Explore Valicom's blog for essential industry insights and updates. Stay informed and empowered with the latest in technology expense management.
Delivering exceptional value to your clients is essential for long-term success. In today's rapidly evolving technology landscape, staying ahead of the competition requires innovative solutions that drive savings, control, and efficiency. That is where a strategic partnership with Valicom, a leading Technology Expense Management (TEM) partner, can transform your business.
While the economy has begun to open up post-COVID-19, many IT departments are being downsized. This trend may continue to affect technology budgets for the foreseeable future.
Technology workers are used to constant change, from taking on new projects to learning new skills to adapting to new innovations. However, a shrinking talent pool brings its own challenges. Often, IT departments are the first hit when it comes to belt-tightening measures. So, you learn to do more with less.
Telecom Expense Management (TEM) tools can help your organization run more efficiently. You may even find more room in the budget by resolving billing errors or recycling or retiring used devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones. First, you have to identify these opportunities, and it makes sense to invest in the technology that will get you there.
There are many challenges when it comes to keeping track of data inventory, telephone lines, and network, wireless and mobility assets. With the right telecom inventory management system, you can track, budget, and utilize or decommission assets effortlessly. Understanding the key challenges in telecommunications inventory management can help you streamline your telecommunications equipment and services.
Valicom provides inventory management services for telephones, fiber optics, microwave communication equipment, Wi-Fi, telephone lines, and internet services. With the right tools, you can stick to your telecom budget and ensure accurate monthly billing for everything from mobile devices to telephone lines.
Global organizations rely on telecom inventory to connect different office locations, suppliers, customers, and remote employees seamlessly. It's important to have one central location to store telecom inventory, usage, and other relevant factors. Managing telecom inventory is paramount to the success of your organization, but it’s far from simple. Here are five key challenges to address when considering inventory management solutions.
Negotiating a telecom contract takes a certain delicacy if you want to get the best deal without compromising your service. Although companies can take advantage of a competitive telecom market, it's important to read the fine print on contract clauses and other factors that influence price and quality. On the other hand, a well-negotiated contract clearly states your services and expectations with unambiguous pricing models.
So, how do you come up with an agreement with your provider that works for you? With the right research and a little guidance, you can negotiate beneficial terms.
Here are seven tips to help your company get the service you need at a price you can afford:
At a high level, there are three types of audits: internal, external, and IRS. Of course, you have no control over when the IRS comes around, but the right mix of internal and external checks can help you keep your costs under constant scrutiny while keeping your books in order — which can't hurt if Uncle Sam does decide to take a dive into your telecom records.
Let's take a look at internal and external audits, which you can control and use to monitor your telecom spend.
The Telecom Expense Management Market, estimated at $1.45 billion in 2019, may reach $1.89 billion by 2027. That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.65%. Another study, adjusted for the impact of COVID-19, projects a CAGR of 14.5% through 2025.
Telecom Expense Management has become an essential part of the tech stack at companies of all sizes and across most industries. Two transformative trends mostly drive this:
Increased need for efficient TEM practices
Expansion of business telecom infrastructures
If you need assistance with your telecom expense management, contact the experts at Valicom to tailor a solution for your company.
If your telecom and technology management systems are outdated, you are wasting time and money. One of the biggest wastes is that in managing everything the old-school way, in spreadsheets or desktop software. Follow along as we uncover why it is critical for complex telecom environments to manage their infrastructure, contracts, and invoices in an intuitive cloud-based solution instead of tedious, error-prone, and heavy updates of your outdated solutions.
Procurement can become complicated in large organizations. In order to achieve strategic procurement, the entire organization must buy into best practices. When leaders take the time to get input from all departments, pain points and opportunities for improvement come to light. Setting up a steering committee makes it easier to align procurement goals with overall business strategy, and data collected by the strategic procurement team can lead to a more efficient procurement process for the company.
Valicom’s team sat down to discuss the most important questions to ask during the discovery phase of finding a trustworthy TEM vendor. The discussion started with basic questions, which we concluded could be applied to most technologies. These points also specifically had to do with the software provider’s team and who they work with directly. That brings us to the top two fundamental questions:
You take a deep breath as you look at your bank account…
You notice your balance is lower than expected…
Did a mysterious creature steal your identity?
Have you purchased something without knowing?
You peek through your recent charges and discover that your telecom provider increased your rates without your knowledge and charged you a mysterious fee which leaves you stranded with a bigger hole in your account than you anticipated...
Clearview looks very different today than it did 30 years ago. When I started the business in 1991, my office tools consisted of an Intel 10286 computer (100Mbps memory) which was a second-generation home (user friendly) computer, and word processing and spreadsheet (Excel) software. I used spreadsheets extensively to calculate pricing and perform long distance vendor cost comparisons based on the pricing schedules offered by AT&T and several other alternative carriers who had entered the marketplace after divestiture.
We think in-person is much better. Wouldn’t you agree? Here are hot topics in the IT world that are answered by Valicom’s President himself.
Now more than ever the healthcare industry should be looking into services such as technology expense management. Due to our current conditions caused by the 2020 pandemic, a new opportunity for rural healthcare organizations makes adopting TEM easier than ever. The Healthcare Connect Fund offers a 65% discount to those that qualify.
The information technology advancements we have seen over time are incredible, but they also cause headache for our IT professionals every day. Questions like,
How do we keep our information secure?
An effective telecom inventory management system provides crucial knowledge on tracking and coordinating your physical assets and contracts. It's an investment that allows you to manage your infrastructure and control costs. In the case of healthcare companies, it can even be a matter of life and death.
