How to procure a TEM solution

What is TEM?

A typical solution starts out with a problem or a general need to solve. In the case of TEM this can span across a variety of areas. For example, “we need a process to manage our telecom spend, how do I know if this telecom invoice is correct or we just had a network outage but struggled to find any information related to the vendor or circuit ID for example. This could be a question you yourself are asking why or how can I solve this problem.

For starters simply put, Telecom Expense Management (a.k.a TEM) software allows organizations to manage their telecom demand (a.k.a MACD) through Workflow controls, Inventory, Supplier Invoices and provides Dashboards and Reports. These are the four primary aspects that all TEM solutions should provide as part of there solution.

How Can I Procure a TEM Solution?

Someone once asked us TEM sounds like the solution to all of my problems but “where should I even begin?” Normally this would involve spending a few weeks researching the web on the topic or better yet hiring a consultant to tell you 1 – you have a problem (which you already knew which is why you hired them in the first place!) and 2 pulling together an RFI or RFX to help you weed through the world of TEM.

Organizations can go down this path if you want and it will likely look something like this and take about 6-12 months to implement.

Resource Reference Links

To help you circumvent the research process here is some “light reading” from the likes of Gartner, Forrester, and even some links to other TEM companies.

Garter:

2014 publication https://www.gartner.com/doc/2679316/competitive-landscape-telecom-expense-management

2015 publication https://www.gartner.com/doc/3007517/servicelevel-agreements-telecom-expense-management

Temforce – Category Management SaaS enabling teams to manage their Telecom, IT Categories and Suppliers through 1 easy to use application.