Telecom Expense Management: What is it?

What is Telecom Expense Management?

Telecom expense management (TEM) is in most ways exactly what it sounds like—establishing an organized way to control your telecommunications expenses. TEM service providers like Vatic Outsourcing help businesses control monthly costs associated with wireline and wireless services, effectively streamlining the business processes conducted by IT and finance departments.

The value of these services can be broken down into three main goals: helping businesses to save money, save time, and accurately manage their telecom inventory. TEM does this by proactively reducing expenses, introducing new efficiencies, increasing visibility, and providing better controls for fixed and mobile voice and data services.

Telecom expense management services often include cost allocation, wireless and wireline management, contract negotiation and RFP management, invoice auditing, benchmarking, inventory management, and procurement and order fulfillment.

How can telecom expense management save my business money?

The main way telecom expense management saves businesses money is by reducing their telecommunications spending. This is done in a few ways:

-Identifying and eliminating duplicate and unused services

- renegotiating contracts with better pricing

- Implementing suitable usage caps where necessary

- And more

In order to achieve these reductions, TEM providers will often conduct a spend analysis. This is an in-depth look at your current telecom situation, including services, features, and equipment. Once the provider has a good understanding of what you're currently spending, they can work with you to find ways to reduce your costs.

Firms that provide TEM services also often offer other management services, including mobile device management, provisioning and project management, and help desk services for large-scale corporations.

How does outsourced Telecom Expense Management work?

As a leading provider of outsourced telecom expense management, Vatic Outsourcing is an authority in reducing expenses while creating increased efficiency for corporate businesses.

Let’s take a deep dive into the components of TEM so you can better understand the benefits of outsourcing this cost-saving service.

Auditing
Perhaps the most important piece of TEM is the auditing phase. Every time a customer receives an invoice, that information will undergo a rigorous audit. First, the invoice will be imported into a TEM software tool, and then expert telecom analysts will study the data. The analysts will then make recommendations on how to optimize costs, recoup credits for invoices that were billed incorrectly, and turn off devices that are no longer in use.

Inventory Management
In order to discover any out-of-place charges on a phone bill, TEM software can be used to keep a running inventory of all wireline and wireless assets a company has. This inventory will be compared to bills sent by the individual vendors, helping to weed out any unnecessary charges. When someone leaves the company, gets a new device, or there is any other change in inventory, telecom expense management services can help you keep accurate records of all assets and services.

Contract Management and Vendor Negotiation
When you run a large business, it doesn’t take a lot for the number of technology contracts under your purview to multiply. Outsourcing contract management and vendor negotiation to a TEM service can help streamline those contracts in a number of ways. At Vatic, our services work to help eliminate redundancy and overspending, identify waste, find and address insufficient service, reduce licensing expenses, and create a systematic way to look at the value of your telecom contracts. This can help you get a better deal on your service and locate any contract violations, as well as help you keep track of when contracts end so you aren’t charged early termination fees.

Bill Payment
An element of TEM services that many corporations tend to enjoy is managed bill pay. This service allows the outsourcing company to pay recurring technology expenses for you, reducing administrative costs, eliminating the risks of late fees, and helping you avoid costs from misapplied or incorrect invoices.

Reporting
Firms that provide TEM services to large enterprises will always follow up with reporting to help their customers visualize and understand their ROI. Making this data easy for customers to access and export allows for better transparency and accountability, as well as provides a way to track month-over-month or year-over-year spending easily.

At Vatic, we utilize a proprietary TEM dashboard, which we have coined our “Performance and Opportunities Dashboard. All of our clients receive this document on a monthly basis. Highly configurable, the dashboard can be customized based on a company’s preferences, and will outline actionable analytics within a concrete document, so customers will always have a solid record of past invoices, trends, and payments.

The dashboard contains information such as:

• Spend by location and vendor
• Trend analysis
• Savings and cost avoidance
  Cost changes from the previous month
• Future opportunities to cut spending or increase efficiencies
• Any excess services, broken down by location

Benefits of Telecom Expense Management

TEM is a sought-after solution for companies that have come to the realization that they spend way too much on their telecom resources. Understanding the benefits of TEM software and the outsourcing of TEM solutions is vital to determining if this solution is the right fit for you.

Here are some of the benefits of telecom expense management:

Improved Visibility: With a comprehensive view of all telecom spending, companies can quickly identify areas where they might be overspending and make changes. This improved visibility also allows for better tracking of budget goals and helps to pinpoint irregularities in spending.

• Increased Efficiency: TEM software automates many of the manual tasks associated with managing telecom expenses, freeing up time for employees to focus on other tasks. This increased efficiency can lead to cost savings in the long run.

• Reduced Costs: One of the primary goals of TEM solutions is to reduce telecom expenses. By getting a handle on spending, companies can save money and improve their bottom line.

• Enhanced Security: By outsourcing telecom management, companies can often increase security by offloading tasks such as network monitoring and risk analysis to experts.  Improved Contract Negotiations: With a clear understanding of telecom spending, companies can be more prepared during contract negotiations and often save money on their service agreements.

• Recommendations for reducing your telecom expenses.

• Compliant with Regulations: TEM solutions can help companies to comply with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

• Improved Customer Service: TEM solutions can lead to improved customer service by giving employees more time to focus on providing excellent customer service instead of managing telecom expenses.

• Decreased Paperwork: TEM solutions often lead to a decrease in the amount of paperwork that is generated as a result of telecom expenses. This decrease in paperwork can free up time and resources for employees.

• Reduced Risk: By outsourcing telecom management, companies can often reduce their risk by offloading tasks such as network monitoring and risk analysis to experts.

These are just some of the benefits that your company can enjoy by implementing a telecom expense management solution. If you think your business could benefit from TEM, contact Vaticpliance: TEM solutions can help organizations meet compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA. Having a TEM solution in place can give organizations the peace of mind that comes with knowing their telecom expenses are being managed in a compliant manner.

TEM Controls Costs

When you outsource TEM solutions with a company like Vatic Outsourcing, you’re actually taking control of your telecom spending in a variety of ways.

Vatic employs a combination of software and services to help uncover savings opportunities, expose any errors, unauthorized uses, or areas of waste, and avoid late fees and early termination charges. We also negotiate with vendors on your behalf to help you get the best deal on your telecommunications expenses.

TEM Streamlines IT, Finance Operations

Most companies turn to TEM solutions because they want to cut down on costs above all else. This is understandable, and it’s why there is such a big market for these services. But TEM is also useful in that it helps streamline processes within IT and finance departments.

Enterprises have a choice of either building a team within the organization to manage these tasks effectively with the use of TEM software, or employing a telecom expense management outsourcing firm to handle it for them.

Businesses that choose to outsource their solution will find not only increased savings, but also greater productivity due to reduced demands on internal staff and resources, and a renewed ability to focus on projects that are more essential to the function of their business.

TEM Assists in Strategic Financial Planning

It’s hard to set a telecom budget when you don’t track your inventory, review your invoices for errors, or even know how much your company spends on telecom in general. TEM solutions can offer greater reporting and accountability so that you can determine how to best move forward with your communications services and contracts. Planning for the future is paramount for any business that wants to grow and thrive; outsourced telecom expense management solutions can help you get there.

Get Advanced TEM Solutions Today with Vatic Outsourcing

When a company is deciding whether or not to invest in TEM services, either through use of an in-house software or by hiring an outside firm to do the heavy lifting, there are a few questions you can ask to determine how much of a need you have for these services.

• How much do we spend on telecom?
• What is in our telecom inventory, and do we track it?
• Does anyone review our invoices for errors?
• Is our TEM environment optimized (free of unused devices, wasted data)?
• When do our contracts expire?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, your organization can benefit from TEM solutions like those provided by Vatic Outsourcing.

Other Telecom Outsourcing Resources

Vatic also offers wireless expense management (WEM) services, as part of our managed mobility services. WEM is a part of telecom expense management that specifically focuses on streamlining corporate wireless spending.

Other managed mobility services (MMS) offered by Vatic include:

• Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)-Mobile App Management (MAM)-Mobile Email Management (MEM)-Mobile Device Management (MDM)
• Mobile Traffic Management (MTM)
• Device Reclamation
• Managed Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
• Vendor Consulting

Additionally, we offer provisioning and project management services, which allows us to manage all tasks related to vendors and procurement. This includes issuing requests for proposals and selecting vendors with client needs in mind. We also offer help desk services, so our customers can have access to a dedicated support line and complex problem solving for wireless or wireline issues.

Vatic Outsourcing is a telecom consulting company that can help you regain control of your business expenses, mitigate hassle, and focus on what really matters. When you outsource telecom tasks to Vatic, we act as an extension of your IT department, providing ongoing support and help desk services that help you streamline operations and reduce your telecom spend. With our Telecom management services, we work to take the burden off our clients and provide savings across the telecom landscape. To get advanced TEM solutions today, contact Vatic Outsourcing.

Vatic also offers wireless expense management (WEM) services, as part of our managed mobility services. WEM is a part of telecom expense management that specifically focuses on streamlining corporate wireless spending. Other managed mobility services (MMS) offered by Vatic include: enterprise mobility management (EMM), mobile app management (MAM), mobile email management (MEM), mobile device management (MDM), mobile traffic management (MTM), device reclamation, managed bring your own device (BYOD), and vendor consulting. Additionally, we offer provisioning and project management services, which allows us to manage all tasks related to vendors and procurement. Contact Vatic Outsourcing today for more information on our telecom expense management solutions.