Asentinel Empowers Companies to Take Control of Telecom Spending

Patent-Pending Software Automates Monitoring, Optimization and Billing

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, - In the world of telecom expense management, there are temporary fixes, such as outsourcing companies and auditors, and then there is Asentinel - a firm that offers a patent-pending software package designed to give enterprises long-term internal control and visibility of telecom spending.

A Memphis-based company, Asentinel helps organizations take advantage of the growing trend toward centralization of telecom management, providing a user-friendly webbased tool that allows comprehensive monitoring, optimization, and billing verification. These capabilities enable large enterprises to save millions of dollars each year by eliminating billing inaccuracies and streamlining processing time.

"What you cannot measure, you cannot control," is the mantra of Asentinel CEO, David C. Perdue. "Our software empowers companies to gain the knowledge necessary to accurately measure telecom spending, manage performance to industry benchmarks, and negotiate better contracts with suppliers."

Perdue believes it is important for companies to maintain control of telecom spending because there is no substitute for internal expertise. "Ultimately, no one outside a company knows its plans, needs or finances as well as its own employees," he says. "Asentinel offers the benefit of immediate savings through billing reconciliation while building the long-term internal expertise necessary to realize ongoing savings."

Written in Java, the software integrates with the client's existing systems and automates the process of telecom invoice management in real time, analyzing every invoice against vendor contracts, hidden costs, active inventory, and flagging every exception. Since these errors often recur each month and can go back for years, getting an expedient return on investment from Asentinel is not difficult. In the long-term, clients' ongoing telecom expenses also decline while internal processing time is greatly reduced.

Industry Trends Influencing the Demand for Asentinel

Telecommunications is typically one of the five largest expense items for a business, producing a staggering number of invoices from multiple vendors. Excessive processing time and billing errors add even more to the cost. Telecom industry research indicates billing errors average about 7 - 12 percent of total telecom expenses.

Most organizations find reconciling telecommunications services bills both cryptic and time-consuming. Telecom invoice processing is sometimes handled by administrative employees who do not have experience verifying many types of services from a variety of carriers. Additionally, reduced staffing levels make the availability of people to train and provide oversight of telecom bills increasingly scarce. Delayed invoice processing is often the result, with late fees as much as 18 percent that add further to the cost of telecom.

In the past, companies searching for savings by uncovering billing inaccuracies turned to telecom bill management services that provide periodic auditing or complete outsourcing solutions.

"While these options offer short-term benefits, they do nothing to solve the underlying problems that will continue to plague enterprises that do not have in-house telecom monitoring, optimization and bill processing capabilities," says Perdue.

Many analysts agree, indicating that substantial savings in terms of time, personnel and money for large enterprises can only be solved with a solution that provides internal control.

Enterprises That Benefit From Asentinel's Solution

Asentinel's return on investment is most impressive in large enterprises where telecommunications budgets are in the millions. The issues facing Fortune 1000 companies and government entities are difficult to manage without an automated solution.

"When a company is expanding rapidly, has high turnover or frequently changes service, how can you keep up with all the contract adjustments on paper or with an Excel spreadsheet?" says Perdue. "If you have offices all over the country, how can you be sure that you're being charged appropriately for what you're using and not charged for discontinued services?"

Available as an ASP solution or license for internal hosting, Asentinel's web-based architecture benefits geographically dispersed companies because it consolidates invoicing into a centralized system, creating a consolidated telecom repository with easy access for all users regardless of their location.

Asentinel's Roots in Telecom, Financial Services & Technology

A piece of software is only as good as the business principles it is based upon. That's why Asentinel's management team stands out in the industry. The company's leaders have a vital combination of business expertise in telecom, financial services and technology.

When AT&T was forced to open up their network to the competition in 1968, David C. Perdue, Asentinel CEO, helped reshape the landscape of the telecommunication industry and has a successful track record of entrepreneurship. His pioneering accomplishments in telecommunications include:

• Founder of Telecommunication Systems of America, Inc. (TSA), a major regional interconnect company, later purchased by Nortel where Perdue was named president of Nortel Systems Division and later Group Vice President for Strategic Planning.
• Founder of ATS Telephone & Data Systems, Inc., which grew to be the largest privately held interconnect company in the United States and was named one of the 10 best managed telephone interconnect companies in America by Telephony magazine. ATS was acquired by Expanets in 1998.
• Founder of one of the earliest competitive long distance companies and one of the earliest cellular companies.

Warren Creighton adds financial services expertise to the Asentinel management team. He has founded two organizations - U.M.I.C Securities Corporation and Union Planters National Bank's Investment Banking Group which grew to be the 4th largest investment banking group in the US.

In the technology arena, Asentinel's Dr. Trandafir Moisa, chief architect of Asentinel's software, has been recognized as one of the most noted technology professionals in Romania. He served as President of InterComp, where he designed and implemented StarNets, the leading Romanian nationwide area network for commercial Internet services. Dr. Moisa cofounded the CST Group, an organization structured to meet software development outsourcing requirements and he is the holder of several patents.

"Our combined knowledge went into the development of the Asentinel solution," says Perdue. "It was developed with first-hand knowledge of the issues that companies face with telecom expense management. We have all been there."