"The net outcome of records being out of date is that unused lines and billing errors usually favor carriers rather than user organizations."Audits easily find 5 to 8 percent savings by resolving billing errors."

He suggests businesses use telecoms expense management (TEM) software tools, which control acquisition, operation, and support of corporate communications assets and network services, in cross-referencing bills.

"A good TEM package will manage services, equipment, installations and maintenance, and support monitoring of essential contract provisions - particularly service-level agreements - and performance penalties, [because its] main focus is on telecoms asset deployment and its billing administration," he said.

Johnson said telecoms management should indicate the need for carrier bill refunds, support contract negotiations and resolve gaps between enterprise spending according to financial reporting and the aggregate of billing records. He said savings are both direct financial gains and increased corporate productivity.

"A TEM tool should be treated as more than a simple audit aid; it needs to be part of a permanent suite of telecoms and network management tools leveraged to manage telecoms planning, procurement and operations lifecycle," he said.