By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email
Telecom Expense Management or "TEM" in its simplest form helps the business end-user accounting departments apply proper GL (general ledger) codes to the different parts of their phone bills.
When all the phone bills for a businesses come from the same phone company the monthly process of applying these GL codes can be fairly simple as the GL code accounting software only has to accommodate the phone bill format of a single phone company.
But what happens when a business gets hundreds of phone bills from dozens of different phone companies - all in different formats?
That's when selecting a good "carrier independent" TEM software program can really pay for itself in short order.
Why Not Use "Free TEM" Software Offered by a Phone Carrier?
Most all the POTS consolidation carriers do provide TEM software that you can use for free - but only if you're an active customer with them and only if the margin they're earning from your carrier account meets their criteria.
The biggest "free TEM software" problem that occurs between the customer using it and the carrier that provides it is when the customer wants to use the software to manage phone bills that are not on the carrier's direct service and that the carrier can't import or does not want to import due to the labor costs involved.
Bottom line with "free" TEM software? If the POTS consolidation carrier will allow you to use the software for ALL the phone bills you want to manage then there's a good fit. If not, then you'll need to compare the carrier independent TEM software packages.
Telecom Expense Management Buyers Guide & 10 Questions to Ask Before You Buy
Click here to view & print our Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Buyers Guide.
The guide comes with questions that end-users will want to ask themselves before they start shopping for a TEM package.
The guide also comes with a list of Telecom Association recommended telecom expense management channel sales partners who can provide consulting to help you choose a good TEM package.
The guide also provides a list of Telecom Association recommended telecom expense management software vendors.
The buyers guide and all the content in the guide is constantly being updated every month so please be sure to check the date on the guide to make sure you have the most current edition of the buyers guide.
To find other buyers guides in other categories along with TA recommended partners and vendors please visit www.TArecommended.com.
Recommended TEM Partners
The following TEM software consultants received the the highest TA Review scores over the past 24 months. While each provide their own "in-house" TEM software solution, each are also experienced enough to help multi-location business customers compare the costs and benefits of one TEM package to another.
1. Erny Bonistall of Global Solutions, Inc.
2. Marko Spremo of Telapprise
3. Jill Plouffe of 4Telecom Help
4. David Hopper of Auditmacs
Recommended Carrier Independent TEM Vendors
The following "carrier independent" TEM software providers received the the highest TA Review scores over the past 24 months. As a software provider as opposed to a solution consultant, each is likely to know a great deal about their own product but unlikely to be able to help you compare their TEM software to another TEM software package.
1. "WinBill" by TTI
2. "ClearView" by Valicom
3. "PINNACLE" by Calero (Veramark, Movero)
4. "Dimension Data" (Xigo, Invoice Insight)
5. "Connect" by TeleSource
Blog Appendix
Calero Software is Launched from the Merger of Movero, PINNACLE and Veramark 12/2013
Auditmacs boosts returns by trimming waste on telecom expenses 7/2012
Dimension Data Buys Telecom Expense Management Software Maker Xigo 2/2012
TEM Company TTI Concludes Successful 6th Annual WinBill National User Group Conference 10/2010
Valicom Announces North American Launch of Telecom Expense Management Software Clearview 2/2010
Blog Photo Credit
Blog keywords: TEM, telecom expense management, carrier independent, software, channel sales partner, GL, general ledger codes, accounting department, phone bill, POTS consolidation, buyers guide, questions, Telecom Association, Erny Bonistall, Global Solutions, Marko Spremo, Telapprise, Jill Plouffe, 4Telecom Help, David Hopper, Auditmacs, WinBill, TTI, ClearView, Valicom, PINNACLE, Calero, Veramark, Movero, Dimension Data, Xigo, Invoice Insight, Connect, TeleSource,
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