The telecommunications industry is rapidly evolving with trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) transforming how data is exchanged on a global scale. With so many interconnected devices, organizations’ telecommunications environments are expanding like never before, making Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solutions a necessity.
According to a Verified Market Research report, the global TEM marketplace is trending upward at a rapid pace as more organizations embrace solutions that help manage and automate their telecom services. The industry is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 3.65% between 2027 and 2029, increasing from less than $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion by the end of the forecast period.
So what does TEM actually entail? According to Gartner, “TEM services provide enterprises’ IT, procurement and finance departments with the ability to order, provision, support and manage costs of large-scale corporate communications and associated IT services with their inventories (such as fixed and mobile telephony and data, cloud license tracking and emerging IoT connectivity). In addition, they provide tools required for C-level technology strategic decision making.”
TEM solutions are a necessity for your organization’s operational efficiency. Organizations without a TEM solution are missing out on strategic functions that will position their agile workforces to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Recent use cases have solidified TEM solutions as a must-have option for businesses worldwide.
Overall, 42% of respondents anticipate spending more on information security moving forward while 38% will focus on expanding their network capacity.
Supporting a Remote Workforce
In a June 2020 study conducted by 451 Research, nearly 80% of IT decision-makers said their companies have established or expanded their work-from-home (WFH) policies. What’s more impactful is that 67% of respondents anticipate their WFH will either be a long-term or permanent guideline for their businesses moving forward. This extended WFH environment is prompting greater investment in solutions that support a remote workforce.
While 43% of respondents have increased their budgets for employee devices and services, 451 Research discovered that half of the organizations have increased their spending on communication and collaboration technologies.
This trend could further complicate how companies approach their telecom if employees will be working remotely for the foreseeable future. The 451 Research survey expects more businesses to invest in IT resources and security solutions to account for this remote workforce.
What a TEM Solution can offer an organization is simple – a comprehensive offering that provides asset inventory management and visibility, improves soft costs, delivers 24/7 client support and contains stringent security standards to ensure your organization’s data is safeguarded at all times.
Inventory Costs
For any organization, inventory is essential to ensure smooth, productive, and efficient operations across all departments. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to gain complete visibility into all of the costs associated with hardware, software, and maintenance for mobile devices, particularly during a time of layoffs and furloughs. Businesses are having a difficult time keeping track of active devices, complex contracts, and billing cycles, prompting more organizations to consider TEM solutions to address these challenges.
With WidePoint’s TEM Solutions, businesses gain complete visibility into their inventory thanks to a unified telecom portal that tracks all assets such as mobile devices, desktops, and non-physical assets like service agreements and licenses in a single, secure place. This level of insight ensures your organization:
- Avoids overcharges due to declining telecom and IT prices
- Pays bills that reflect pricing changes for Move, Add, Change and Disconnect (MACD) activity
- Minimizes or eliminates late fees
- Identifies which devices belong to which employees
When combined, these capabilities enable your organization to maintain your inventory more efficiently and optimize your cost structure in the process.
WidePoint’s TEM Solutions help our clients achieve hundreds of millions in net savings, consistently reducing telecom expenses between 30-50%.
Soft Costs
A TEM solution offers critical decision making advantages. Executives have a centralized platform in place that ensures zero opacity in their telecom environment. This unique visibility means corporate leaders have all the necessary inventory details to make sound, timely decisions for what devices, maintenance, and support services are required to succeed as an organization. The ability to gain complete insight into a telecom estate is a necessity when markets and business conditions shift on a dime.
In the past, organizations may have had the budgetary flexibility to dedicate a portion of their staff to highly manual and time-consuming telecom work. What organizations may not realize is that this time spent can hinder employees from contributing to more revenue-generating activities.
A TEM solution allows for employees to focus on mission-critical business objectives and, in return, helps organizations manage their soft costs.
WidePoint’s TEM Solutions enable businesses to take advantage of automated workflows so their employees’ day-to-day tasks do not involve evaluating invoices, paying bills, validating charges, processing refunds, and handling employee onboarding. By freeing up the workforce from taking on all of these tedious and time-consuming tasks, organizations’ operational and financial efficiency receive a boost.
24/7 Support
With more employees working remotely, organizations need around-the-clock telecom support to minimize disruptions that will impact their workforces’ productivity. The best TEM providers on the market are also leaders from a support perspective, ensuring clients’ unique telecom needs are met 24/7.
Through in-house, state-of-the-art call centers, reliable TEM vendors like WidePoint provide quality service when clients need it most. WidePoint offers clients access to:
- Wireless Help Desk Support
- Executive White Glove Support
- Application and Product Support
- Policy and Procurement Portal
When organizations need their telecom environment to deliver at all times, a customized TEM solution backed by 24/7/365 full-service support from WidePoint means your employees’ needs are always met.
Security
With employees dispersed across more home offices, network gateways, and different types of devices, businesses may be more susceptible to security breaches if the proper safeguards are not in place. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, security breaches were problematic as they relate to companies’ telecom infrastructure.
The Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigation Report found that 80% of breaches stem from stolen or weak credentials on employee phones and laptops. With countless telecom, IT, network infrastructure, software, and cloud assets to account for, organizations not only need a TEM solution to manage this vast inventory, but they also need one that is built with security as the foundation.
A single security breach can be detrimental to a company’s future if sensitive corporate information or customer data is accessed by malicious parties. Trust and brand reputation are not the only factors to take into account regarding a security breach; companies’ wallets are also affected.
A joint survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute and IBM discovered that the average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million and that the new, remote work environment is inflating security breaches. The study found that:
- Remote work has increased the average data breach by $137,000
- 76% of respondents believe remote work increases the time to identify and contain data breaches
- 70% of survey participants believe remote work increases the cost of a data breach
WidePoint’s TEM Solutions are Section 508-compliant and regularly undergo rigorous testing for system and organization controls (SOC) to safeguard clients from ever-evolving threats. WidePoint also has the Authority to Operate (ATO) to manage wireline and wireless devices independently for the federal government.
Whether you have hundreds of devices or tens of thousands of devices to manage, WidePoint can create a personalized TEM solution to manage your wireless telecom assets and expenses. Through standard and custom reporting, WidePoint provides the data insights needed to not only manage your communication network, but also support your telecom decision-making to ensure employee performance and security is maximized.
If your organization is ready to transform their telecom environment, contact WidePoint to discuss how a customized TEM solution can reduce costs, improve inventory visibility, and safeguard your most valuable assets.
