Telecom Expense Management (TEM) Outsourcing: How Can It Help My Business?

Most organizations pay way too much for voice, wireless, and data services. The kick is, they don’t even know it.

When a company grows quickly or fails to remain on top of telecom spending over a period of years, it can easily lose track of telecom spending, and thus become unable to control costs. 

Luckily, there are telecom outsourcing companies that can help you manage your bills and find opportunities for savings. They do this with a process called telecom expense management. 

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 telecom expenses. TEM outsourcing 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 outsourcing 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. 

Firms that provide TEM outsourcing 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 telecom expense management outsourcing, 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 outsourcing so you can better understand the benefits of 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 outsourcing 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 telecom outsourcing services can help eliminate redundancy and overspending, identify waste, find and address insufficient service and reduce licensing expenses. We also 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 outsourcing 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, removing the risk of late fees, and helping you avoid costs from misapplied or incorrect invoices. 

Reporting

Firms that provide TEM outsourcing 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 unique 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. This way, 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 outsourcing 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 determine if this solution is the right fit for you. 

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 telecom 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 to be expected, 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 the choice of building a team within the organization to manage these tasks with the use of TEM software or partnering with a TEM outsourcing firm to handle it for them. 

Businesses that choose to outsource will find that they not only increase their savings but also their productivity. This is 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

Whether you choose to go with the use of in-house software or by hiring a firm to do the heavy lifting, it’s important to be informed about the usefulness of TEM outsourcing. When a company is deciding whether or not to invest in TEM outsourcing, there are a few questions you can ask to determine if need you have for this service such as:

• 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 and 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. 

Contact Vatic Outsourcing for Telecom Expense Management Solutions

If you want to strategically grow your business while cutting costs and driving efficiencies, telecom expense management solutions can help you get there. With our TEM software resources and unmatched data analysts, we can reduce your enterprise’s communications spend and streamline business processes for both your finance and IT departments. For more information, contact us today! 

Frequently Asked Questions About Telecom Expense Management