Challenging economic conditions have had a domino effect on companies where they are not only looking for cost savings – in particular with regard to telecom expenses – but they are taking a more proactive approach when it comes to telecom lifecycle management in an effort to improve productivity and ultimately better serve their customers.

 

The TEM market is seeing growth as more organizations learn about the opportunity to improve supply chain management for telecom expenses and reduce expenses through optimizing inefficient processes, according to the Telecom Expense Management Industry Association.

 

Troy McCracken (News - Alert), CEO of Spectrum Inc., a telecom lifecycle management provider, said it’s important to have in place the tools necessary for ordering/procurement, real-time access to assets, contract negotiation, expense management and auditing as well as implementation and support.

 

 “There are several things that need to be taken into consideration when selecting a TEM provider, however, I believe the most important criteria can be summarized into two categories,” McCracken explained. “First, know your target market and know what market the TLM company focuses on. The last thing you want to be in a small fish in a big pond, or a mismatch in what you want to offer your clients versus what the TLM company can offer. For example, is the TEM an auditing company, a telecom management company or a software company? Are they offering software only, software and support, and if there is a helpdesk, to what level and tier? Due to the fact that there is no governing body, the most confusing and difficult aspect of selecting a TEM is trying to compare apples-to-apples,” he added.

 

In addition, global competition requires companies to optimize routine spending while expanding IT initiatives to improve productivity and better serve customers, according to the Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group. Since the economic fallout of 2008, companies are not only paying more attention to telecom expense management, they are becoming more aggressive in stretching their IT resources.

 

“We are seeing a big upswing in companies paying more attention to TLM. Due to the economic conditions, companies continue to try and right size their organizations and in doing so we are seeing the company’s IT resources been stretched further and further and more open to outsourcing the service,” McCracken said.

 

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Spectrum (News - Alert) offers services such as inventory benchmarking, sourcing and procurement, inventory management, expense management, rate optimization and helpdesk services.