You already know that managing telecom expenses is crucial to saving money. With a bird's eye view of your telecom expenses, you can easily pinpoint where you are overpaying for services as well as identify where changes need to be made. More importantly, you can see if employees are abusing their telecom privileges.
If telecom expense management is so important, why have you yet to take advantage of telecom expense management (TEM) software?
TEM software simplifies the processes involved in tracking your company's phones and devices. As your business continues to grow, the use of company smartphones and computers is only going to grow as well. If you don't properly manage these devices and their expenses, you're going to throw away valuable funds that could be allocated toward other core operational functions, like customer service and marketing. Let's explore the top reasons you need to take advantage of TEM software to boost your telecom inventory management efforts.
Wireless Expenses are Difficult to Manage
Wireless expenses can be incredibly difficult to track. In fact, according to Aberdeen Group, these expenses are so complex that they have become one of the most difficult costs for organizations to manage.
Years ago, pagers and feature phones were the only mobile devices that employees used to perform their job functions. Nowadays, however, we have smartphones, laptops, wearable tech, tablets, and many other devices that are crucial to workers' daily activities. And with each of these devices come service and usage plans that can be customized. Keeping up with each device and their service plans can be very difficult.
With TEM software, your company gains a plethora of benefits regarding its ability to properly manage its telecom inventory. Gone are the days of having to sift through paperwork to determine the fine print details of a service plan. TEM software gives you a centralized view of all your telecom expenses. More so, it allows you to ensure your service plans are benchmarked according to the current needs of your company and not the needs of your service carriers. Furthermore, TEM software automates the workflow of managing your employees' wireless activity.
Obtain a Real-time View of Your Wireless Needs
Proper telecom inventory management takes place when you have a current, real-time view of your wireless assets and their usage. A common mistake made by many organizations takes place when negotiating with service carriers. These organizations base their negotiations on benchmarks from the prior year. With mobile technology advancing on such a rapid basis, benchmarks from the prior year often do not align with a company's current wireless needs.
With TEM software, though, it becomes possible to negotiate with service carriers based on current benchmarks because real-time visibility is gained across the organization's entire mobile platform.
Using TEM software to manage your company's wireless inventory is also advantageous because it can help you avoid lawsuits. You may be tempted to employ a bring your own device (BYOD) policy and allow your workers to bring their own devices to work to perform their job duties, but in doing so, you lose mobile usage visibility; this leaves you completely vulnerable to e-discovery problems.
Take, for example, your company is subpoenaed to bring electronic records to court for a civil lawsuit regarding one of your employee's phones that were used for work-related functions. If you don't own the phone, you may have issues archiving and accessing the records you are mandated to provide; this can lead to your company being held in contempt of court, and you will also face hefty fines and penalties.
With TEM software, you can rest easy knowing it is best to provide mobile devices to your employees because you can easily track their usage. The visibility you gain with TEM software ensures you are not being charged for expenses that are not justified. For example, with a BYOD policy, you may cover 50% of your employees' phone bills each month, but how much of the service plan are they actually using to perform work-related functions?
TEM software gives you peace of mind in knowing you are providing employees with mobile devices and wireless plans that are adequate for their work needs. More importantly, you know you are saving money by not overpaying for plans that are not necessary for these workers to do their jobs.
It's Time to Adopt TEM Software
Mobile device adoption in the workplace is becoming more and more common. In a survey conducted eight years ago, 99% of the organizations surveyed employed workers who used smartphones to perform their job functions. And of the mobile devices that were being managed by these organizations, 30% of the devices were smartphones. 80% of those surveyed responded that tablets were already being used in their workplaces. As mobility continues to increase, it is pertinent that organizations take control of their telecom and wireless inventory, and TEM software is proving to be the best method for accomplishing this goal.
About the Author: Chantel Soumis
Chantel Soumis brings over a decade of knowledge in workflow enhancement through the use of technology. Chantel studied marketing communications and business administration at Franklin University and proceeded to work in a fast, ambitious environment, assuring client delight in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Passionate about project productivity and streamlining workflows through the use of technology, Chantel strives to inform organizations of Valicom’s advanced telecom expense management software and services by mastering communications and messaging while delivering helpful information and supporting resources.