When operating a business, cost is always top of mind. As invoices, expense reports, telecommunications bills, and more pile up, expenses become increasingly hard to track. Whether overseeing a small or large business, managers should improve their processes for telecom expense management to reduce costs and boost efficiency.
Here are five ways to optimize telecom expense management:
1. Review all telecom expenses in a central dashboard.
Expenses can take on many forms, such as telecommunications or administrative costs and vendor bills. With the variety of expenses that managers have to monitor, using separate channels to do so could easily lead to confusion. Consider implementing telecom expense management programs that compile all telecom costs in one central dashboard. This enables managers to calculate or differentiate expenses and better oversee spending.
2. Automate processes and reports.
Using a telecom expense management platform can also be an effective tool to automate administrative processes that take up valuable time. Automating processes (receiving electronic invoices instead of paper ones, for example) can save time that managers can reallocate toward higher-level functions that enhance the business as a whole. Additionally, generating automated reports can reduce the time it takes to gather data and analyze information.
3. Leave the payment process to a third party.
Processing payments is often a pain point for employees and managers alike. Rather than devote in-house resources and man hours to doing this, determine whether it’s best to leave these tasks to a third party. Look into whether a vendor would be more suited to handling the payment process so payments are received in a timely manner, revenue is generated, and more resources are available to the business.
4. Reassess savings opportunities regularly.
Telecom expense management is a constantly evolving process, and there is always room for improvement. Managers should explore cost-saving measures and strategies on a regular basis. Perform audits of current telecom expense management systems and see whether the return on investment could be higher and the savings even greater.
5. Check client feedback of potential vendors.
As a step toward greater savings, explore options for potential vendors and review the feedback of their current and previous clients. A best practice is to get quotes from multiple vendors to leverage a better deal with current third-party service or product providers.
With the risk of costs getting out of hand quickly, it’s crucial to get a better handle on telecom expenses and know exactly how much is being spent and when. Optimizing telecom expense management is an important undertaking for businesses of all sizes.