Misconceptions surrounding the procurement industry are rife. But the view that a procurement team's work is finished once contracts are signed is a myth.
At face value, it's logical to assume that in-house procurement teams need only be concerned with the actual procurement of the contract, but it’s a far cry from the truth. In fact, once the contract’s been signed, the work has only just begun.
From there on out, procurement specialists must ensure all contract terms and stipulations are honored throughout the entire contract, as well as disputing any discrepancies that may arise from this analysis.
It’s a challenging role, made more complex still by multiple contracts spanning numerous geographical locations, such as in an enterprise environment. And to carry out the work effectively – mitigating all incurred costs and ensuring the maximum value is extracted from each contract – end-to-end telecom procurement support from a telecom expense management (TEM) provider is frequently required.
Here’s a handful of reasons why.
1. Contract Implementation
All too often, the new commercial contract terms that were expertly negotiated by your procurement team and agreed upon by your supplier are incorrectly implemented.
A supplier’s failure to apply new tariffs, receipt of credits, hardware funds, and other contracted terms is, unfortunately, all too common. And while this can be due to several reasons, most often, it’s because both client and supplier teams are forced onto other, more pressing, tasks.
The telecom procurement process is nothing if not a rigmarole, but with the support of a TEM procurement partner, your organization can gain the continuity to ensure that the post-RFP terms are correctly implemented and thus ensure that contract value is preserved.
2. Dedicated Expertise
In-house procurement teams, while masterful at negotiating and managing voice and data telecom estates, may still lack the information and resources required to fulfill their job satisfactorily.
The telecom environment is a jungle, and navigating this dense labyrinth of wilderness requires in-depth and specialist knowledge – especially when trying to negotiate the most suitable contract terms.
Partnering with a TEM vendor not only means this knowledge is more freely available for future contract negotiations but also enables a release of business resources – allowing in-house teams to focus on other core activities.
3. Cost Allocation
Within any enterprise, communication is a necessity. Procurement teams must regularly confer with IT finance departments to ascertain true cost savings, predominantly by the use of formulated reporting.
However, reporting comes at a cost. The time taken to crunch the numbers, produce, and then distribute the report is one thing. But add to the mix the fact that other core financial work is subsequently overlooked, and the costs grow even further.
A TEM provider can assist with inventory management and maintenance, down to cost-center and user-levels. From here, monthly reports for ongoing cost-savings from telecom contracts can be automated while delivering clear evidence to the business that the new contracts that your team have put in place truly do deliver the cost reductions you promised.
4. Analysis and Reporting
The process of exploring data in order to extract meaningful insights – which can be used to better understand and improve business performance – is paramount within telecom procurement.
Analyzing telecom carriers’ electronic billing data and performing in-depth billing analysis not only helps your procurement team identify future saving opportunities, but also enables them to produce usage and exception reports for stakeholders and end-users.
With expense management services as its raison dêtre, a TEM provider has the luxury of using specialized and independent software that in-house enterprise teams can rarely justify. With this high-end software, drilling deeper and deeper into the numbers can reveal ever more significant insights, so that you can obtain even greater value.
Unparalleled Sourcing Support
A telecom expense management provider is a valuable asset for procurement managers. In-house teams can benefit from the on-hand support and information offered not only to negotiate the best deals but also ensure all stipulations are honored throughout the contract lifecycle.
In addition, a global TEM provider can offer this level of support across the world, guaranteeing enterprise-level contract services are successfully implemented and managed on the global scale they need.
A leading oil and gas organization with thousands of corporate and retail locations sought to renegotiate and consolidate five major telecom contracts. Discover how Cass provided $6 million in savings - view the case study here.
Topics: managed mobility
