Asentinel Empowers Fulton County, Georgia.

MEMPHIS -- Fulton County, Georgia, one of the top 10 most technologically advanced county governments in the United States according to the Center for Digital Government, has found another way to use technology to its advantage with Asentinel telecom expense management software.

According to telecom industry research, billing errors average about seven to 12 percent of total telecom expenses. Asentinel's software solution is designed to reduce processing time and eliminate errors, something Fulton County knows firsthand.

With an annual telecom budget of more than $9 million, Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, was receiving all its invoices on paper. Six or seven feet of invoices per month were not uncommon. The County had one employee whose sole responsibility was to make sure all telecom invoices were paid.

"Before Asentinel, paying telecom bills was like that episode of I Love Lucy where she and Ethel were working at the candy factory. We did our best to keep up with the billing, but it was coming in faster than we could manage," said Robert Taylor, Fulton County's CIO and director of information technology.

When the stacks became too high and the data too difficult to analyze, Taylor knew it was time to focus on saving taxpayers money and increasing the efficiency of his employees.

With Asentinel, Fulton County made the move toward an overall paperless environment. Not only has it eliminated the stacks of invoices, but the Asentinel software has also found billing errors that have resulted in credits back to the County.

The increased efficiency of County employees was another instant benefit. Asentinel's real time automated system has decreased the time spent on telecom billing from 30 to 10 days.

"Now employees don't have to spend their time on the mundane tasks of sorting through invoices or checking for errors," said David Perdue, CEO of Asentinel. "Employees can focus their brainpower on more thought-engaging tasks such as negotiating contracts and making informed decisions about telecom equipment and spending."

"With Asentinel, now we can answer the tough questions. How do we stop the misuse of long distance services? Do we really need so many phone lines? How much money can we save by installing new products?" said Taylor.

Asentinel's reporting capabilities helped Fulton County justify the cost of installing a new fax product that integrates with email. Within hours of initiating Asentinel's report, the data indicated that the number of fax lines and the cost per line would be significantly reduced with the new fax product. Additional savings would be garnered with the drop in paper and toner costs. This type of detailed reporting was not previously available and would have required extensive hours of research.

Asentinel's dramatic makeover of Fulton County's telecom expense management once again puts the County at the forefront of technology solutions for county governments.

Asentinel is the developer of a patent-pending telecom expense management software package. The Web-based software has more than 40 cumulative years of development behind it and provides a cost-saving automated solution benefiting enterprise organizations. After nearly tripling its sales in 2004, Asentinel expects equal or better increases in 2005 as it grows its list of Fortune 1000 companies and government entities that realize the power of automated telecom expense management. For more information, visit Asentinel at www.asentinel.com.