Telecom Expense Management Solution for your organisation

Posted By: technopediasite



Telecom Expense Management is defined as merely being “the management of wireless and wireline service and asset expenses,” while Technology Expense Management is defined as “the management of technology costs such as software licenses, computer equipment, applications, etc.”

“A set of processes implemented by a company’s IT and finance departments to manage and optimize enterprise communication services. It comprises both wired and mobile services, including data and voice usage. These solutions are designed to manage the telecom expenses efficiently and make it easier for a company to manage complex telecom setups.”

According to Telecom Expense Management for Large Organizations: A Practical Guide, by Luiz Augusto and Claudio Basso, “telecom expense management encompasses much more than just managing telecom bills and contracts.” The book goes on to explain that Telecom Expense Management also involves sourcing, procurement, asset and service inventory management, and much more. Most TEM providers would agree that Telecom Expense Management has been changing. According to the book, “billing systems are just a part of the bigger process,” and in many ways the authors hit this one right on the nose. By combining these definitions, and looking at all of the different tools that TEM is capable of providing, we can paint a clearer picture of what exactly TEM is.

Telecom Expense Management began due to a need to control monthly costs associated with the use of fixed phone lines. Now, TEM has evolved into a management system which helps not only with managing telecom services but also wireless services. In many ways, TEM has come to incorporate elements of both Telecom and Technology Expense Management, often unified into one platform depending on the vendor. You can do a variety of things with a TEM provider if you choose the right one, and making the right decision can allow you to have all of your data and assets managed for you in one platform.

What is the value of Telecom Expense Management ?
➤Save money
➤Save time
➤Accurately manage a telecom inventory.

 Telecom Expense Management helps large organisations:

➤Budget and manage telecoms
➤Reduce telecom spend
➤Increase cost visibility
➤Control all telecom assets and usage.

Companies that implement a Telecom Expense Management solution can generally save in the region of 10 – 30% of their annual telecom spend in year one.

A Solution for Improving Visibility of spend

A good Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solution gives an organisation a fuller understanding of where its telecom costs are coming from, identifies where efficiencies and savings can be made and highlights areas for optimisation and improved ongoing management.

The first part of the process is to create a full, detailed Inventory including all:

➤Telecom devices
➤Lines
➤WAN
➤LAN
➤Mobiles
➤Routers
➤Equipment

This will specify where they are located, along with all their related contracts, usage and tariff information. The detail and accuracy of the inventory is what underpins the whole solution. And because the information is captured in a centralised application, you can see a comprehensive view of what is going on in your estate on a single dashboard. By analysing and interrogating this rich data in multiple ways, it is possible to verify whether the carriers’ bills are correct (or not), and identify where savings and cost reduction can be made. This process is far more efficient and accurate than having to spend time and effort reviewing various spreadsheets that are usually out of date.

Ensuring Cost Tracking Accuracy

It is claimed that around 75% of companies are incorrectly billed by their various providers. Forrester Research estimates that “billing errors average 5% to 12% of telecom services budgets”. It has to be said that these mistakes are not made on purpose; they occur because carriers tend to have multiple billing systems which are old, unintegrated, inefficient and overloaded.

Without a Telecom Expense Management solution, it is extremely hard to know what your monthly telecom bill actually covers, and more to the point, whether it is correct. It’s not surprising then, that when many companies receive their bill, they simply compare it to the previous month’s bill and if it is about the same, it will be authorised for payment. Some telecom, finance, or procurement employees might be tasked with reducing the company telecoms bill, and might successfully negotiate lower rates for the subsequent period by perhaps threatening to move to another supplier. Only once you understand what you are being charged for can you start to look at how to reduce the costs and optimise your telecom estate to work more efficiently for your business.

Ongoing Cost Management Made Easy

With a TEM solution, you can understand where your current telecoms costs are coming from, and then start to manage those costs better. 

Industry Benchmarking and Supplier Sourcing

A TEM portal provides analysis of proposals to evaluate which is the best supplier to choose.

Budgeting and forecasting

By analysing the data about your inventory during a given period, it will be possible to forecast and budget accurately for the charges and costs in the subsequent term and then report and manage this tightly. If you don’t do this, how do you know that the sourcing cost reduction you just renegotiated is being applied correctly – especially if the inventory has since changed via a disposal, an acquisition or closing of facilities.Without a TEM solution to make findings, you could be left in the dark and continue paying an incorrect bill.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Transformation

For organisations that are going through a merger or acquisition process, or a transformation, having an accurate and up-to-date inventory of the telecom estates in question will help with the transition programme. Understanding what assets you have, what they are costing you and where they are located will enable you to make informed decisions about what products and services to remove, keep, take on, upgrade etc. Without this knowledge, you could end up paying for inherited kit and usage that you weren’t aware of, as the monthly bill will likely not contain a breakdown of precisely what you are being billed for. And these “invisible” payments can run on unnoticed for many years, racking up significant cost.

Managing Staff Usage and Inventory

Trying to manage a large telecom estate in-house with people and spreadsheets is an arduous, time-consuming practice that is not as accurate as using software to perform the job for you. Automating the process gets better results and frees up time for personnel to perform other, more worthwhile tasks for the business. Indeed, the time freed up by using a TEM tool will enable staff to work on delivering the savings identified by the tool and as such driving greater value.

Telecom Expense Management Key Features

➤Invoice Processing
➤Invoice Optimization and Audit
➤Shared Services Management
➤Global Approach with Local Expertise
➤Disputes
➤Ordering and Provisioning
➤Inventory
➤Reporting and Business Intelligence