AOTMP (Association of Telecommunications Management Professionals) is based in Indianapolis, IN. Long ago, the telecom business during the late 1970's and early divestiture years was pretty nutty and with good reason. Companies sprang up promising to get telecom expenses under control, and in those days shaving pennies off your long distance rate meant something. Teletron was one of those companies serving large enterprises with early TEM (Telecommunications Expense Management) solutions. Before this period, most companies just paid the bills on time without any analysis since telecom was considered "just another utility." Back then many folks just assumed that the bills were right.
AOTMP (Association of Telecommunications Management Professionals) is based in Indianapolis, IN. Long ago, the telecom business during the late 1970's and early divestiture years was pretty nutty and with good reason. Companies sprang up promising to get telecom expenses under control, and in those days shaving pennies off your long distance rate meant something. Teletron was one of those companies serving large enterprises with early TEM (Telecommunications Expense Management) solutions. Before this period, most companies just paid the bills on time without any analysis since telecom was considered "just another utility." Back then many folks just assumed that the bills were right.Teletron was later acquired by Symphony SMS and then came Evotem that has AOTMP under its umbrella, and is now differentiating itself by staking its claim in Telecommunications Environment Management (TEM).
Some folks have been asking about both Evotem and AOTMP and I can say that they are headed by the same guy- Tim Lybrook, President/CEO. AOTMP training and certification is basically management of telecom expenses and includes contract negotiations, establishing corporate telecom/IT policies, metrics in and all around the billing process with training that includes assessments of staff. In short, your head may spin after the first sit-down session, from all the details. Managing telecom as an expense was and still is the primary focus of enterprise management. This doesn't diminish the importance of the technology side, but unless the two sides agree, nothing gets done.
I'll get back to AOTMP, but first a quick sidebar on who's managing what today--expense side vs. technology side of telecom. This is something that IT can help improve in the large enterprise. Some will argue that it doesn't need improving, but the real proof is somewhere in the bottom line. What may improve is IT's understanding of the expense side of telecom, because without it, VoIP's benefits will continue to elude those who don't have the skill sets to manage the business side. Making money is still in vogue, especially in these periods of economic woe. Pinching a penny, leveraging lower-cost technology against another, or applying and enforcing net present value forecasts to determine value added to the enterprise, isn't a bad thing.
Incidentally, I decided to take the same approach when reviewing our utility bills that I do when viewing our customer telecom bills. I questioned everything, and admittedly, I never have before given as much thought as I have with telecom, nor to the same level of detail.
The Allegheny Power rep was helpful and in spite of the difficulty in getting some of the rate information, she never hung up on me, and instead persisted. (GOOD call center experience) The monthly bills show a "Price to Compare is 4.461 cents per KWH" and this "marketing message" has been printed in the same spot on the bills longer than I can remember. The reality is, it's a marketing message and it fails to state what the real cost of energy is--which in my section of the grid is 9 cents per KHW (kilowatt hour) and when people think they are paying less--they will care-less. The remaining government fees double the cost of our energy. So that's a huge disparity in customer reality, and understanding what you are really paying for may change your thinking.
Now, back to AOTMP, who brought to my attention an IRS policy that really rubbed me. It's been sitting on my desk for weeks. In the IRS webpage "Employee Cell Phones", you can find the language and context of my concern over what the IRS states:
To be able to exclude the use by an employee from taxable income from an employer-owned cell phone, the employer must have some method to require the employee to keep records that distinguish business from personal phone charges.
My objection is the length-of-reach that government has, and this means the policymakers on Capitol Hill. Remember, the IRS enforces what the lawyers dream up. So after reading the policy, I can only conclude- employees must all carry around two cell-phones -one for work and one for personal use. Otherwise, employers will be issuing "benefit statements" to the employees for using cell phones for personal calls? While the government in its opportunistic wisdom sees a clear line between personal and business lives; what it fails to see is that these coexist with the marvel of instant and simultaneous communications. The barriers or comfort zone between personal and business time are nearly non-existent for some if not many. Convergence can't happen because inept and outdated government policymaking is in search of more revenue? How much record keeping can any business endure? I've said before that telecommunications has been a political football for the government's purpose of raising revenues. The implications of the current and pending tax laws surrounding telecommunications may need serious review and further analysis before making additional pushes for more telecommuters.
The third lesson that I learned from AOTMP is that all tariffs are "living and breathing documents." Meaning -day-to-day, they can and do change. It may not seem significant, but it is. So for anyone wanting to beat up on their carrier or ISP, go read the tariffs to separate fact from fiction, but with the understanding that the facts can and do change since the carriers do amend them. Read the FCC's policy (since 2001) on tariffs here.
Still, benefits may await you. So before inking a new contract or master agreement with any carrier, first visit the carrier's tariff pages to determine what promotional discounts and incentives they may not be telling you about, or discover hidden details that will impact the price you think you are going to get. A really cool and useful online tool is CCMI's tariff alert.
After reflecting upon again, the last VoiceCon, I believe IT folks can benefit when they get beyond seeing that the Telecom staff isn't just "good at customer service" and in understanding the needs of users. Telecom is a money game and knowing where, when and how to spend the monies is deserving of attention. While the CFOs may come across as the gatekeepers that everyone wants to get around, learning the primary language of business (money) is still the priority. Those that do understand get things done.
