The Definitive Guide to Telecom Expense Management
Brought to you by Stratix & T-Mobile
Taming the chaos is very complex, and getting a handle on it is hard for even the most experienced IT and accounting teams. That's why organizations often turn to telecom expense management (TEM) experts to do it for them.
By analyzing bills, identifying unnecessary charges, and negotiating better contracts, TEM helps you slash costs.
TEM sheds light on every aspect of your telecom infrastructure. From mobile plans to internet services, you get a comprehensive view of usage patterns and costs across your organization. This visibility empowers you to make informed decisions and optimize resources effectively.
Juggling multiple telecom vendors and contracts can be a logistical nightmare. TEM simplifies the process by centralizing all telecom-related activities. From procurement to invoice management, TEM automates tedious tasks, reduces manual errors, and streamlines workflows.
TEM scales alongside your business, adapting to changes in usage patterns, workforce dynamics, and technology advancements. TEM provides the flexibility to optimize telecom expenses according to your evolving needs.
When deciding on a TEM provider, it's important to pick one that is familiar with your specific industry's workflows and challenges. You don't want to spend a lot of time educating a new partner on how your business works. A good TEM provider will have dedicated subject matter experts who stay up to date on offerings from carriers like T-Mobile, guaranteeing you the most beneficial plans for your environment.
Some other things you want to see from a provider are:
A comprehensive ability to leverage usage trend analytics so you know who spends the most, who spends the least, and usage cycles for better strategic spending.
Easy to read and actionable reporting on key cost control targets such as lines that aren't being used, international usage, data consumption, and more.
Centralized invoice processing. This simplifies departmental allocation and reconciliation to consolidate silos of data. This allows you to manage your mobile technology expenses effectively from one place.
Holistic billing analysis across all carriers and suppliers. This ensures accuracy and identifies any discrepancies or overcharges.
Relationships with telecom service providers are managed for you. Your TEM provider should handle contracts, resolve any disputes, coordinate service changes, and ensure compliance. This saves you time and reduces cost.
At its most basic, TEM manages the costs associated with voice, data, and mobile services, but there's more to be gained if you partner with a provider that also does end-to-end device lifecycle management of hardware and software. A full-service TEM provider can also do:
Starting with procurement, lifecycle management also includes kitting and configuration, deployment, asset management, repair with device spare pool, and ending with environmentally-friendly IT asset disposition when it's time to retire equipment. Wrapping lifecycle management into your TEM solution helps you better manage the whole picture and control costs more effectively while taking that massive management burden off your internal IT team.
User experience and productivity depend on technology that works. If something does go wrong, getting it fixed fast is an imperative. A quality full-service provider will have 24/7 help desk support staffed with technicians trained on your specific environment, equipment, and workflows. Users should be able to reach out for help in the way they're most comfortable, including by phone, text, chat, and email. Outsourcing tech support is another way to reduce the workload on your internal IT team so it can focus on more strategic initiatives.
The best way to handle problems is to prevent them in the first place or mitigate them quickly if they do occur. Most companies have mobile device management (MDM) platforms for security, pushing out software updates, compliance enforcement, and monitoring. However, companies often have a separate MDM platform for each of their mobile solutions. Recent research by Stratix found that companies typically manage between two and four MDM platforms. Not only does that create unnecessary work and complexity, but it also creates the potential for gaps in management. Our research found 30 percent of endpoints lack adequate management, and that's a security nightmare.
The solution is unified endpoint management (UEM), which controls every kind of endpoint—including PCs, mobile devices, printers, and IoT—from a single platform. It simplifies management, reduces the workload, and significantly improves security. UEM can even be used to tailor user experiences to specific workflows for enhanced productivity.
Moving to a UEM solution requires specific expertise, which most companies lack. A quality full-service TEM provider has the knowledge and resources to help companies move to UEM and reap the benefits.
Another significant burden on internal IT teams is allocating and managing all the devices employees use. Requests for devices for new employees or replacement devices for existing ones often involve multiple steps and laborious acquisition workflows. A quality full-service TEM provider will have self-service portals where employees can place their own orders on a platform showing the device and plan choices available to them. Users can easily see their current plans, upgrade options, and timing. Once selections are made, automated workflows ensure company approvals are in place, and the order is sent out quickly.
When trying to decide if you need a TEM provider, or to replace your TEM provider, ask yourself:
Have you done an assessment recently to identify areas of saving?
Do you have multiple contracts to manage over a broad spectrum of providers?
Have you ever been surprised by carrier rate increases?
Do you report out monthly areas of potential savings?
Do you have dedicated resources in the organization tracking lines with no-usage, under-utilized plans, and overages?
Do you have consolidated bill pay?
Do you know which employees/roles cost the most on telecom, who costs the least, and cycles of usage?
Do you have employees who travel internationally?
Mobile device connectivity is critical to enterprise workflows. Employees need the highest speeds available as they move around to ensure maximum productivity and the best possible user experiences. Connectivity is so critical that organizations must have a strategy to keep devices working at their best anytime and anywhere.
Get the Facts
If you're trying to decide if you need basic TEM or more full-service, ask yourself:
Do you need to be able to manage large device/application upgrades periodically?
Are your device suppliers able to provide the provisioning and complex kitting services you need?
Do you have mobile user groups that require 24/7 help desk support?
Do you want to place procurement, plan changes and upgrades in the hands of end users?
Are you juggling multiple endpoint management platforms?
Are you concerned about potential holes in your endpoint management security?
Are the day-to-day logistics of getting equipment to new employees or current ones and managing the return of old equipment taking up too much of your internal IT team's time?
With decades of experience in mobile device lifecycle services and support, Stratix has the knowledge and resources to help you maximize your telecom expense savings and support you in any way you need. We partner with carriers like T-Mobile, America's largest 5G network. We're the most experienced pure-play enterprise mobility specialist in the U.S. and Canada, and there's no one better to help you navigate the complexities of mobile.
Our mission is to make your mobile solutions convenient, easy, and cost-effective. Reach out today for a free assessment of your telecom spending to see how much we can save you.
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