According to a report by Forrester, Telecoms services made up around 14% of an average company’s IT budget before the Covid-19 pandemic (Poirior, 2021). This average has undoubtedly increased due to the increased usage of telecom services in order to facilitate remote working environments (Poirior, 2021).
The significant shift to support remote working environments has led to three key expenses: internet, voice and mobile (Volpe, n.d.). Companies are now confronted by the increased demand for secure and instant access to company resources to allow for a seamless remote working environment that collaborates easily with in-office environments, states Poirior (2021).
Remote working allows employees to work as easily on their own devices as they would on work devices, resulting in an extensive expansion in a company’s mobile assets to allow for offsite connectivity to the company’s network (Poirior, 2021). As many of these devices will be within the company’s ownership, this leaves the company’s IT department with managing the procurement of mobile technology, such as smartphones and laptops, the assignment of these assets, and usage monitoring (Poirior, 2021). As your company’s mobile estate expands, utilising TEMs services will become vital to ensure that your operations remain “secure, compliant, and cost-efficient” (Oldham, 2021).
In order to consolidate Telecom’s billing and navigate this complex and continuously changing environment, companies should employ Telecom Expense Management (TEMs) tools.
What is TEMs?
TEMs is a service that provides companies with improved visibility of their Telecoms’ functions, allowing enterprises to cut costs and optimise processes (Oldham, 2021). This service includes features such as cost management, provisioning, ordering, and device management (Oldham, 2021).
How TEMs supports remote working:
An important component of TEMs is maintaining control over IMACDs (the Install, Move, Add, Change or Disconnection of services) (Oldham, 2021). This is a challenging task that becomes exacerbated with the increased number of users working from home. TEMs allows you to manage remote IMACD activity through one centralised platform, ensuring cost savings, responsiveness to changes, and control over your Telecoms spending (Oldham, 2021).
According to Oldham (2021), a TEMs service provider can also:
- Ensure that you are receiving the best value from your Telecoms contracts
- Manage the “entire mobility lifecycle”
- Provide expert knowledge and support
“The concept of TEMs employed in the industry at the moment is relatively skewed as it only focuses on the major cost allocation processes limited by the lack of clarity around these costs. In order to truly understand TEMs, the introduction of a STBE (Strategic Telecoms Business Enablement) expands this intelligence thus resulting in true cost allocation. Through this process, segmentation of the data can support the drive towards the work-from-home / work-from-office concept. It also leads to understanding the point at which this becomes viable as well as understanding the impact of alternative business models,” explains Deon Munn, Telesa’s CEO.
With the substantial shift to remote working catalysed by the pandemic, the global market for TEMs solutions is growing with one projection expecting it to double to $5.2 billion before 2026 (Poirior, 2021). A further projection of companies who will outsource their TEMs service providers predicts growth of 12.5% by 2028 (Poirior, 2021). In order to effectively manage your entire Telecoms environment, in-office and remote, you will need to employ a TEMs service provider.
References:
Oldham, N., 2021. Why TEM is Crucial for Remote Working in 2021. [online] Cass Information Systems, Inc. Available at: <https://www.cassinfo.com/telecom-expense-management-blog/how-to-consolidate-your-telecoms-billing>
Poirior, J., 2021. The Post-Pandemic TEM Marketplace and the Future of Remote Work. [online] Valicom. Available at: <https://www.valicomcorp.com/blog/the-post-pandemic-tem-marketplace-and-the-future-of-remote-work>
Volpe, S., n.d. Controlling Telecom Expenses in the Remote Work Era. [online] Upland. Available at: <https://uplandsoftware.com/cimpl/resources/blog/controlling-telecom-expenses-in-the-remote-work-era/>
