Mobile Device Management is in the spotlight. It seems like every day there is news of another company that is being acquired or rolling out a new capability to manage mobile devices. This comes in response to employees that want to bring smartphones and tablets to work. The rate of adoption for these new devices is incredible. IT can no longer limit employees to one or two models.

With these changes some people feel the Telecom Expense Management TEM is no longer important. This is short sighted. In fact TEM is more important than ever. Organizations are going through radical changes in their networks. Managing this change requires automation and integrated systems to manage the network. Employees are spending less time on phones tethered to their desks, and organizations need to adapt their networks.

Managing the transition from legacy services to new communications technology is a complex job. It is not just about acquiring new service; managers need to disconnect services that are no longer used. There are opportunities to optimize the services that remain. Enterprises need a proactive program to reconcile inventory with telecom bills to ensure that services that are disconnected are also removed from bills.

At TEMIA, we have a committee, the Future of TEM, that is discussing how the industry is changing. Our members are proactively shaping the future of the industry. One approach calls for a market shift to Telecom Lifecycle Management. This refers to all the activities that a telecom department needs to perform including:

• Telecom Expense Management
• Wireless Expense Management
•  Managed Mobility Services
• Mobile Security
• IT Infrastructure Management
• Vendor Management

We have some work to define each subcategory, but I would like to hear from you. Which is best:

• Telecom Lifecycle Management
• Communications Lifecycle Management
• Technology Lifecycle Management
• Something else?

Let me know what you think.