The short article below, “What is TEM? What Is Technology and Telecom Expense Management?” was published on the ETMA (Enterprise Technology Management Association) website. It is a quick overview of just what is included in TEM. If you need a refresher and things have changed over the past decade, it’s worth reading.
“Technology and Telecom Expense Management, TEM and IT Financial Management, ITFM, programs were created to proactively reduce expenses, introduce new efficiencies, increase visibility, and provide better control for IT and telecom (fixed and mobile voice and data) services. Increasingly with the blurring between IT and telecommunications, TEM programs also include management of technology expenses.
Several acronyms and other terms fall under the TEM heading. IT Financial Management or ITFM to optimize and manage IT expenses. Wireless Expense Management or WEM focuses on mobile expenses with employee portals for procurement of devices and service plans, and emphasis on managing and optimizing pools of voice minutes and shared data plans. New terms have been introduced to address management of mobile devices and support, including Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), Managed Mobility Services (MMS) and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), and Mobile Security Management (MSM). These terms are addressed in a post titled “Defining MDM, EMM, MMS and other Terms Related to WEM”.
TEM has ten major focus areas:
- Inventory management and change control
- Sourcing
- Procurement and fulfillment
- Invoice management
- Expense management (including validation and optimization)
- Usage management and chargeback
- Bill payment
- ITFM and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
- Reporting
- Business Intelligence.
An increasing number of businesses are realizing that managing their telecom and tech expenses has become difficult, especially when a company has multiple locations. Pricing, contracts, providers, taxes, tariffs, etc., differ from region to region.
If you believe you are being overcharged or not getting the best rates, we would be happy to look into it for you. Inverse Technology Solutions is a tech and telecom expense management leader, and we can help. We offer a complimentary pilot audit to identify areas we know are most often subject to overcharges etc., to develop an estimate of how much you could save. Just call us at 800-854-2444 or visit our website, www.inversetech.com. No risk, no obligation.
Source: ETMA (Enterprise Technology Management Association) website.