Home technology has become very sophisticated and fun to use. Today, all of your technology interacts in such a way, that it becomes very important to make sure you purchase compatible devices. If one device doesn’t speak the same language as the rest, it will work, but no one will be able to figure out how to get it to function.

I have been installing home technology for the past 18 years with iHome Systems and I have seen tremendous changes in the industry. One of the comments I get is “what happened to simply turning the dial?” In a lot of cases, I have to agree that the complexity sometimes makes just sitting down to watch a show more complex than it should be. I am old enough to remember picking up the phone and hearing “number please” to which I would just respond with the number I wanted to reach and the nice operator would dial for me. Then came the rotary dial, soon to be followed by the dial pad and the, mostly deaf, voice recognition that gets what I want right only six times out of ten. I usually feel like a full time beta tester because the technology changes so quickly, it is never fully tested before it is released, but I love playing with the new features so much, I can’t resist being the first one to have it.

I am, of course, “a do it yourselfer” I have been connecting things together since I was 10 years old, which is why I got into this business to begin with. So I am an experienced do it yourselfer for home electronics. Which makes me an “expert” I always believed that what makes someone an expert is the process of failing so many … Read the rest

A telecom expense management (TEM) program is based upon an accurate telecommunications service inventory. The telecom inventory is the foundation for a number of different telecom management activities, such as tracking moves, adds and changes, carrier spending levels and network optimization. Without an accurate telecommunications inventory, your TEM program will only be partially effective. By following these three inventory related activities, you can get the most out of your telecom expense management program.

1) Track MACDs. A MACD (Moves, Adds, Changes, and Disconnections) order is one of the most complicated activities for an expense management program to track. Carrier provisioning systems create numerous service classifications that create different inventory management and telecom billing assurance challenges. Typical status types include (we will use customer oriented terms here, not standard carrier terms): ordered, installed but not turned up, in service and billing, cancelled but still in service, disconnected awaiting final bill, and disconnected not billing.

These different network service statuses need to be tracked for each service order placed so your team can determine when a service is usable and responsibility has passed from telecom carrier provisioning to customer care, when you should expect to see the first billing, when the carrier should stop billing you for a service and so on. Without an accurate telecom inventory and a telecom inventory tracking system, the challenge of managing telecommunications changes is immense.

2) Managing your carrier spending level is another important aspect of an effective TEM program. Accurate telecom inventory records assist you in managing carrier spend by showing you what you can move from one telecom carrier to another and how that will effect your spend with the respective carriers. Further, an effective telecom expense management platform will allow you to monitor your telecom carrier spend to ensure that you remain in … Read the rest