The last few years have been defined by change, especially across enterprise telecom environments. Businesses have rapidly adapted their communications for new methods of working. And costs can quickly add up.
The Changing World of Enterprise Telecoms
Hybrid working has become commonplace. Globally, nearly three-quarters of employees want to work from home two or more days a week in the future. The pressure to keep employees connected, engaged, and working efficiently has led to businesses diversifying their communications environment.
Previously, you might have relied on fixed and wireless telecom solutions to manage calls and meetings. But now, technology like instant messenger chat, video, and other cross-functional communication services dominate. IT infrastructure management has become more complex for large, global enterprises.
Every sector of your business, across different locations, offices, departments, and individual end-users should be using the correct technology. And your expense management processes must track each service they use and minimize costs.
What is Communication Expense Management?
Communication expense management services improve the visibility of your communications costs with the help of an experienced partner. This lets you proactively find ways to reduce spending and wasted resources; it's also known as telecom expense management (TEM).
Your partner can assist with the lifecycle of ordering, provisioning, support, and cost management of your telecom environment. Their support gives you better visibility across all your telecoms, including fixed and mobile telephony, Internet of Things (IoT), and public cloud license tracking.
As demand for comprehensive expense management solutions has grown, some TEM providers have broadened their capabilities to cover the services that interconnect with your telecoms too, like devices, subscriptions, or services. This is sometimes known as technology expense management.
For example, Cass TEM services can also include managed mobility services (MMS) that cover mobile device management. These services consolidate vital communication expense management data into one place so you can overcome the challenge of rising costs.
Case Study: Multi-national Manufacturing Conglomerate Achieves $5.1 Million in Savings
A multi-industry company with $20M in annual telecom spend and over 7,000 corporate-liable smartphones required greater control of their telecom environment.
Cass helped them to unite fixed-line and mobile processes into one solution, streamlining visibility and reporting. We also fine-tuned their reporting to improve the quality of their data. This enabled business unit leaders to better understand their operating costs.
Since then, Cass has processed over 7,200 invoices per year, managed 32,200 general ledger allocation records, and fulfilled 4,300 mobile orders for the business.
The Benefits of Communication Expense Management
1. Auditing
The first step to minimizing costs is a telecom expense audit. Expert telecom professionals review contracts, billing records, inventories, and tariffs by location. They review your invoices line-by-line to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of your telecom inventory.
This insight demonstrates exactly where costs are being wasted or where spending can be reduced. It also shows where and how you could be using services differently, to streamline your business practices.
2. Benchmarking, Sourcing, and Procurement
Many communication expense management providers have the industry knowledge to get you the best rates and optimum terms on your contracts. They can support you with initial benchmarking, sourcing, and procurement, helping minimize your costs from the beginning of the telecom lifecycle.
3. Invoice Management
Communication expense management consolidates all your billing information into one, central platform. If you’re a global business with multiple locations in different countries, your contracts and agreements might be equally diverse. Language, currency, and cultural knowledge can all be barriers to bill quality and identifying or disputing cost discrepancies. An experienced provider will handle all of this for you.
4. Provisioning and Inventory Management
Every enterprise should have the resources to manage and report on all software and IT assets. Unfortunately, many lack this level of visibility and control. With communication expense management, you can track non-physical assets such as service agreements or your physical assets.
This means that everything is covered. Whether it’s software licenses, mobile and tablet devices, or even your physical telecom network equipment.
Regain Control of Your Telecoms and Communications
Hybrid working is here to stay, and enterprises need to be ready for anything. Your telecom environment enables employee productivity today and in the future, so it’s important to ensure you’re getting the most value from your spending.
Communication expense management can help your enterprise streamline every step of your telecom expense processes and unify all your fixed, wireless, and other cross-functional communication services in one place.
