TAM is telecom asset management which means it tracks cell phones and laptop data cards. Some TAM also tracks laptops, including Lojack style software to delete info from smartphones and laptops.
TEM is is used to track the following:
- Contract expiration - so you can notify the carrier before the auto-renewal kicks in
- Contract terms - how much, how long, etc.
- Billing reconciliation - 10% of all bills are wrong I am told.
- Hidden charges - I'm doing a panel on this - many hidden charges.
- Circuit location - circuits don't routinely get disconnected as they should. If you close an office or downsize, you want to do the same with the circuits
- Spending - are conferencing, long distance or cellular minutes increasing?
TEM, where the "E" stands for Expense is an incomplete proposition. Telecom represents a major cost but is also a mission-critical component of virtually all business' today. For TEM to be broadly successful, the "E" must stand for Environment, and apply equally to expense as well as the details of the underlying services represented.
Likewise, Asset Management applies to far more than just CPE alone. Just let a business' internet connectivity drop in the middle of a day to witness how quickly that circuit becomes a treasured asset of your customer.
In our current world economy, IT staffing is stretched farther than ever before, at a time when balancing cost and performance has never been more important. A proper Telecom Environment Management (TEM) solution needs to simplify and optimize on both the expense of telecom, as well as the mission-critical services and equipment that the expense supports.