Choosing the right TEM company is one of the most impactful decisions your organization can make for long-term telecom cost control and operational efficiency. Learn more about telecom expense management and what separates a truly capable TEM provider from one that only scratches the surface of what your organization needs. No matter how big or small your company is, you can benefit from hiring a third-party vendor to oversee your telecom expense management. Few companies have the resources to do a deep dive on their telecom invoices every month. However, with the right partner, you can automate this process and send notifications to your team if discrepancies arise. Auditing and invoice management is just part of what an effective TEM company has to offer.
Learn more about the critical services every telecom management provider, such as Valicom, should offer. Then, you can spend your time concentrating on business opportunities rather than chasing down telecom discrepancies and overcharges.
Here are several things to look for when vetting out telecom expense management companies.
Why Choosing the Right TEM Company Matters More Than Ever
The complexity of enterprise telecom environments has grown dramatically. Multi-vendor contracts, expanding mobile device fleets, cloud service subscriptions, and increasingly complex billing structures mean that the cost of inadequate telecom management has never been higher. Organizations that partner with the wrong TEM company — one that offers software without services, or services without genuine expertise — consistently find themselves back where they started: overpaying, underinformed, and overwhelmed.
According to Gartner, enterprises that implement structured TEM programs with the right provider achieve average savings of 20% to 40% on annual telecom spend. The difference between achieving those results and falling short almost always comes down to the quality and completeness of the TEM company you choose. The four core service categories below define what every serious TEM provider must deliver.
Core Services Every Serious TEM Company Should Offer
Inventory management, contract management, and visibility all play a role in effective telecom expense management. Learn what to look for when you need a solid partner to minimize your telecom expenses.
Inventory Management
Managing your telecom and technology inventory is more difficult than dialing unknown numbers to ensure your company still uses all the devices on your invoice. Detailed inventory, transparency, and visibility hold the key to keeping costs down and retiring or reassigning company-owned devices. This cannot be done on paper — no matter how diligent your auditor may be.
Employing a TEM company system can help you automate your invoicing and simplify the auditing process. A TEM gives you fast access to terms and conditions, rates, and service level agreements so that you can negotiate your monthly bill in a timely manner. A TEM company that cannot provide real-time inventory visibility across all of your devices, services, and locations is not equipped to manage the full scope of your telecom environment — and the gaps in that visibility will cost you.
Contract Management
Technology has evolved that can help you tame the obscenely complicated telecom billing process. If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to retire your massive file system and compare monthly bills in a system that facilitates the identification of discrepancies and overcharges.
Contract management allows you to negotiate invoices and make sure that your provider will quickly correct any errors found. By centralizing your telecom data, you can easily compare your bills to the previous month or year. Fast access to billing data allows you to evaluate whether you are meeting volume commitments in your telecom contracts. In addition, it can help you grade your provider for adherence to critical service levels. A capable TEM company monitors every contract renewal date, auto-renewal clause, and rate commitment — ensuring you are never caught off guard by an unfavorable rollover or a pricing change you did not authorize.
Invoice Management
If you are still doing your telecom invoice management in a spreadsheet, it’s time to upgrade your system.
An automated, telecom invoice management tool makes it easier to simplify the accounts payable process. Automating the cost of wireless technology and hardware minimizes manual intervention that can lead to errors and missed billing issues.
As your company grows, so will your inventory of devices. It only becomes more challenging to track monthly expenses and eliminate unused lines. In order to prevent service disruptions and pay only for what you use, consider a TEM company with comprehensive invoice management capability. The right TEM partner processes every invoice against your contracts and inventory records — flagging discrepancies, disputing errors, and ensuring that every payment is accurate before it leaves your accounts payable queue.
Audit Features
A TEM company that emphasizes visibility and provides comprehensive audit tools can help you optimize your company’s telecom management. If you have a home-grown IT system that you rely on to track your telecom expenses, you may be very proud of it. However, chances are there are one or two employees that actually understand how to use it. Adopting intuitive tools introduces transparency into your telecom expense management without leaving you dependent on tribal knowledge among your IT staff.
Instead, contract with a company such as Valicom that has expertise in the telecom industry. This allows you to hold both vendors and employees accountable to company policy, recurring cost, and accurate billing. For organizations evaluating their first TEM partnership, reviewing telecom expense management solution small to mid-size businesses rely on provides important context for how audit capabilities scale with your organization’s size and complexity.
Understanding Service Levels Among TEM Companies
When choosing a TEM company, you have to determine whether you want software only, software and services, or fully managed services. Learn more about the three main types of TEM providers:
Software Only — This option includes engaging a vendor to provide software for provisioning, ordering, and managing telecom costs. Under this model, you choose a TEM company with a great SaaS solution and cloud-based tool. If you have the in-house expertise and resources to devote to management functions, this could be the right option for your company.
Software and Services — This model includes hiring a vendor to provide and support the software. Common tasks for software services include invoice optimization, inventory data entry, and telecom equipment provisioning. It gives you flexibility over what an outsourced provider will do for you.
Fully Outsourced TEM — Some enterprises take a hands-off approach when it comes to managing their telecom expenses. These organizations hire vendors that can provide turnkey TEM services — handing off every aspect of telecom management to a dedicated external team.
When you contract with Valicom, we can provide the level of service you need for efficient, transparent telecom expense management. Our telecom experts handle everything from installing your TEM system to managing data input for billing and contracts. We provide extensive auditing functionality and help your team absorb reporting outputs to make the appropriate decisions for your organization.
Choosing the Right TEM Company for Your Organization
Your telecom technology will evolve over time. By partnering with the right TEM company, you can curate the services you need to save money and free up bandwidth for in-house team members. Consider the size and complexity of your operations and what your needs will be in the next five to ten years when choosing a reputable vendor for your telecom expense management.
The organizations that consistently achieve the best outcomes from their TEM partnerships are those that treat vendor selection as a strategic decision rather than a procurement exercise. The right TEM company does not just provide software — it brings industry expertise, benchmarked data, audit capability, and a genuine commitment to your cost reduction goals. Starting your evaluation with a clear understanding of what great looks like is the fastest path to finding it. Use the framework of finding right telecom expense management solution to guide every conversation with prospective TEM partners.
Ready to find the TEM company that is the right fit for your organization? Contact Valicom today and let our team walk you through exactly what a best-in-class telecom expense management partnership looks like in practice.
