FAQs

• What is Telecom Expense Management?

  Telecom expense management refers to the management of inventory, invoices, and contracts of fixed/wireline services and assets. These assets can include: 
  

  • POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) / PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) 
  • ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) 
  • DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) 
  • T1/E1 lines
  • PRI (Primary Rate Interface)
  • Cabling infrastructure
  • Some VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services 

  A good telecom expense management solution will enable an organization to track telecom inventory, manage quotes and orders, allocate charges at a granular level, analyze invoices for disputable charges, and identify potential waste. 

• What is wireline eBonding?

  Wireline eBonding, or Wireline Automated Procurement, reduces manual ordering processes by integrating with telecom carriers across the globe. Through wireline eBonding, our solution accelerates digital transformation and minimizes the standard time-consuming “swivel-chair” approach to fixed line procurement. By integrating directly with the vendors from which these services are being ordered, error rates are reduced, order process times are improved, and procurement tasks are simplified to free up labor resources. 
  

  Calero is currently the only TEM provider in the industry that is certified as a carrier integrator to Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) standards. 

• How is telecom inventory being tracked?

  Typically, telecom inventory is tracked in a TEM solution through workflows that capture activity known as MACD (Moves, Adds, Changes, & Deletes). MACD workflows update data within the solution to align with change requests, orders, and other actions that impact an inventory item’s details. Inventory items can also be linked to associated network functions, infrastructure, services, and more.
  

  Within the Calero solution, our award-winning inventory technology goes beyond the competition to provide deeper and more accurate insight into our customers’ inventory data. Our solution pulls telecom inventory data directly from vendor APIs, enables the comparison of vendor and invoiced inventory data, and validates inventory against billing records for unparalleled accuracy – all in a fraction of the time usually devoted to telecom inventory maintenance. 

• How does ordering work for fixed telecom?

  Telecom orders can be initiated as quote requests, which are submitted to selected vendors for their response, or as order requests, which initiate the fulfillment process. Within an effective TEM solution, workflows can be configured to route orders through multiple levels of review and approval while capturing all necessary information for updates to inventory data. 
  

  Typically, fixed telecom services involve the installation of physical infrastructure, such as copper or fiber-optic cables. Our solution tracks order requests from the initial procurement request through fulfillment, capturing status updates for full visibility throughout the process. 
  

  Additionally, managed services can be leveraged to outsource procurement tasks to our telecom experts, who will manage coordination with the vendor, installation and testing, validation of billing and charges, updates to the inventory record, and any other activities required to support the order process. 

• How do you obtain your benchmarking data?

  Our Calero Benchmarking module is populated with the data from our global expertise and knowledge in the telecom industry, leveraging thousands of price points to offer an accurate comparison of existing telecom costs against similar products and services in your market.