Telecom Expense Management, or TEM as it is often called, generally consists of five basic services.

* Asset Management
* Invoice Validation
* Expense Optimization
* E-Procurement
* Help Desk Support

First we'll discuss Asset Management. The premise of Asset Management is to accurately track telecom inventories as well as keep on top of contract dates. The larger the company, the more complicated this procedure is. A good TEM team will be able to determine who has what wireless device. That job alone can be daunting to someone without the skills or tools needed for tracking. The same attention is given to wireline equipment, as well. Even though wireline equipment doesn't 'move around' like wireless devices, it can still disappear from one office to another, or be disconnected and end up in a closet somewhere.

Redundancy is detected and eliminated. It is easy to acquire new equipment or devices, but doing so in an efficient manner is much more difficult, especially if the person responsible must spread his time among other jobs within the company.

Another step in reducing costs and overhead is to make sure that all needed devices are not obsolete. Replacing old equipment with cost effective equipment can streamline your organization, making it more efficient.

Having a complete and up to date inventory of your equipment and devices allows your TEM team to find out if you are paying for any disconnected devices. Those kinds of unnecessary expenses are impossible to determine without knowing exactly what assets you have.

Asset Management is one step in paring away at the waste that plagues many companies telecom systems. It can directly affect your bottom line, and that is what business is all about, right?

The next topic to be discussed is Invoice Validation, another aspect of Telecom Expense Management that can reduce costs for your business.