According to the Center for Telecom Environment Management Standards (CTEMS), a collaborative group of multi-functional professionals focused on legitimizing and advancing the fixed and mobile telecom management industry, lack of business process standards is the highest rated common challenge cited by CTEMS members.

CTEMS has plans to address these challenges by supporting the widespread adoption of telecom management best practices.

The most widely adopted telecom management best practices among enterprises include invoice processing, auditing, contract management, reporting and analysis, service ordering, sourcing and procurement, and service inventory management.

While each of these activities showed a 75 percent or higher adoption rate, security and risk management were identified as the least adopted practices, with less than 45 percent adoption, according to CTEMS.

"Consensus from the membership on lack of business process standards further solidifies the need to establish best practices for industry," said CTEMS Founder and AOTMP CEO Tim Lybrook, in a statement.

"I am very encouraged by the dedication of CTEMS members and their contributions towards our mission," said Lybrook. "By clearly identifying the rate of adoption for fixed and mobile telecom management practices, we can more efficiently establish practice standards."

CTEMS has more than 150 members from the industry. They include enterprise professionals responsible for managing more than $1.8 billion in annual telecom spend, as well as leaders from carriers, vendors, consultants and technology suppliers working in the telecom expense management (TEM) and wireless mobility management (WMM) supplier industry.

The group of buyers and sellers collaborate regularly to identify and resolve challenges in the industry.

Earlier in September, AOTMP announced plans to expand the Center for Telecom Environment Management Standards (CTEMS). As part of a long-term growth strategy, CTEMS announced it is opening membership to telecom management professionals worldwide and is implementing an enhanced member benefits program.