A cutting edge telecom expense management (TEM) solution is a key enabler for digital transformation at a time your business is under pressure to innovate, reduce costs and support new ways of working and collaborating. But not all TEM solutions are created equal and legacy approaches are falling behind the latest trends in the market.
Here are some indicators that suggest your company can benefit from updating to a smarter and newer TEM solution:
High reliance on manual processes: If your current approach to TEM requires a lot of manual paperwork and spreadsheet wrangling, you might benefit from an upgraded solution. A cutting edge TEM solution should automate and simplify processes such as spend analysis, budget tracking and forecasting, internal cost allocation and verification of service provider billing rates.
Poor real-time visibility into your telecom environment: Smarter TEM software should offer a full real time or near real time view of your mobile, fixed voice, cloud, WAN and IT usage and expenditure across all service providers from a single dashboard. You need a live view of spending to curb wastage and prevent bill shock.
Inadequate tools for end-users: Today’s smarter TEM solutions empower end-users and make them accountable for their usage. If your solution doesn’t offer a rich-featured and intuitive end-user mobile companion app, you might be missing out. Such an app enables your employees to track and control their mobile expenses. It keeps them aware of their monthly mobile spend and helps them stay within set limits via live usage tracking.
Outdated technology: If your solution is complex and expensive, there are cutting edge alternatives that will save you time and money. A modern TEM solution should be cloud-native and offer a good mobile app that empowers managers and finance teams to track telecoms expenses in real time. A software-as-a-service solution should be quick to deploy, offer flexible and affordable subscription pricing, and be easy to use.
Weak integration capabilities: Seamless integration is a superpower for a TEM solution. You will want a solution with integration capabilities that simplify gathering data about mobile, fixed voice, cloud, WAN and IT usage and expenditure across all providers. Furthermore, integration with third party applications such as service request and ERP systems will simplify processes such as chargebacks, reimbursements and service requests.
Lack of FinOps features: Controlling cloud expenses is becoming a headache for companies that don’t have tools to manage variable spending. A modern TEM solution should provide a pathway to FinOps, enabling you to monitor the real cost of the cloud environment as well as to identify cost-effective ways to maximise cloud usage and efficiency. These smarter cost management tools are designed to work across multiple clouds and simplify cost reporting across different providers.
Inflexibility and scalability Issues: If your current TEM solution is inflexible and can’t scale to meet the changing needs of your organisation, this indicates it’s time for an upgrade.
Lacklustre vendor management: If managing telecom vendors is cumbersome and time-consuming, leading to contract disputes or suboptimal vendor relationships, upgrading your TEM solution to a cutting edge platform can help you streamline vendor management processes.
1Nebula’s TEM solution—Nebula OneView—is a Microsoft Gold Certified product that leverages the cloud to provide enterprises with a smarter system to support business innovation and digital transformation. With advanced cloud cost expense management functionality, it is also a key enabler for cloud FinOps.
OneView helps organisations accelerate their high-performance technology roadmap. We have worked with many large companies to simplify cost management. Get in touch with our knowledgeable team to learn about how our approach can guide your business towards lower costs and better IT performance.