In today’s economic climate, Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is one of the most important cost-saving functions within an organization. Selecting and implementing the right TEM vendor is critical to maximizing your telecom investments.
In today’s economic climate, Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is one of the most important cost-saving functions within an organization. The expense of telecommunications (voice, data, wireless) is now a focal point within organizations looking to reduce costs and improve staff productivity. Companies of all sizes rely on telecom systems for mission critical functions ranging from sales to service to customer relationship management. Nearly every crucial contact with customers, vendors and partners is dependent on a high functioning telecom system delivering to its maximum potential.
A lot of talk and industry reports about wireless TEM focuses on the IT side of the house. We brought in one of our mobility experts and asked them to enlighten us on the finance departments WEM (wireless expense management) needs. What follows is Part II of an interview with Phil Caruso, Senior Consultant from MTS, as we discuss the wireless TEM requirements of the finance people; the data that they need to see, and the systems and processes they need to be successful.
There are a variety of growing issues facing companies who try to track and control wireless spend. While it's obvious that controlling the cost per minute will save your organization money, there are other factors specific to wireless device and service management that the ideal optimization solution will address.
The organizational base of mobile users is growing and thus produces larger overall costs. However, to further complicate the issue, more features and functionality get bundled into wireless service leaving end-user organizations in a difficult situation in which the cost per wireless user is also expanding. These reasons are causing market leaders to explore Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solutions as well as wireless optimization exercises.
Wireless telecom has become the fastest growing part of overall IT expenditures. Even in an environment where overall IT spending is decreasing, wireless expenses continue to increase at double digit rates.
A one time or recurring wireless audit will force your organization to gather data surrounding wireless spend and the wireless optimization piece will provide as much as 40% savings on that spend.
According to many TEM and WEM experts, organizations implementing complete IT/telecom chargeback systems to their users experience 30 percent lower cost than do organizations where the cost of service is perceived as free. Today, most organizations find themselves somewhere along this spectrum — they do not provide all of their users complete utilization-based chargeback, nor do their users perceive the services they receive as totally free.
Whether it is in areas of accounting, HR, or sales, database-driven business processes provide significant benefits to businesses today. Establishing a Telecom Intellegence (TI) database as the single repository of information for all IT/telecom resources and costs improves an organization’s ability to make decisions regarding their voice, data, and wireless environments by providing complete and accurate historical trends and analysis.
A Telecom expense management (TEM) business process lets controllers, business unit executives, and IT/Telecom managers institute procedures and guidelines that ensure:
The last few years of corporate cost cutting has shaved telecom staffs to the bone. As a result, companies must focus on better utilization of their staff resources, focusing personnel on areas of core competency and on performing higher value tasks. This has led to two trends.
Much like managing the costs associated with phone bills, contracts, and services, managing your equipment, trunk lines, and cabling can be an integral part of a business’ overall telecom expense management.
