Telecom ExpenseManagementBlogs

Explore our TEM blogs for expert perspective, real examples, and clear guidance to manage telecom and technology expenses confidently, with fresh insights added routinely.

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7 Tips to Negotiate Telecom Contracts

7 Tips to Negotiate Telecom Contracts

Negotiating a telecom contract takes a certain delicacy if you want to get the best deal without compromising your service. Although companies can take advantage of a competitive telecom market, it’s important to read the fine print on contract clauses and other factors that influence price and quality. On the other hand, a well-negotiated contract clearly states your services and expectations with unambiguous pricing models.

So, how do you come up with an agreement with your provider that works for you? With the right research and a little guidance, you can negotiate beneficial terms.

Here are seven tips to help your company get the service you need at a price you can afford:

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Does Your Company Need Another Expensive Audit or An Ongoing Outsourced Solution?

Does Your Company Need Another Expensive Audit or An Ongoing Outsourced Solution?

At a high level, there are three types of audits: internal, external, and IRS. Of course, you have no control over when the IRS comes around, but the right mix of internal and external checks can help you keep your costs under constant scrutiny while keeping your books in order — which can’t hurt if Uncle Sam does decide to take a dive into your telecom records.

Let’s take a look at internal and external audits, which you can control and use to monitor your telecom spend.

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How Our #1 Differentiator Keeps Us Together During Virtual Times

How Our #1 Differentiator Keeps Us Together During Virtual Times

Our Annual Celebration looked a little different for Valicom this year. Instead of meeting at one of our favorite local restaurants, The Great Dane, or meeting for a night at The Comedy Club, we gathered at our computer screens, everyone to their own. Don’t worry, this isn’t the start of a sad story, I promise! It’s the start of one filled with gratitude.

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Telecom Expense Management Market Size 2021

Telecom Expense Management Market Size 2021

The Telecom Expense Management Market, estimated at $1.45 billion in 2019, may reach $1.89 billion by 2027. That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.65%. Another study, adjusted for the impact of COVID-19, projects a CAGR of 14.5% through 2025.

Telecom Expense Management has become an essential part of the tech stack at companies of all sizes and across most industries. Two transformative trends mostly drive this:

  • Increased need for efficient TEM practices

  • Expansion of business telecom infrastructures

If you need assistance with your telecom expense management, contact the experts at Valicom to tailor a solution for your company.

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Ambient Backscatter: Revolutionizing IT Healthcare Wireless Trends

Ambient Backscatter: Revolutionizing IT Healthcare Wireless Trends

Backscatter networking has been named one of the top three trends of the future by CIO Review. This technology provides a nearly limitless network lifetime for IoT devices that currently run on finite batteries. A backscatter network transmits data using very little power. It targets small networked equipment and uses wireless pulses for power. Backscatter networking works well in areas saturated with wireless signals and can power simple IoT devices in smart homes and offices.

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How to Migrate to the Cloud for Enterprise Transparency & Spend Management

How to Migrate to the Cloud for Enterprise Transparency & Spend Management

If your telecom and technology management systems are outdated, you are wasting time and money. One of the biggest wastes is that in managing everything the old-school way, in spreadsheets or desktop software. Follow along as we uncover why it is critical for complex telecom environments to manage their infrastructure, contracts, and invoices in an intuitive cloud-based solution instead of tedious, error-prone, and heavy updates of your outdated solutions.

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How to Recover Telecom Costs and Renew Your IT Budgets

How to Recover Telecom Costs and Renew Your IT Budgets

Aligning IT investments with the overall strategy of your operations will emerge as a number one priority for many organizations in 2021. Many companies are cutting costs in other areas to enhance their IT infrastructure. Telecom invoices may offer fertile ground for automation and improvement. This can lead to reduced costs in your payment and auditing efforts. Most telecom and network expenses take up to 5% of your enterprise’s revenue. Implementing best practices can help you keep this expense at the lower end so that you can reallocate money to innovation projects.

Follow these strategies to recover telecom expense and allocate it where you need it most.

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7 Steps to Build a Strategic Procurement Process

7 Steps to Build a Strategic Procurement Process

Strategic procurement process development is one of the most impactful investments a large organization can make to control costs and improve vendor relationships. Learn more about telecom expense management and how the same discipline that drives smarter telecom...

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2021 Telecom Industry Outlook

2021 Telecom Industry Outlook

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored challenges facing the telecommunications industry. It’s time to make bold moves to help your company. There are areas of opportunity for telecommunications leaders to consider in their recovery strategies.

Here are three ways to thrive in 2021:

  1. Focus on customer needs with a nuanced customer engagement approach.

  2. Upgrade the customer experience with new service offerings and adopt agile business models.

  3. Position your branding in a way that maximizes secure wireless networks and includes this technology in your services and business models when possible.

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3 Must Have TEM Software Features

3 Must Have TEM Software Features

Valicom’s team sat down to discuss the most important questions to ask during the discovery phase of finding a trustworthy TEM vendor. The discussion started with basic questions, which we concluded could be applied to most technologies. These points also specifically had to do with the software provider’s team and who they work with directly. That brings us to the top two fundamental questions:

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Call Accounting: Do You Really Need It?

Call Accounting: Do You Really Need It?

Call accounting software is one of the most misunderstood tools in the enterprise technology landscape — and many organizations are paying for capabilities they already have through their existing TEM solution. Learn more about telecom expense management and how...

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Advanced Vendor Negotiation

Advanced Vendor Negotiation

At Valicom, we have been negotiating with vendors on our clients behalf for over 30 years. For any company, the art of negotiation is perfected over many years. Negotiation looks different from industry to industry and product to product but there are a few negotiation best practices that are the same across the board. This includes the industry of telecommunications. Let’s dip our fingers into the secret sauce of successful vendor negotiations.

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4 Ways Accounts Payable Can Save More Now with TEM

4 Ways Accounts Payable Can Save More Now with TEM

With the evolution of technology continuing to grow forward, there’s no doubt that organizations across the globe are seeking new ways to update their invoice management process and complicated technology environments.

Accounts Payable and Chief Financial Officers understand the need to automate but proceed with caution. With automated procedures, the risk of accuracy is always an important variable in the process. Trusting automated systems can put the risk of accuracy on the side which can result in extensive overpayments and other overlooked fees which can make the automation process irrelevant and redundant.

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5 Ways to Save with Utility Bill Pay Services

5 Ways to Save with Utility Bill Pay Services

Imagine this. You don’t have to worry about missing invoice errors, you don’t have to lay a finger to pay for your invoices, and you can access a user friendly dashboard to view all activity regarding your utility bills. Technology is not only changing the way we communicate at the office but it’s increasing efficiencies in our finance departments. The other thing is, it will save you so much money! We’ll get to that.

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Leading with Values

Leading with Values

What guides your decision making? When times get tough, how do you decide what is worth your time and what needs to be eliminated to maintain a healthy business environment?

At Valicom, having a set of core values is how we all stay on the same page, and make decisions that align with our company goals. How you treat one another, how you work together, how well you know your teammates – this creates the mold we need for success. Wouldn’t you agree? This all starts with having values that align.

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The Evolution of Clearview

The Evolution of Clearview

Clearview looks very different today than it did 30 years ago. When I started the business in 1991, my office tools consisted of an Intel 10286 computer (100Mbps memory) which was a second-generation home (user friendly) computer, and word processing and spreadsheet (Excel) software. I used spreadsheets extensively to calculate pricing and perform long distance vendor cost comparisons based on the pricing schedules offered by AT&T and several other alternative carriers who had entered the marketplace after divestiture.

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Better Utility Bill Management

Better Utility Bill Management

Working with a utility invoice management service immediately cuts your administrative cost by 30%. Valicom’s invoice services can help you manage and control virtually all your facility-related expenses. We receive, allocate, pay, and report on over 90 different service types including:

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Women in Technology

Women in Technology

Overcoming challenges associated with a male-dominated industry came with many hurdles. Industries associated with technology, especially in the ‘80s and ‘90s, was vastly run by male ownership and operations. It was difficult to gain respect as a leader and successful business owner as a woman in the field of information technology. There were significant challenges being taken seriously with sales to clients, developing partnership with telecom vendors, attracting dedicated employees and involvement in making a difference with industry associations.

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Valicom’s Why

Valicom’s Why

The foundational purpose, cause or belief (our why?) in which Valicom was started was based on the customer confusion in the marketplace and the difficulty experienced by alternative telecom providers to fairly compete. The same inequality still exists today.

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