Let’s take a step back for those that don’t understand Telecom Expense Management (“TEM”); if you do, you can jump ahead to The New Telecom Challenge: A New Landscape for Sales Partners.
Imagine you have a big family, and everyone obviously has a cell phone. Each person uses their phone differently. Your daughter might use a lot of data to watch videos, while your son only uses his phone to text. You, of course, make a lot of calls.
Now, if your family buys the same plan for everyone without thinking about what they need, it could be a waste of money. You might pay for things you don’t use or need.
TEM is like a unique tool that helps families (or, in real life, businesses) figure out precisely what phone plans they should have. It looks at how everyone uses their phones and finds ways to save money.
But TEM is more than just phones; it also plays into network and UCaaS, security, etc. It ensures no one is paying too much for things they don’t need, and everything is organized and makes sense.
This is significant in our business because companies have many phones, internet connections, and other stuff to worry about. By using TEM, companies can save a lot of money and ensure everything works the way it should.
The New Telecom Challenge: A New Landscape for Sales Partners
The economy faces many challenges, including food inflation, layoffs, and bank failures. You are dealing with a seismic shift in B2B sales that requires a pivot in strategy:
- Remote Work Revolution: Data security has quickly become more critical, with 36.2 million Americans projected to work remotely by 2025
- Reluctance to Meet Sales Representatives: 68 percent of B2B buyers are now hesitant to meet with sales reps, limiting opportunities to influence decisions
- Rising Telecom Expenses: Higher carrier surcharges and inflation drastically increase telecom costs in 2023 and beyond.
So, how can you adapt?
TEM as the Solution: Making a Business Case
This is how you become the technology hero for your customers.
TEM is as a game-changing solution. As organizations grapple with unmanaged legacy lines and spiraling cloud costs, TEM presents an opportunity to leverage the customer’s need for security and savings:
- A Focus on Security: With the prevalence of remote work, data breaches and cyberattacks are significant concerns, particularly in mobility on the mobile device management (“MDM”) side. TEM’s enhanced security protocols focus on security with mobility, including measures like data loss prevention to ensure sensitive information like outlook data isn’t in the hands of another company. This aspect of TEM’s security might not apply to the entire population, but it makes a lot of sense in the context of modern work environments.
- Saving Costs: TEM can significantly reduce costs through proper cloud cost management and identifying inefficiencies in carrier plans.
Efficiency Enhancement: TEM’s Hidden Strength
While we often talk about cost and security when discussing TEM, don’t overlook its power to boost operational efficiency.
Consider your customer’s IT team. Chances are good you’ve heard about how they’re swamped with tasks from managing infrastructure to upholding cybersecurity. Sifting through cellular bills? Not their top priority. It’s cumbersome and detracts from their primary objectives. Meanwhile, the finance folks, experts in numbers, might only sometimes catch the nuances of telecom billing discrepancies. This can lead to overlooked, costly errors.
Then there’s the challenge of inventory control. With ever-evolving telecom tech, tracking devices and services has become a Herculean task. Mismanagement here can result in wasted resources and redundant expenses.
This is why your customers will embrace TEM. It streamlines bill approvals, spots financial inconsistencies, and refines inventory management. The result? Companies don’t just cut costs with TEM; they operate leaner and more efficiently.
The Market Opportunity That Increases Your MRR
Let’s get to the good stuff.
TEM is not just about reducing costs for the customer but also about increasing your Monthly Recurring Revenues (“MRR”). Here are two compelling case studies:
- Oil and Gas Company: By implementing TEM, a company saved $1.8 million in the first year by optimizing cellular plans, doubling our Sales Partner’s MRR.
- Large Retail Company: An audit through TEM revealed misallocated bandwidth, leading to significant cost savings and building trust with the Sales Partner.
In conclusion, the current challenges in the market present a unique opportunity for TEM sales. By focusing on TEM, Sales Partners can navigate the new telecom landscape and turn challenges into opportunities. Ready to take this exciting step? Connect with our Solutions Engineers at 833.562.1076 or email them at SE.Help@scansource.com.
Interested in furthering your learning? Enroll in our TEM course today.
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