Top 10 Telecom Expense Management Companies

In the current hyper connected business environment, telecom costs control has become a major issue of concern to all organizations large or small. Since most companies spend 3-5 percent of their annual revenues on telecommunications, the proper Telecom Expense Management Companies can make or break a company financially. Market growth has been explosive in the U.S. telecom expense management market as more firms seek the services of dedicated telecom expense management vendors to help them manage their telecom expenses, and improve their operations as well as provide them greater insight into their telecom spend profiles.

Modern telecom environments have become too complex due to the existence of multiple carriers, the variety of service types, and the fast-changing nature of technologies such as 5G and IoT, making the process of managing expenses through manual means almost impossible. Here is where professional Telecom Expense Management Companies come in, with their advanced solutions that leverage advanced analytics, automation and industry knowledge to achieve significant savings and operational efficiencies to businesses throughout America.

What Is Telecom Expense Management?

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is an umbrella term that defines a set of processes that assist an organization in controlling, monitoring and optimizing its spending on telecommunications to all communication channels. This field of strategy involves the entire life cycle of telecom services which includes the procurement and provisioning and the operations and management of the telecom service. Businesses can achieve a high level of clarity over their communication costs through TEM solutions, which allows them to find ways to reduce the costs, eliminate billing errors and make sure services are used efficiently.

Such systems are able to automatically audit telecom bills, recognise discrepancies, monitor usage trends, and make actionable recommendations on cost optimisation. With the use of TEM solutions, organizations are in a position to cut their telecom cost by 15-30 percent and at the same time enhance service quality and operational efficiency.

The field has grown beyond the basic bill auditing to the full scale technology expense management, which is not restricted to the traditional telecom services, but also includes cloud communications, mobility solutions, and the upcoming technologies such as the internet of things and 5G connectivity.

Why Your Business Needs a TEM Solution

• Cost savings and Reduction: TEM solution offers quick and continuous cost saving by automatically auditing bills, optimizing contracts and identifying and deleting idle services. On average companies experience 15-30 percent savings in telecom costs in the initial period of implementation.
• Increased Visibility and Control: Obtain comprehensive views of your telecom expenditures pattern, service consumption, and performance at all locations and departments. This transparency allows making better decisions and future telecom planning.
• Billing Precision and Error Detection: Automated solutions detect and challenge billing errors, overcharges or unauthorized services and you will only be charged what you consume. This may entail huge collections of old billing errors.
• Compliance and Audit Management: TEM tools assist in ensuring that companies stay within their corporate policy, regulatory obligations, and contractual agreements and give extensive audit and documentation that can be used in financial reporting and governance.
• Scalability and Growth Support: TEM platforms will automatically grow with your business, and there is no corresponding growth in management overhead or increase in administrative burden, since TEM platforms automatically grow with new locations, services and technologies.
• Strategic Technology Planning: Enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities allow planning to gain more insight into future telecom investment, forecasting, budgeting, and strategic planning capabilities to align communication costs with business goals and business growth strategies.

Key Features to Look for in a TEM Company

• Automated invoice processing and auditing: seek providers that have extensive automated bill auditing capabilities to process invoices across multiple carriers, detect errors, and automate the approval process with full detailed audit trails.
• Analytics and Reporting: Select options that offer real time dashboards, report generation and analytics to monitor the spending, usage patterns and performance across your entire telecom environment.
• Multi-carrier Management: See that the TEM provider is able to deal with multiple telecom carriers, vendors and service providers, and can provide single management and reporting on your entire communication environment.
• Cloud based platform architecture: Choose cloud based solutions that are scalable, accessible and updated automatically and cut on-premise infrastructure and maintenance costs.
• Integration Capabilities: Choose vendors who will have an easy integration with the existing enterprise systems such as ERP, financial management and IT service management systems so that data flow and operational effectiveness will be smooth.
• Expertise and Professional Support: Seek providers who provide account management, industry knowledge and consulting to support optimization of your telecom strategy and get the most out of your TEM investment.

Top 10 Telecom Expense Management Companies (U.S.)

1. Tangoe

Tangoe is the market leader in the telecom expense management business with more than 20 years of experience in serving the Fortune 500 corporations. The company has transformed TEM by using its innovative AI-technology-driven platform to provide end-to-end lifecycle management of telecom, mobile, cloud, and IoT services. The fully-integrated Tangoe solution assists such companies as Chevron Corporation, Northern Trust, and UPS to save a tremendous amount of money that has gone over the $100 million a year mark. They have a platform that integrates best-in-class automation, analytics, and experience in the industry to help give unrivaled clarity and control over technology spend.

Key Services: 

• AI-powered invoice processing 
• Multi-carrier lifecycle management 
• Cloud and SaaS expense optimization 
• Mobile device and service management 
• IoT and 5G cost management

Target Clients: Fortune 500 companies and large enterprises with complex telecom environments

Strengths: Market-leading AI technology and comprehensive platform capabilities

Why Choose Tangoe: Proven track record of delivering substantial cost savings for major enterprises

2. Calero (formerly Calero-MDSL)

Calero today has become a force to reckon with in the business management of technology sector after its strategic merger with MDSL to form a giant with more than 800 employees and 3500 customers all over the world. The company handles about 2 million devices worldwide and maintains a spend of about 20 billion in technology. Calero unified solution goes beyond traditional telecom expense management to SaaS, mobility and end-to-end technology expense optimization.

Their solution is a blend of powerful automation, best-in-class analytics, and expert services that are measured to provide results to mid-market and enterprise customers. The company has always been keen on constant innovation and customer success, making them a major competing business to the industry leaders and upholding a high reputation of high-quality services.

Key Services: 

• Unified technology expense management 
• SaaS optimization and management 
• Mobility and device lifecycle management 
• Contract and vendor management 
• Advanced analytics and reporting

Target Clients: Mid-market companies and enterprises seeking comprehensive technology expense management

Strengths: Unified platform covering multiple technology categories beyond telecom

Why Choose Calero: Comprehensive technology expense management with strong automation capabilities

3. vCom Solutions

vCom Solutions has become the most well-known provider of telecom expense management services to be the best option available in the market to mid-sized businesses. The company was started and is headed by Gary Storm, and it has been considered as one of the fastest-growing firms in the TEM industry. vCom cloud-based vManager platform provides high value to its clients due to the mix of high-tech features and personalized services. The strategy of the company is to establish long-term relationships with the clients, offering them dedicated account management and delivering quantifiable output with proven practices. They have been the strategic IT sourcing and lifecycle advisor to hundreds of multi-site companies in many industries.

Key Services: 

• Cloud-based vManager TEM platform 
• Strategic IT sourcing 
• Lifecycle management
• Dedicated account management 
• Cost reduction and expense optimization

Target Clients: Mid-sized businesses and multi-site companies

Strengths: Exceptional customer service and proven results

Why Choose vCom: Personalized service approach with dedicated account management

4. Sakon

Sakon has niche-marketed itself in the TEM market with emphasis on providing end to end managed services along with the latest technology solutions. The company strategy focuses on the idea of partnership and collaboration, where the company gets to know the unique needs of the clients and they provide them with tailored solutions.

Sakon platform combines sophisticated automation, rich analytics and professional consulting to deliver complete telecom expense management. They have a group of industry professionals with extensive experience in carrier relationships, contract negotiations and optimization strategies.

Key Services: 

• Managed telecom expense services 
• Contract negotiation and optimization 
• Carrier relationship management 
• Advanced analytics and reporting 
• Consulting and strategic advisory services

Target Clients: Enterprise clients

Strengths: Strong focus on managed services and client partnership approach

Why Choose Sakon: Comprehensive managed services with expert consulting capabilities

5. Accenture TEM Services

Accenture offers the telecom expense management market with the strength of worldwide consulting experience and innovative technology. Accenture TEM services as a part of the largest consulting company in the world use profound industry expertise, world-leading digital capabilities, and strong carrier networks to provide transformational outcomes to large enterprises.

Their strategy is to integrate strategic consulting, managed services and advanced analytics to streamline the telecom spend and connect communication plans to strategic business initiatives. Global presence and full range of services offerings means that Accenture is perfectly suited to partner with multinational companies that want to gain strategic value out of their enterprise TEM program, as opposed to purely cost savings.

Key Services: 

• Strategic telecom consulting 
• Global carrier management 
• Digital transformation services 
• Advanced analytics 
• Managed services and ongoing optimization

Target Clients: Large enterprises and multinational corporations

Strengths: Global consulting expertise

Why Choose Accenture: Enterprise-scale solutions

6. WidePoint Corporation

WidePoint Corporation is a United States based company situated in Fairfax, Virginia that deals with the provision of technology-based products and services to both the government and commercial market in the United States. WidePoint Corporation (NYSEAMERICAN: WYY) is an innovative technology Managed Solution Provider (MSP) which specializes in securing and protecting the mobile workforce and enterprise environment. WidePoint is a market leader of customized telecom and mobile management to the public sector within the U.S. The Company provides wireless expense management and cybersecurity, and other information technology consulting services solution. WidePoint is known to have pioneered technology solutions, which cover Secure Identity and Access Management.

Key Services: 

• Telecommunications Lifecycle Management (TLM)
• Wireless and wireline inventory management
• Customized TEM portal solutions
• Government and public sector specialization
• Mobile device and expense management

Target Clients: Government agencies and frameworks, governmental organizations, and business firms that need to have specialized solutions when it comes to TEM.

Strengths: Limited availability of its products/ services and expertise on the government sector.

Why Choose WidePoint: Wide know-how in government and public sector needs and unique solutions that can be tailored.that can be tailored.

7. Telecom Expense Management Inc. (TEM Inc.)

TEM Inc. has established a name in providing reliable, all inclusive telecom expense management services placing emphasis on quantifiable outcomes and outstanding client service. The platform offered by the company consists of conventional service approaches and innovative technology to offer end-to-end TEM solutions. The strategy of TEM Inc. is based on the idea of establishing effective relations with clients, learning their business peculiarities, and providing the best solutions in accordance with corporate objectives.

They have a team of skilled professionals who offer a great deal of industry knowledge and carrier expertise to each engagement. Transparency, accountability and the desire to always improve have made the company a reliable partner of various organizations looking to find reliable TEM services.

Key Services: 

• Comprehensive invoice auditing and processing 
• Carrier management and optimization 
• Contract negotiation and management 
• Inventory and asset management 
• Ongoing optimization and support

Target Clients: Mid-market and enterprise companies across various industries

Strengths: Proven methodologies and strong client relationships

Why Choose TEM Inc: Reliable service delivery with focus on measurable results

8. Upland Software (formerly Abilita)

Upland Software has set a presence in the telecom expense management market and performed acquisition of Abilita and development of upland platform. The solution offered by the company is aimed at granting end-to-end visibility, control, and optimization of telecom costs with the help of the latest technology and professional services. The platform of Upland is compatible with the current enterprise systems.

Key Services: 

• Comprehensive expense management platform 
• Automated workflow and approval processes 
• Advanced reporting and analytics 
• Integration with enterprise systems 
• Ongoing optimization and support services

Target Clients: Mid-market and enterprise companies

Strengths: Strong platform integration capabilities and user-friendly interface

Why Choose Upland Software: Scalable platform with excellent integration capabilities

9. Cass Information Systems

Cass Information Systems is able to offer the telecom expense management industry with a distinct financial processing experience through their extensive knowledge in the freight audit and payment coupled with an all round TEM services. This is the strategy of this firm, which uses their experience in financial processing, superior technology platform and industry expertise to provide precise, efficient telecom expense management. Cass solution offers high levels of visibility of the telecom expenditure, automated processing and full reporting functions that facilitate financial management and core business decision making.

Key Services: 

• Comprehensive telecom bill processing 
• Financial audit and payment services 
• Advanced reporting and analytics 
• Automated processing workflows 
• Integration with financial systems

Target Clients: Companies seeking financial processing expertise

Strengths: Extensive financial processing experience

Why Choose Cass Information Systems: Trusted financial processing expertise with TEM specialization

10. Brightflag (Legal Spend Management with TEM)

Brightflag has offered an interesting niche of its own, blending legal spend management with full telecom expense management functionality. Through the use of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, the platform offered by the company gives detailed visibility and control over legal as well as telecom expenses. The solution provided by Brightflag is especially helpful in companies that have a high number of legal and compliance needs, as it allows managing various types of expenses on one platform. Their solution delivers advanced analytics, built in workflow, and in-depth reporting which is applicable in financial management and strategic planning.

Key Services: 

• Integrated legal and telecom expense management 
• AI-powered analytics and automation 
• Comprehensive reporting and dashboards 
• Workflow automation and approval processes 

Target Clients: Law firms and corporations

Strengths: Unique integration of legal and telecom expense management

Why Choose Brightflag: Specialized solution for organizations with complex legal and telecom needss

How to Choose the Right TEM Provider

• Evaluate Your Organization Requirements: Start by performing an in-depth analysis of your current telecommunications situation, the number of sites, carriers, kinds of services and the dollar amount spent every month. Knowing your unique needs will assist in finding the providers that have the apt capabilities and expertise.
• Assess Technology Capabilities: compare the features of the platforms, automation levels, integration capabilities, and scalability. Identify providers that have contemporary and cloud-based solutions with AI-based analytical capabilities and broad reporting functionalities that fit your technology needs.
• Take into account the Service Level and Support: Ask the degree of continuous guidance, account administration and counseling services that each supplier is able to provide. Think about your in-house capabilities and experience to understand if you require the full managed services or solutions that are mainly technology-driven.
• Check Client Reference and Case Study: Ask references in similar organizations and read detailed case studies to determine the history of the providers, their average outcomes and customer satisfaction rates. This will assist to authenticate their statements and determine cultural fit.
• Examine Pricing Models and ROI: Contrast the pricing models, implementation expenses and recurring charges along with the anticipated ROI. During the overall value proposition, take into account direct costs savings and operational advantages.
• Confirm Compliance and Security: Make sure that the provider is able to comply with your security requirements, compliance standards and the needs of data protection. This is especially significant to the organizations within controlled industries or sensitive data needs.

Conclusion

Telecom expense management is a fast-changing environment with the top Telecom Expense Management Companies pouring money into the development of AI, automation, and advanced analytics to bring more value to their customers. Companies which engage the right TEM provider are able to save huge amounts of money, get the operational efficiencies as well as strategic alignment of communication cost to the business goals.

The formula to success is to choose a provider who can integrate tried and tested technology capabilities with experience and delivery of ex-ordinary service. The more telecom technologies develop and the more complex the business communication requirements, the more crucial the role of professional Telecom Expense Management Companies will be to the organizational success and financial performance.

FAQs

How much of the telecom costs can be saved by TEM services? 

The majority of the organizations would anticipate cutting their telecom costs by 15-30 percent in the initial year of professional TEM services execution.

What are some of the implementation times of TEM solutions? 

Depending on complexity and scope, it normally takes 60-90 days to implement in most organizations.

Do TEM services fit in small businesses? 

Yes, there are numerous companies that provide TEM services and they are scalable as they are customized to suit small and mid-sized businesses whose telecom environments are smaller.

What are the key things to consider in a TEM contract? 

Such aspects as transparent prices, transparent service level agreements, data security provisions and provisions that accommodate business growth are key aspects.

What is the carrier relationship at TEM providers? 

Professional TEM providers have long-established relationships with the large carriers and can use those relationships to negotiate better rates, service and problem resolution.