | | | team will comb through each invoice and compare it |
| The Aberdeen Group discovered that telecom | | | | to your inventory to find errors and discrepancies. |
| expense is one of the three greatest expenses | | | | Statistics indicate that 7% to 12% of all invoices |
| among most small and mid-size companies. Being able | | | | contain errors, and most of the errors are in favor of |
| to reduce it could mean the using black ink instead of | | | | the vendor. About 85% of those invoices are simply |
| red when figuring your books. | | | | paid without any scrutiny. More money tossed out |
| What Happened Over The Years? | | | | the window. |
| In the "old days," telecom expenses were fairly | | | | E-Procurement. |
| straightforward. Businesses had a switchboard and a | | | | The Telecom Expense Management team will |
| number of extensions. Period. The monthly invoice | | | | develop a single, centralized portal through which |
| was mailed and the accounts payable people sent a | | | | every device and service contract must be approved. |
| check to the phone company. The process was | | | | It assures that only approved devices and service |
| about as simple as a gong solo. Things changed | | | | contracts are acquired. It will eliminate the nightmare |
| almost overnight with the dawn of the cell phone, | | | | scenario mentioned earlier in this article, as well as |
| conference calling, voice mail, wireless data, and all | | | | many others. |
| the other aspects of telecommunications that are | | | | Help Desk Support. |
| vital to doing business today. Suddenly it became as | | | | There will always be problems associated with |
| complex as building a space shuttle. OK...I may have | | | | telecom use. It could be a user problem or an |
| exaggerated with the space shuttle analogy, but you | | | | equipment/service contract difficulty. The employees |
| get the idea. | | | | can contact Help Desk and have them spend the |
| What Really Happened? | | | | time resolving the problem instead of spending hours |
| Probably the best example of many telecom | | | | on the phone trying to take care of it themselves. |
| expense debacles would be asset management and | | | | Expense Optimization. |
| wireless devices. Any company who has more than a | | | | A reputable TEM company is vendor neutral. They |
| handful of employees who use one would be | | | | are not tied to any particular vendor or service |
| surprised to find out how unruly that asset | | | | provider, so they can use their experience and |
| management monster can be. It isn't unusual for a | | | | contacts to find the absolute best deal for your |
| business to have an open account with a wireless | | | | business. They can discover group discounts, sales, |
| vendor. When a new employee is hired or someone | | | | and simply haggle with the vendor and make good |
| needs an upgrade, they are told to contact the | | | | deals that will lower your cost. |
| vendor and get what they need. As handy as that | | | | Bottom Line. |
| may be, it is a disaster in the making. Imagine this | | | | The above treatise is a mere overview of the |
| scenario. Your employee runs over his wireless device | | | | process. You can see how the various layers of |
| after he forgets that he put it on the roof of his car. | | | | Telecom Expense Management coincide with each |
| For what ever reason he has...perhaps embarrassed | | | | other to provide a comprehensive program that can |
| or simply too busy to go through normal channels...he | | | | significantly reduce your operating costs. Of course, |
| simply wanders into the vendor's store and orders a | | | | the service is not free. The TEM company charges |
| new one and walks out the door with his new unit in | | | | for their services, but generally charge a percentage |
| hand. | | | | of the savings they find. It is a win/win situation. |
| Unfortunately he didn't have his old device | | | | Contact a Telecom Expense Management company. |
| deactivated, nor did he cancel the old service | | | | Find one that has been around a while. Work with |
| contract. Oh...by the way, he got the best new unit | | | | one that provides all aspects of the process. Start |
| available and the new service contract has every | | | | saving money for your company and impress the |
| imaginable feature included. Now your company is | | | | CEO! |