Technology expense management (TEM) is a set of tools and processes that reduce IT and telephony costs, streamline operations, and provide visibility into your technology spend. TEM lets you reduce expenses, improve efficiency, and make informed decisions about your tech stack.
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How to choose the right TEM provider
Are you looking to optimize your IT costs and streamline operations? With a keen eye for inefficiency, Symplicity will audit and organize your invoices and contracts to ensure you are paying only for the services you need and getting the best possible solutions at the best prices. Contact us to learn how TEM provides scalable, cost-efficient resources to improve business agility.
Who Needs TEM?
The more complicated your technology stack—and the higher your technology budget—the more you stand to save with a rigorous TEM audit. Large enterprise organizations almost universally find significant savings from engaging with a qualified TEM consultant. Even small-to-midsize businesses often find a positive ROI.
The management of technology expenses is a specialized discipline. Most IT departments and finance teams are skilled in their core competencies but are too busy to audit their invoices to the level that our TEM professionals will do.
We work with a wide range of industries and with businesses of all sizes to uncover savings and build efficiencies.
Which Technology Expenses Need to Be Managed?
The purview of TEM covers any type of corporate technology expenditure. Here are some of the common subcategories that we cover:
- IT support and managed IT services
- Mobile devices and service plans
- Cloud computing and storage services
- Software licenses
- IT hardware (computers/servers)
- Telecom services (POTS, data, mobile devices, VoIP)
Important Features of TEM
TEM is a discipline aimed at helping you spend the least amount possible on business infrastructure while getting the best possible solutions for your budget.
Inventory Tracking
TEM gives you visibility into your tech assets, including whether or not you have waste or inefficiency.
Invoice Management
Our TEM experts audit invoices across all your technology vendors, identify billing errors, enforce contract terms, recover overcharges, and validate that you’re being billed correctly. This reduces total telecom and IT spending.
Contract Management
Our team of experts tracks contract renewal dates, analyzes terms and conditions, and ensures you aren’t overpaying or missing out on committed discounts from vendors.
Expense Reporting and Analytics
TEM gives you visibility that makes it easier to budget accurately, identify cost optimization opportunities, and make data-driven decisions about your IT investments.
How Can TEM Help My Company?
Technology expense management helps your company:
- Reduce total invoices
- Identify and correct billing errors
- Enforce contract terms
- Identify tech savings
- Upgrade technology
- Negotiate better terms
- Increase visibility
Reduce Total Technology Invoices
Our TEM experts dive deep into your invoices across all vendors to uncover hidden savings opportunities. They identify and correct billing errors, enforce contracted terms, recover overcharges, and validate that you are being billed accurately.
While working with one of our clients, a major grocery chain, we reduced their total invoices from 457 to 34. Read the case study.
Identify and Correct Billing Errors
Our team of experts reviews every line item on your invoices to catch any billing mistakes. We spot overcharges, incorrect rates, and other errors that inflate your costs. Once identified, we work to get those errors corrected and recover the overcharges, putting money back in your pocket.
Enforce Contract Terms
Vendors don’t always play by the rules they agreed to. Our experts make sure your vendors follow all contract terms you negotiated. If they’ve “forgotten” to apply promised discounts or pricing, we will find it. We enforce those contracted rates and discounts, then recapture any money you overpaid.
Identify Tech Savings
We carefully analyze your technology stack to pinpoint areas of redundancy—–services or systems you’re paying for that overlap or duplicate functionality you already have covered. Our experts also keep a keen eye out for more cost-effective alternatives that can replace your current tech at a lower price tag without sacrificing capabilities. We find redundancies and help you to upgrade to cheaper solutions.
Upgrade Technology
Outdated tech can cost you a lot of money. We help identify situations where you’re overpaying for underperforming legacy systems or services. There may be newer, more efficient solutions that deliver better performance and capabilities for the same price you’re paying now—or even less. Our experts highlight those opportunities to upgrade to the latest technology while maintaining or reducing your costs.
Negotiate Better Terms
Vendors often have wiggle room to offer better pricing and terms, but they won’t volunteer those discounts. Our experts analyze your contracts and services to identify opportunities to renegotiate for more favorable rates.
We’ll highlight areas where you have leverage to secure a better deal. We can then negotiate on your behalf to secure optimal contract terms.
Increase Visibility
A good TEM partner provides detailed reporting and analytics that show exactly what services you have, what you’re paying for them, and how those costs break down. With that information, you can easily identify areas for potential savings or optimization.
We point out any overspending or underutilized services and highlight opportunities to reallocate that spending more effectively. This level of transparency empowers you to make informed decisions that align your technology investments with your business priorities.
Different Types of Technology Expense Management
TEM solutions address different aspects of an organization’s technology spend. Each type of TEM focuses on specific areas, and the right solution helps you better manage and optimize your technology expenses. Let’s explore the main types of TEM and how they can benefit your business.
- Telecom expense management focuses on managing expenses related to telecommunications, including fixed and mobile voice and data services. TEM covers the inventory management of telecom assets, invoice audits, and expense optimization by identifying unused or underused services and reporting analytics for telecom expenses.
- Cloud expense management controls cloud service and infrastructure costs. It tracks and monitors cloud service usage and allocates cloud costs to appropriate departments.
- IT financial management (ITFM), a broader discipline, includes TEM and focuses on aligning IT spending with business value. ITFM involves budgeting, forecasting IT expenses, financial governance, investment reviews, and linking IT costs to business outcomes to improve ROI.
- Wireless expense management (WEM), a subset of MEM, focuses on wireless services. WEM involves managing pools of voice minutes, shared data plans, employee portals for device procurement, service plan management, and optimizing wireless expenses through detailed usage tracking.
- Managed mobility services (MMS) involve the comprehensive control of mobile devices, applications, and services. MMS includes mobile device management, mobile application management, enterprise mobility management, and mobile security management.
- Technology business management (TBM) includes TEM, but it also improves business outcomes by translating technology investments into business value. TBM aligns IT and business strategies, drives value while reducing IT costs, and enhances ROI on technology investments.
Symplicity Communication covers all aspects of TEM. From telecom to IT financial management, there are so many ways our TEM solution makes your life easier. Schedule a free consultation today and let us show you how TEM can improve your business for good.
How to Choose the Right TEM Service
When partnering with a TEM provider, you need expertise, attention to detail, and an attitude of partnership. You want someone committed to your success, ferociously out to save you money. You also should make sure they’re a match in the following ways:
- Scope of services
- Scalability
- Customization
- Integration capabilities
- Reporting and analytics
- Customer support
- Industry expertise
- Security and compliance
Scope of Services
Find a TEM that thoroughly audits all your telecom and IT invoices, contracts, and technology needs. The right TEM service will analyze your entire technology stack and make recommendations to optimize costs and eliminate unnecessary expenses. A comprehensive TEM solution will help identify savings opportunities across your organization’s technology investments.
Scalability
Think about your organization’s growth trajectory and confirm that the TEM service can scale to accommodate the increasing complexity of your technology environment. The solution should adapt to changes in your business, such as mergers, acquisitions, or new market entry.
Customization
Check if the TEM service can tailor its offerings to your unique requirements. A one-size-fits-all approach may not work for you. Look for TEM providers that tailor their services to align with your company’s existing processes and workflows.
Integration Capabilities
Consider how well they can work with the tools and platforms you already have in place, rather than expecting full integration capabilities. Seamless integration gives you a smooth data flow and minimizes manual processes.
Reporting and Analytics
The right TEM provider gives you clear visibility into your technology expenses. With these capabilities, you can spot opportunities to optimize costs and make important decisions. Investigate the TEM service’s insight depth and presentation.
Customer Support
Check the level of customer support offered by the TEM provider. Timely issue resolution and quality guidance require dedicated account managers, responsive helpdesk services, and proactive communication.
Industry Expertise
Assess the TEM provider’s experience and expertise in your specific industry. They should understand the unique challenges, regulations, and best practices relevant to your sector.
Security and Compliance
The TEM service must adhere to stringent security standards and comply with relevant regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS. Data privacy and confidentiality are necessary when dealing with sensitive financial information.
Our TEM solution checks all the boxes. We are a team of TEM experts that thoroughly audits invoices, contracts, and technology needs across your organization.
About Symplicity
Here at Symplicity, we know the challenges of moving from traditional technology expense management to a comprehensive approach, and we’re here to help you navigate that journey.
We work as an extension of your team and do what’s best for your bottom line. We’re supplier-neutral, meaning we have no vested interests and always recommend the best solution for your needs.
If you’re ready to optimize your technology expenses and prepare your infrastructure for the future, give us a call.
TEM FAQ
What type of expense are software expenses?
Software expenses fall under technology-related costs and include expenditures for purchasing, licensing, and maintaining software applications. This expense is managed through automated expense management software, which tracks the software’s lifecycle from acquisition to deployment and maintenance.
What is the difference between SEM and TEM?
Software expense management (SEM) manages costs associated with software applications, including licenses and subscriptions. TEM is a broader term encompassing cost management across all technology assets and services.
What is the best technology expense management software?
Some popular technology expense management software options include Tangoe, Calero-MDSL, and Cimpl. These software solutions take a one-size-fits-all approach and often miss key opportunities for savings or for increased efficiency. We believe there’s no substitute for human expertise and experience, which is why our TEM experts get deep in the weeds with you and your invoices.
What is the methodology of TEM?
Our TEM professionals take a methodical approach to auditing your invoices. Here are the steps we follow:
- Collect and organize invoices, contracts, and inventory
- Audit invoices to identify errors, discrepancies, and cost savings opportunities
- Track contract expiration dates and negotiate favorable renewal terms
- Provide visibility into expenses to enable data-driven decisions
- Consolidate and optimize services to eliminate redundancy and waste
How does technology expense management ensure accurate billing?
Technology expense management systems can help organizations get accurate billing in the following ways:
- These tools automate invoice processing and apply billing terms to avoid manual errors.
- They flag billing anomalies such as unexpected usage spikes or charges that fall outside predefined thresholds.
When you catch these billing issues early, you can work with vendors to correct errors, avoid overpayment, and maintain accurate billing records.
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