How Telecom Expense Management Will Account for Every Dollar
Telecommunications services are essential to large enterprises. Unfortunately, telecommunications expenses are one area where costs can quickly spiral out of control. The more massive your organization is, the more systemic the losses can be. How can your business truly know all the telecom accounts, phones, data plans, and other equipment it is responsible for, and, more importantly, can you get a handle on how much this costs? The answer is remarkably simple. Through telecom expense management (TEM) services from RealCom, your organization can measure, understand, and reduce your telecom costs.
This blog will examine the pitfalls of diverse telecom expenses, how they can add up to substantial costs, and how RealCom’s telecom managed services can audit and consolidate each of these bills into a single monthly invoice, so you know exactly where every dollar is going.
So, Where Are Your Dollars Going?
Let’s first focus on how much work is involved in maintaining your telecom. Mobile telephone services, internet access, video conferencing, mobile devices are expensive to purchase and maintain. Multiple vendors generate dozens of invoices each month, and since each agreement is a separate contract, each agreement needs to be managed. If this is difficult enough for a few locations in different states, imagine how complicated it gets when your organization operates in different regions and countries.
An overlooked indirect cost of telecom expense management is the time and talent of the people assigned to manage it. A small business may dedicate a portion of someone’s time for managing telecom expenses. Still, a large, global enterprise may have an entire department dedicated to compiling invoices, producing reports, negotiating agreements, and auditing use. Most likely, the procedures they use were borne of necessity and haven’t changed much over the years. This leads to a lot of errors and missed opportunities. But how confident are you in the accuracy of:
- How much equipment is your organization responsible for
- What devices are assigned to whom
- Your monthly cost for services
- The accuracy of monthly invoices
- Timely payment of invoices
- Your procurement processes for new employees
- Oversight over equipment and agreements for terminated employees
All of this adds up, and without the right procedures and oversight, the amount of money your organization loses each month can be shocking. But RealCom has worked with global enterprises to establish concrete procedures and systems that help your entire organization take control of telecom costs.
How Can RealCom Help?
The definition of telecom cost management refers to the analysis and optimization of telecommunications expenses. More importantly, it means refining procedures, automating processes, and drilling down to exactly where money is being wasted every month or quarter. RealCom divides the responsibilities of telecom management down to a few areas:
Inventory management and change control – What does your organization do when someone leaves? How controlled is the information on an employee’s device? Has anyone ever gone and not returned equipment? These procedures, or lack of guidelines, can make a massive difference in cost.
Procurement and fulfillment – This concept evaluates the present’s requirements with an eye to the future’s needs. Without a set procedure, your organization’s different parts are operating blindly, leading to higher costs and uncontrolled agreements.
Invoice management and reporting – While you may trust your different cost centers to report their expenses, you can never truly know how much it costs your business without a centralized way to report telecom expenses.
Invoice auditing – Telecommunications companies make mistakes, and if the accuracy of your invoices is ignored, you are missing a huge opportunity to reduce expenses.
Business Intelligence – If it can be measured, it can be optimized, and telecom expenses are an essential cost driver that can easily be analyzed for opportunities to decrease costs.
RealCom Solutions and Managing Multi-Vendor Projects
When your organization relies on multiple vendors and services to support your telecom systems, keeping track of expenses can become a chore, and it’s easy to overlook invoicing errors. RealCom Solutions simplifies telecom expense reporting by auditing all your telecom bills and consolidating them into one monthly invoice, so you always know precisely what you’re paying for. Plus, we continually analyze opportunities to save you money while scaling services to your growth goals.
Check out some of our TEM client successes, or reach out to us today. Your communications are too important and their cost is too great to ignore. Let’s get the conversation started about how our innovations can improve your business, reduce your costs, and optimize your telecom usage.
