BlogOutsourcing Telecom Expense Management

Outsourcing Telecom Expense Management

October 10, 2014, Expense Management

I can venture to guess that managing your organization’s telecom expenses is not the first priority on your list of responsibilities. It’s probably not the second or third either. In addition to being pushed down the priority list, telecom expense management is also a repetitive task that must be performed monthly. This is a perfect storm leading to the task being completed in haste and often with errors.

The telecom invoices need to get paid, but you have been too busy with other things that were more important than telecom invoice processing. So today, you authorize the payment of the invoices and cross it off your to-do list until next month. Sound familiar? But what is really in those invoices? When is the last time you looked?

The FCC identifies cramming as “one of the most common landline billing complaints”. However, according to documents presented before the Federal Trade Commission, only 1 in 20 victims of cramming are even aware they are victims. When you are not analyzing the invoice and simply approving it for payment, the invoice total from month to month is the only data point you have to recognize unnecessary charges. When a single telecom invoice totals in the tens of thousands of dollars, how much does that total need to change month to month in order to signal a problem?

Are you using everything that you are paying for? In order to answer this question, you must diligently track your service inventory and regularly audit the use of these services. Retail is extremely susceptible to paying for unused services because the closing and relocating of stores is a common occurrence.

What is in those invoices?

Properly managing your telecom spend involves doing the proper due diligence – continuously. Only then, will you be able identify fraud, misuse and unnecessary services quickly and save your organization significantly. It requires commitment – the commitment to move it higher on the priority list.

There is still an option if you lack the time, resources and expertise to give that necessary commitment. The solution – outsource TEM to an organization of experts that can manage it for you. Find a partner that knows the telecom industry; find a partner that can implement a TEM program for your organization; find a partner that can do the work and manage the program. Outsourcing telecom expense management allows you to focus on the top of your priority list.

Want to learn more? 

Check out these Telecom Expense Management case studies.