TEM (Telecom Expense Management) Providers - What Do They Do?

A TEM vendor gives Telecommunications Expense Management – and, if done well, much more.

FREMONT, CA: TEM tracks & monitors an organization’s spending on wireline assets and services – for instance, T1 circuits that provide internet access over copper or fiber-optic phone lines and the routers required to circulate that connection to phone systems, laptops, desktop computers and more.

Customarily, the organization’s telecom management section has purchased this connectivity and its associated gear, entered expenses into a spreadsheet – perhaps holding the information updated – and paid the bills.

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The formal practice of vendor-led TEM began after the 1984 federal breakup of the Ma Bell monopoly. TEM was initially rudimentary, like anything else nascent, focused just on bill auditing.

As more carriers entered the landscape across years of deregulation, invoice errors grew in number and frequency. TEM suppliers understood that enterprises needed help managing telecom expenses, paying invoices, conducting dispute management, and recouping overcharges while working to reduce costs.

All this remains appropriate, and yet TEM, on its own, has grown too narrow as enterprises have included mobility and information technology (cloud, SD-WAN, big data, internet of things, etc.) in their core operations.

These days, TEM truly ought to be considered Communications Lifecycle Management. With CLM, multiple practices of TEM stay intact; they just expand to cover more domains. Think of it as the development of TEM.

A TEM vendor manages a range of Telecom, mobility and IT activities, including:

- Design, sourcing, and procurement

- Audits

- Wireless optimization

- Inventory management

- Moves/adds/changes/disconnects

- Invoice processing

- Dispute management

- Bill payment

- Assigning policies, permissions, and accesses

- Reporting and analytics

- Decommissioning/end-of-life

Not every TEM vendors are equal, of course. Some only deliver software (often called “software as a service” or SaaS); others provide a few of the above services or simply cause reports and leave the rest to the client. Still, others provide them all fully managed basis. Each configuration has merits based on the customer’s needs, budget, and staff.

There is one highly important point to consider, irrespective of which configuration an enterprise selects. Ideally, the TEM provider will provide a single platform that offers the customer visibility and control, even when the vendor is responsible for the work. This is crucial.

Because of tumultuous TEM mergers and acquisitions over the past decade, many organizations have had to juggle various interfaces as their providers failed to integrate systems. The situation has created much disappointment among enterprises, many of whom seek a stable TEM vendor that will not matter to them to upheaval.

What Should I Look For In A TEM Provider?

When selecting a TEM provider, enterprises will do well to make complete checklists comparing vendors as they search for a good fit.

Small & mid-sized enterprises with revenues under $1 billion will find they have unique requirements compared to their larger peers. Knowing that, here are some doubts to ask when vetting a TEM provider:

- Does the vendor provide completely managed services instead of software as a service or piecemeal assistance?

- Does the vendor particularize in Communications Lifecycle Management, which includes mobility and information technology, and in up-to-the-minute cybersecurity and regulations compliance?

- Does the vendor provide U.S.-based, round-the-clock help desk support?

- Does the vendor do greater than supply reports? In short, does the vendor suggest and implement advancements and strategies for saving money in ways that contribute to the organization’s overall business goals?

Most organizations need advanced TEM that goes far beyond the basics these days. Of course, basics are imperative, but they are insufficient anymore. That is because, while not outdated, fixed-line services no more consume most of a telecom management department’s attention.

Mobility and information technology needs now take up more bandwidth, as it were. In addition, Telecom, wireless, and IT are coming together, blurring the boundaries. Accordingly, the definition of Telecom Expense Management is rightfully developing into Communications Lifecycle Management. And quality, client-centric TEM vendors will follow suit.