Unleashing the Full Value of Telecom Expense Management

Have you ever gone through your monthly telecom statement line by line to ensure you’re actually getting what you pay for? Do you know precisely what each employee is costing you in wireless fees and what you’re getting for that payout?

If you don’t have the time or resources to analyze each statement, then you’re not alone. Most companies have a lot more important things to do than nitpick their telecom bills, but just because you don’t have the time doesn’t mean it isn’t costing your company.

With miscalculations of your monthly mobile bill estimated to be between 10 to 20%, you could be losing anywhere from a few dollars to thousands monthly, depending on the size of your company.

Telecom expense management (TEM) or wireless expense management (WEM) is a proven and efficient way to identify these overspending patterns, reduce waste, and create short-and long-term savings. It provides you with an unobstructed view of your organization’s telecom usage. When you can clearly see every expense, you can make better business decisions, leading to better business outcomes. However, many companies only get half of their TEM value for three reasons: not making TEM work for them, not knowing what to look for, and not having the right support.

We’ve developed five best practices you should be using to get the most out of your TEM solution.

1. Changing Employee Behavior

With a clear view of each employee’s monthly wireless charges, it’s easy to discern where your savings lie. And many times, that’s with the employee’s wireless behavior. Employees rarely—usually never—think about the exorbitant fees mobile providers charge for international calls and overages. It’s not that your employees are out to waste your money; it’s just not top of mind when they’re working to grow your business. When you explain how their behavior costs the company, they can take steps to change that behavior, and you can see drastic savings.

2. Helping Managers Work Smarter

When used to its full potential, telecom expense management can help your managers work smarter, using a host of TEM platform capabilities to drive productivity and savings. It’s imperative, though, to take the time to train them on what to look for, such as the top 15 highest spenders or top international callers, so they’ll have a better understanding of how these trends affect their department and the company overall. From there, your TEM solution will automatically email summary reports to your management team, making it easy for them to act on the report without having to set a reminder to review the summary every time.

3. Streamlining Processes

Having to search through a variety of platforms to obtain the information you need is a waste of time and energy. Using a single-platform configuration, wireless expense management simplifies the process of gathering information and streamlines processes with an easy-to-use dashboard. There’s no need to go hunting for wireless information in one place, wired in another, and conferencing in yet another. When information is easy to find, it’s even easier to manage and ensure you’re getting what you’re paying for.

4. Managing Global Business

Going global isn’t just for enterprises anymore. More and more SMBs are expanding their opportunities across borders, meaning having to contend with multinational rates and different currencies. With a single pane of glass, you can discern your global spend quickly, alleviating hours spent converting currencies and managing disparate batches of international data.

5. Having the Right Partner

Experience matters when it comes to finding the right support and building relationships with partners who have your back, so you can move forward. Ensuring your enterprise mobile solutions provider understands the unique nuances of your company and the industry you’re in makes all the difference on whether or not they can help your business get more from your TEM solution. Look for a partner that has the ability to negotiate better offers, discounts, and rate plans than you can get on your own, and is there when you need them, should an issue arise.

Everyday Best Practices

At Stratix, we put these best practices into play every day for all kinds of organizations, of all sizes, in all industries. Our TEM solutions provide you with a single, easy-to-read platform that enables you to:

• Track device data usage, voice usage, and SMS usage
• Control roaming, such as the ability to disable sync over the roaming
• View dashboard analytics
• Configure telecom plans with specific telecom data, voice, and messaging limits
• Assign plans manually or automatically to mobile assets based on multiple device attributes
• Design wireless plans with pooled usage for calls, messages, and data
• Perform compliance actions, including end-user notifications, escalations, and device restrictions if usage limits are exceeded

With dedicated subject matter experts that stay up-to-date on carrier offerings, Stratix can guarantee you get the most beneficial plans for your environment, and the support you need, anytime, anywhere.