3 Myths About Technology Expense Management (TEM)

3 Myths About Technology Expense Management (TEM)

Dealing with the financial implications of COVID-19, organizations of all shapes and sizes are turning to technology expense management (TEM) to help them take control of their expenses and rein in unnecessary spending. TEM is not new. However, demand for technology expense management services has increased due to the growing popularity of the XaaS model.

The XaaS model is where everything from storage to compute and infrastructure is offered as a service. Although this model offers the benefits of “pay as you use,” it severely limits IT’s control and visibility. The result is out-of-control spend, reduced profitability, productivity inefficiencies, and impacts to the bottom line.

TEM allows organizations to take control of their global IT spend and associated resources. It provides visibility into spend, as well as IT assets and services. Some TEM providers, including Tangoe, can also provision, pay and allocate costs of telecom, mobile, and cloud services on a single service management platform. While the benefits are numerous, misconceptions about TEM still exist.

I have someone in-house who can handle this.

It’s tempting to assign TEM responsibilities to someone with an organization to save money. While having experienced professionals on staff to perform IT expense management offers convenience, it’s not always the most efficient solution. These individuals often lack specific industry experience and global methodology to properly manage a company’s technology expenses and assets. They also spend countless hours performing manual tasks, which can be susceptible to error, costing even more money.

As technology needs continue to grow, so too will inventory and assets. Experts predict that more than 64 billion internet of things (IoT) devices will be online by 2025 alone. Maintaining an accurate inventory and monitoring cloud usage will require more and more people and resources within an organization, which adds headcount and headaches. And who is keeping track of how much employees are using and how much it costs?

Finance, IT, and telecom support teams simply do not have the time or resources to effectively manage monthly technology expenses on an ongoing basis. TEM helps remove human API from the equation.

It sounds like a big security risk.

Many organizations are rightly concerned with security, especially when engaging with a 3rd party provider who could have access to confidential financial data. But, when organizations rely on manual processes, it’s easier for employees to commit expense and procurement theft. Additionally, it makes it hard to identify suspicious activity and follow up to resolve the issue. However, with an automated expense solution, policies get enforced before any violations occur because rules are integrated within the system. It ensures compliance with internal policies.

Traditional expense management involves a lot of human intervention, which can increase security risks and out of compliance spending. It also inhibits the ability to have a clean audit trail, which could lead to financial fraud and issues with the IRS. But, by using a TEM provider, most of the work happens automatically, without any manual intervention. Thus, saving time and effort. Automating the entire expense reporting process can also decrease the chances of human error.

When choosing a TEM provider, ensure that they’ve earned international accreditations for their robust cybersecurity posture. This will help mitigate risks and exposure with consistent, measurable TEM managed services processes based on industry best practices.

It’s too expensive for my company.

It’s a common misconception that TEM costs more money than it’s worth. But, the tide is turning in favor of complete visibility and control. A recent survey polling IT leaders found continued investment into productivity software as the biggest priority over the next 12 months, further indicating the desire to invest in services like TEM. In fact, large enterprises make up about two-thirds of TEM users due to complex national and international expense management requirements.

The reality is that TEM saves companies up to 60% annually on technology expenses. In 2019, Tangoe saved its customers more than $300 million. Our TEM services includes the entire technology lifecycle, ranging from invoice loading, auditing, allocation, and payment to call accounting, wireless optimization, mobile device management, and contract negotiation. We help customers gain global visibility into technology spend patterns and identify areas for short-term and long-term savings.

Interested in identifying overspending, reducing waste, enhancing compliance and security, and achieving maximum savings? Contact us and we’ll show you how.