Today, we will discuss the Top 3 Things to Be Aware of in Technology Expense Management.

1.Inventory Integrity is Challenging for TEM Providers

Today, we will discuss the biggest complaint by many organizations, is that their TEM Provider does not have a complete and accurate inventory of their services.  This is very commonplace, as many of the TEM Providers view a billing inventory as the only real record that they should reference through their daily practice, when in fact, there are two in play.

The first should be a client inventory that houses all the historical activity (MACD); and second, the billing inventory that comes from the invoices and vendor reporting.  The match up or syncing of the two helps align a true accounting of what services the client has and affords easier integration into the order management platform for efficiency gains.  Having a variety of data points, allows for full transparency of all the services at a more granular level, that in many cases, captures additional data points such as:

• A-Z Site Locations
• Demarcation Points
• IP Address Ranges
• Underlying Providers
• Equipment Types
• BTN/WTN’s
• DID ranges
• Access ID/Port ID with speeds (Access/Port/CAR)
• MAC IDs

By having a single billed approach to your inventory, as promoted by the TEM Providers, you won’t have one reliable “global view” of your technology expense data.  It is more likely that you will need to navigate several portals for reporting and need to aggregate and normalize data to generate comprehensive reports.   We have the solutions and ready to work to right-size this all too common situation.

2. Over-estimating your TEM’s potential to achieve savings

Over-estimating your TEM Provider’s potential to achieve savings can backfire.  Many decision makers forecast savings they feel they could achieve through a better TEM because that’s how it was initially sold.  By not understanding how these savings can be truly achieved, many organizations set themselves up for disappointment.

Tie this to the fact that a TEM Implementation can in many cases get you to a state where your bills are being paid, but lack the detail and business visibility to create actionable intelligence that leads to real immediate savings around cost optimization, billing errors, and the removal of unused services.

Thinking that a TEM would simply create savings value through a reduction in staff, automated audit, or consolidation of vendors, can be misleading.  In fact, a reduction in staff can have a negative impact, as the system may not be fully set up after the initial implementation. The inventory may not be accurate and only partially built, thereby allowing for errors to continue.  These type issues put organizational decisions at risk by having incomplete and inaccurate details needed to make informed decisions. Let us work with you on identifying your true potential while we get your TEM Practice aligned with your expectations.

 

3. Is RPA (Robotic Process Automation) Free of Human Interaction?

A newer component to TEM is having an automated process that collects line item detail so that every last charge on your IT/Telecom invoices can be audited. Robotic process automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows resources in a company to configure computer software or a “robot” to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems.

Though it reads like this is a technological cure, all too many problems an organization faces, do come with limitations.  TEM Providers are continually challenged with the data they receive from each vendor.  A robot can capture only what information is published and if formatted accordingly.  Some vendors provide large amounts of data, whilst others, provide at the summary level (only illustrating cursory data).  Another known fact, many vendors are continually changing circuit, subaccount, and service id naming conventions that create breaks through the use of RPA and continually requires human intervention.  This is an all too common problem that TEM Providers currently face today, but don’t broadcast.  We understand the issues and know how to correct them.

 

Ready to start a successful TEM implementation with Intelligent Bills? Contact us.