Benefits of telecom expense management
Telecommunications is one of the most difficult business expenses to manage. Research has shown that companies lose 12 – 17% of what they spend on telecommunications due to the complexities of Telecom Expense Management. Additionally, up to 85% of the typical enterprise’s telecom bills are not audited. (Source: Aberdeen Group) telecom expense management company
TEM programs were created to proactively reduce expenses, introduce new efficiencies, increase visibility and provide better control for telecom (fixed and mobile voice and data) services. Increasingly with the blurring between IT and telecommunications, TEM programs also include management of IT expenses.
Telecom Expense Management market size is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025, with a CAGR of 8.7% in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025 and will expected to reach USD 4099.3 million by 2025, from USD 2932.4 million in 2019.
Several acronyms and other terms fall under the TEM heading. Wireless Expense Management or WEM focuses on mobile expenses with employee portals for procurement of devices and service plans, and emphasis on managing and optimizing pools of voice minutes and shared data plans. New terms have been introduced to address management of mobile devices and support including Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), Managed Mobility Services (MMS) and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) and Mobile Security Management (MSM).
Alertify as Telecom Expense Management (TEM) vendor can help establish a baseline performance metric and identify the rise of capacity. Many tasks associated with TEM, Wireless Expense Management (WEM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM) may have been neglected, before they were implemented, ending in higher costs or wasteful spending on telecom services.
TEM has ten major focus areas: telecom expense management company
- Inventory management and change control
- Sourcing
- Procurement and fulfillment
- Invoice management
- Expense management (including validation and optimization)
- Usage management and chargeback
- Bill payment
- Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
- Reporting
- Business Intelligence.
Enterprises need to determine if TEM will cover domestic wireline, wireless, and/or international expenses. With Wireless Expense Management, enterprises must balance expense management with expectations of employees for mobile services that will help make them more productive and help desk support. Multi-national enterprises may seek to expand the program to manage international telecom expenses.
The three areas of fixed, mobile and international telecom expenses have challenges unique to each discipline. Telecom Service Providers use different billing systems for each discipline because regulations and revenue models vary for each of these services. Enterprises may also have different groups that manage these three areas.
As we know, WEM focuses on mobile expenses. TEM programs can include wireless expenses, but there are some areas of specialization for mobile programs. First, WEM programs’ inventory management and change control rely on employee portals for procurement and fulfillment of devices and service plans to manage on-boarding and off-boarding of employees.
Wireless services expense management saves organizations money by focusing on ongoing optimization of voice minutes, data plans, continual monitoring of new rate plans and selection of the best plans based on usage patterns.
WEM providers may also source the best contracts and manage a competitive bidding process with carriers. Invoice processing for mobile devices can even identify zero use devices which should be disconnected or suspended.
Similar to the TEM solution, invoice processing will also include steps to allocate costs and report usage to bring accountability for service consumption.
WEM Solutions Providers present a batch file of invoices that are ready for payment; upon approval by the enterprise the solutions provider can pay on behalf of the enterprise, or the enterprise can pay the bill and provide feedback to the provider to track payments.
Alertify brings these solutions in connection with IT Asset Management, making substantial cost savings, increased accuracy and visibility, substantial gains in control, productivity and efficiency, and complete traceability.
Benefits of telecom expense management
The number one benefit of TEM is that it helps companies control costs and avoid unplanned budget expenses.
Outsourcing your TEM solution – rather than trying to build a team of experts and stand up a technology platform in-house – is the fastest way to generate savings on voice, data, and mobile services and infrastructure. The combination of software and services will uncover savings, help you eliminate late payment fees, expose unauthorized usage and charges, identify billing errors, and enable you to recover funds and credits for overcharges.
The second benefit of an outsourced TEM solution is that it allows you to streamline operations.
If you’re currently running your program in-house – especially if you’re using spreadsheets and manual methods – you know that it takes a lot of time and resources to process and analyze invoices, dispute charges, recover funds, manage the inventory, and order new services and devices. By outsourcing your solution, you enhance productivity, reduce demands on your internal resources, and have more time to focus on activities core to your business.
A third benefit of TEM is that it assists in strategic financial planning.
Contract Negotiations – With multiple terms, conditions, and addendums in rates and pricing, it may be difficult to know if you are being charged correctly. It’s vital to know what your corporation’s commitments are against negotiated rates for services. Successful and strong contract negotiation is led by accurate inventory, known and attainable rates, and contract expiration notifications. telecom expense management company
