Introduction
The demands of enterprise telecom expense reporting continue to evolve.
Where once managing telecom expenses remained in the realm of fixed and wireless telephony and data, today’s telecom environments are more diverse than ever. And this trend will likely continue, with one in three businesses increasing their telecom spending by 5% in the next five years.
5% increase in telecom spending in the next five years
Business Wire
This is indicative of an exciting time for technology innovation, but with change comes complexity, and it can be easy to overlook growing costs.
You need detailed, in-depth, on-demand, and easy-to-consume telecom expense reporting to stay on track with your payable processes.
In this guide, we explore the key qualities to consider when managing and creating telecom expense reporting.
What is Telecom Expense Reporting?
Telecom expense reporting is a vital component of effective telecom expense management. It is the process of consolidating your telecom billing information from multiple sources into a single repository and compiling the data into relevant reports.
Telecom expense reporting reduces complexity by providing a centralized view of data. With this, you achieve a better understanding of exactly how and where your telecom budget is being spent. Greater visibility can fuel your decision-making – you could remove redundant lines or subscriptions, for example. And when your telecom inventory is up to date, you can construct a better telecom RFP.
Additionally, another benefit of telecom expense reporting is the standardization of data. No matter what format, geographic location, service, or vendor your expense data is sourced from – it’s combined and streamlined into a single portal. That includes fixed, wireless, mobile, SaaS, UCaaS, or IoT data. The most significant benefit of telecom expense reporting will be the actions your enterprise can take from the results.
A portal lets you access reporting functionality and lets you view it in the format of your choice. With this, you can provide a consistent user experience for your employees, regardless of a user’s job function or location.
You also have the flexibility to view or schedule reporting from one place. With this, you can understand important metrics. You can use reporting to make comparisons, understand overall consumption, or identify outliers.
Try our ROI calculator to discover how much you could save with effective telecom expense management and reporting.
The Types of Telecom Expense Reporting
Portal Reporting
Portal reporting, such as through a cloud-based platform, collates key expenses into one interface. This is intuitive to use and is designed to allow quick access to relevant information.
For example, when you accurately manage your telecom inventory including moves, adds, changes, and disconnects (MACDs) or monitor your network consumption, you can run an up-to-date report to help manage budgets.
Additionally, you can configure portal reporting job roles. If you need to assign role-based permission for certain reports, such as for sensitive data, it’s all managed through the portal.
Key Benefits:
Role-based Access Controls
Assign reporting ownership by end-user and implement permission-based access to reports.
Push Reporting
Automate reporting to see real-time, accurate data when you need to i.e., once a month.
Actionable Data, Fast
Cloud-based portal makes it easy to see the data you need, exactly when you need it. Then you can use the data to make decisions for your enterprise.
API Reporting
API reporting, or data warehousing, is a type of telecom expense reporting that captures detailed analytics data sets, making them highly available to end users. These on-demand data sets can be integrated with your own choice of analytics tool and integrated with your portal-based reporting.
With this functionality, end-users can carry out advanced calculations and create highly customized analytics and visualizations. Custom reports provide greater detail and insights on the data you need to look at, removing unnecessary information.
Additionally, pre-defined data sets mean no configuration or development is required to import the data. This enables fast and secure access to data, regardless of its source.
Some enterprises might struggle to manage this reporting in-house. A telecom expense management company can help you set up, maintain, and monitor reporting processes – and manage them for you.
Key Benefits:
Custom Reporting
End-users can create custom reports
Detailed Data Set
You can choose your data sources and consolidate them in a report
Fast Access
It’s straightforward to access the data you need
SLA, XLA, or KPI Reporting
Telecom key performance indicators (KPIs), service level agreements (SLAs), and experience level agreements (XLAs), are integral to telecom expense reporting. These metrics can be used to understand whether you’re achieving your expense management goals.
Minimizing costs and finding savings is beneficial, but is your enterprise keeping track of the changes you’re making? And who is being held responsible for these changes?
In a competitive telecom expense management market, you need to make sure you’re getting valuable results. Reporting provides visibility of savings performance. And if you choose to work with a telecom expense management provider, it increases transparency for their performance.
Key Benefits:
Accountability
Our telecom expense management provider or internal team is encouraged to hit SLA, XLA, and KPI goals.
Value
You can choose your data sources and consolidate them in a report.
Visibility
Your enterprise stays on track of expense management decisions
Telecom Expense Reporting Software or Service?
To implement telecom expense reporting for your enterprise, you can either find a software solution or seek the help of an experienced telecom expense management company.
Effective reporting will use a combination of automation, business intelligence tools, and industry experts who can help you extract the most value from your data.
It’s not advisable to rely on software alone to minimize costs. It can be expensive to implement and maintain, time-consuming to manage, and limited in its available functionality.
When you choose a telecom expense management company that provides a fully managed service, not just software, you benefit from expert personnel with years of experience. They can offer 24/7 dedicated support, alongside a comprehensive software solution, to give your enterprise the best of both worlds.
A telecom expense management partner can provide:
Years of experience managing telecom expense reporting
• Global capabilities
• In-depth, line-by-line auditing and reporting
• A centralized, cloud-based portal for reporting
Get the Most Value from Telecom Expense Reporting with Cass
Cass helps global enterprises manage, optimize, and minimize costs across their complex telecom environments. Talk to the experts at Cass today to learn more about how we can help with yours.
