Keeping track of telecom stuff has always been a pain. However, as the line between telecom and IT continues to blur (think: iPads) it is getting even more complicated. One employee could easily have several voice, data and wireless assets assigned to them. And to use the old cliche “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”, that complexity can have dire implications for your telecom budget.
The first pain is to figure out what you have. Now. Today. You need a baseline like that so you can deal with Headache #2, which is to determine if what you have is really what you NEED. Those are two very different things. Building a good, accurate inventory opens the doors to a lot of other intelligent decision-making avenues. Are we only paying for what we have? Are we paying at contracted rates? Are people using the assets assigned to them, or could we cancel or consolidate some things? Is our wireless optimized properly? Could we be doing this better?
And all those questions can only be answered with inventory data. So get a software tool to track your stuff, or get a partner to do it for you, and start counting.