Factors That Impede Your Inventory Efforts
Creating and maintaining an inventory of your telecommunications services, invoices, and vendors is a substantial undertaking that demands consistent attention to detail. Ensuring the cleanliness and accuracy of this inventory is a challenging task, often requiring dedicated daily efforts. Engaging the services of a Telecom Expense Management (TEM) company is essential in effectively managing these tasks.
Many organizations opt to outsource the periodic inventory assessment of their telecom services and invoices. While some may view this as a sporadic necessity, often with a minimal financial benefit, a more strategic approach suggests otherwise. Rather than periodic assessments, an audit encompassing a comprehensive inventory conducted once, followed by regular maintenance, offers a more pragmatic solution.
The practicality of maintaining a clean inventory on an ongoing basis is often hindered by time constraints within most companies. However, partnering with a reputable TEM provider enables the execution of this task every month. This proactive approach not only mitigates the risks of overbilling but also streamlines the recovery process for any erroneous charges. Additionally, any recovered funds resulting from the initial audit can be efficiently managed and shared, maximizing overall savings and efficiency.
Challenges in Maintaining an Accurate Inventory of Telecom Services
Many factors contribute to an organization needing help maintaining an accurate inventory.
- Absence of Corporate Contracts: When corporate contracts are lacking, employees may independently enter into agreements, resulting in higher service costs.
- Decentralized Spending: This occurs when employees make equipment purchases without organizational oversight, leading to inefficiencies.
- Inaccurate Inventory: Without proper tracking of telecom and IT services at each location and for each employee, overspending is likely due to duplicate or unnecessary services.
Addressing these factors is crucial for effective inventory management of telecom services. Implementing corporate policies and contracts can help control spending. Engaging a reputable Telecom Expense Management (TEM) company is the initial step in assessing service distribution through a comprehensive Inventory and Audit. This process necessitates a thorough examination of services beyond superficial refunds, providing detailed descriptions of phone or circuit numbers, monthly charges, service types, and features.
Enhancing Cost Reduction Strategies with Comprehensive TEM Solutions
Upon establishing an accurate inventory, a Telecom Expense Management (TEM) system empowers organizations to consistently drive cost reductions by offering comprehensive visibility into their communication ecosystem and invoice lifecycles. Centralizing all telecom-related data in a unified repository, accompanied by robust reporting tools, facilitates precise cost assessments, aids in identifying and disputing billing discrepancies, streamlines contract management including contract imaging and auditing, and uncovers optimization opportunities. Additionally, capacity planning and call accounting functionalities mitigate resource wastage within the network.
This goes beyond just telecom. A good TEM vendor will provide a comprehensive cost reduction management strategy that includes both telecom and IT, managing the complete communications lifecycle. The accuracy behind these transactions is vital to the overall efficacy of the organization.
Steps to Maintain a Clean Inventory
Keeping the inventory clean will be affected by the following:
- Monthly services being added.
- Monthly services being disconnected.
- Employees moving to different departments, being hired or terminated.
- Vendor’s changes in monthly fees.
To maintain a clean inventory every month, it is imperative to establish an order process that fosters transparency throughout the organization. Integration of a Help Desk module within the TEM provider’s software is instrumental in capturing all moves, additions, changes, or disconnects effectively. This ensures a seamless transition of new invoices to accounting without delay for coding, thereby preventing overpayment for previously disconnected services.
The next critical step in maintaining inventory accuracy is invoice and service validation. Conducting a monthly audit of each invoice and charge is essential for any TEM company. This line-item audit enables prompt identification of overcharges and provides an efficient mechanism to notify vendors for dispute and recovery. Rigorous tracking of disputes to ensure proper crediting on invoices is paramount in the recovery process facilitated by TEM services.
Optimizing Inventory Accuracy
Maintaining the accuracy of your monthly inventory relies heavily on verifying it against the established baseline inventory. A reputable TEM provider should offer validation services with select telecom vendors, enabling swift identification and rectification of discrepancies to prevent recurring overcharges on subsequent invoices.
Leveraging its proprietary SAAS platform, ExpenseLogic, RadiusPoint facilitates the creation of a concise list of invoices and services for monthly validation against the baseline inventory. This validation process provides organizations with a clear overview of services at each location, streamlining interactions with telecom vendors and pinpointing opportunities for cost reduction by identifying unnecessary services. Partnering with the right TEM provider can significantly save time, money, and resources while empowering internal teams to take control of expenses.