TEM can help manage telecom networks

Telecom Expense Management is the method by which a company can best manage one of their most critical assets: the telecom network.

And the center of the TEM universe is the inventory.

TEM encompasses the technology, processes, policy and personnel of a business.

On the technology side, there needs to be software to inventory your Telecom assets such as circuits, business processes and manage access to critical telecommunications infrastructure information.

The processes are all the business rules that govern how the network will be deployed, managed, and eventually dismantled or converted.

The policy is the corporate buy in and ultimately the enforcement of the processes that will ensure the integrity of the TEM solution.

The personnel are the experts in networking and telecom that follow the method and use the software to deploy, manage and decommission the telecom network.

TEM brings them all together into one centralized and collaborative system, ordering talks to inventory, inventory talks to billing, network management talks to inventory, network management talks to contract SLAs, etc.

TEM also brings a standardized set of best practice and repeatable processes to the organization using it.

All order and invoice processing should happen the same way across the entire organization after TEM is deployed.

Once you have all the technology, processes, policy and personnel in place, what types of things will you be able to do to better manage your telecom operations?

The following is a sample list:

  • Maintain a complete an accurate inventory of every network element in your company including every circuit, and service.
  • Just-in-time provisioning — order what you need when you need it.
  • Convert from technology to technology easily.
  • Assess the impact of the network on the company’s bottom line.
  • Pay your bills on time.
  • Validate the accuracy of your invoices.
  • Allocate costs back to the appropriate organization.
  • Dispute invoice charges with the carrier.
  • Predict future network costs.
  • Build your future telecom budget.
  • Optimize your existing network infrastructure.
  • Negotiate better contracts with your providers.

It goes without saying that you can’t manage what you don’t know exists.

It is critical for organizations to have a detailed listing of every circuit, service, order and invoice.

Also critical for the organization is to know how that inventory is configured, what its purpose for existing is and how it is related.