|
Steps to researching TEM solutions
I recently decided to develop a telecommunication directory site; this decision sprang from a consultant project that involved researching the total telecom expense management service market to find a robust total TEM software solution for Fortune 500 companies. The main focus was a software solution that could be managed internally with a software agency license or through a BPO and managed by my client. The project grew a life of it's own as I soon became aware that there were few sites that contained telecom directories of companies that provided the TEM software my client was searching for and the sites I did find, were generally huge on line directory's that did not focus entirely and specifically with telecommunications services.
I started my research with a quick search for telecom expense management at Wikipedia. TEM as defined by Wiki is a "term used to define a business process improvement approach to managing telecommunications service expenses - Voice, Data, and Wireless - with a combination of telecom software tools and manual telecom audit processes. Typical TEM software tools leverage telecom companies electronic invoice software feeds to gain detailed telecom bill information. Telecommunication consultants use a combination of software and cost control analysis information about the telecommunications industry to compare the available pricing and service options from telecom companies".
TEM looked like a great place to start so I Googled it. I was surprised when the results returned with headings for transmission electron microscope. Finally towards the bottom of the results page were telecommunications articles published by tmcnet.com, both telecom articles were informative and chalk full of keywords used within the industry. A good place to start but not indicative of what telecom software had developed into over the last few years. I focused my search on the keywords that were contained in the articles like, TEM, telecommunications cost management and then broached out to searches for wireless management, network inventory management, telecom bill auditing and finally to wireless help desk and cellular procurement. This approach became frustrating quickly because so many TEM software companies were co-joined in the results with companies that were focused solely on wireless management, telecommunications bill audit and network management.
The research process for a viable telecommunications expense management solution can be long and arduous, the average time for a corporation to go from the realization that the corporation needs a telecom software solution to the actual deployment of TEM software across the Enterprise and then experiencing the savings to their budget averages around 18 months. My job as a telecom consultant enabled me to accelerate the process of understanding the categories that the different telecom expense management companies fall into. By being familiar with the following charges for telecom service that may appear on your local phone bill, long distance invoice and wireless management reports you will shorten the amount of time required to select the right telecom software solution to meet your budget issues.
Local Phone Service
Local telephone lines & trunks.
ISDN PRI - Digital T1 facility.
Integrated Voice & Data T1.
Voice over Internet Protocol - VoIP and IP Telephony.
Digital Subscriber Line DSL.
Dedicated T-1 Internet access and bonded NXT1 bandwidth.
Dedicated DS3 - OC-X.
Network Management
MPLS - Multi-Protocol Label Switching.
Virtual Private Networks VPN and Private IP services.
Private Line,DS1 and DS3 to OC-X.
Frame Relay.
Ethernet LANs for metro, national or global data transport.
Wireless Management
Wireless optimization.
Wireless phone plan auditing.
Wireless invoice processing.
Web wireless procurement.
Cell tracking.
Wireless policy development.
Wireless help desk services.
In my role as a telecom consultant, we ended up selecting several software solution providers and after months of discussions and presentations on the technical capabilities of each, we selected a provider that afterwards was awarded the patent on telecom expense management. After signing the telecommunications contract your IT staff or accounting staff can either travel to the telecom expense management company's headquarters for software training or have a trainer come to you and learn the implementation procedures and requirements to successfully deploy total telecom software. If you want additional information about the directory that I created you can visit TelecomExpenseManagement.Org
As a community-building service, TMCnet allows user submitted content which is not always proofed by TMCnet editors. If you feel this entry is of inferior quality or wish to report it for some reason, please forward the URL to "webedit [AT] tmcnet [DOT] com" with your comments.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
