Putting the Charge Into Corporate Chargeback

Putting the Charge Into Corporate Chargeback

Next generation telecom expense management (TEM) solutions are increasingly becoming more sophisticated and provide the opportunity to extend beyond invoice processing and audit. Integrated TEM solutions that utilize a robust inventory platform have the ability to assign hierarchies to items for corporate chargeback.

It is no secret that today, corporate information technology (IT) departments receive a substantial amount of data, requiring full-time maintenance and monitoring. This has led to companies to make cost efficiency and department accountability top priorities for telecom and IT departments responsible for consumption of IT services. As a result the increased need to deliver results upon expectation is putting chargeback in the spotlight.

Corporate vitality relies in assessing the business landscape and in turn, aligning costs accordingly. But if limited financial, operational, and execution visibility exists, it encourages problems. Chargeback relies on the correct allocation and dissemination of money to the appropriate departments. A chargeback system creates visibility, from the overall company down to an individual contributor. Information gathered and monitored can identify problems, create opportunities, uncover trends, and avert disasters.

Telecom Expense Management Leads to Chargeback

With the introduction of next generation telecom expense management solutions, having this type of chargeback system in place is not out of reach. Companies now have the ability to distribute costs not only for telecom services (circuits, routers, cell phones), but for IT items such as laptops, servers, and even on-demand applications like a Salesforce.com. These next generation TEM solutions have been designed to accept corporate data feeds from not only carriers, but from other IT vendors, creating an ideal solution for corporate chargeback.

A robust chargeback system handles multiple feeds, encompassing a wide range of data. The ability to assess vast amounts of data for various departments can identify problems and help answer the fundamental question: what’s being spent and where? The end result is that specific business units are accountable for the IT services they consume, which encourages awareness of IT spending patterns and proper usage of services.

Uncover Trends to Create Opportunities

When organizations start to monitor consumption more closely, they can accurately track current resource usage and forecast future demand of technology and service needs. In addition, once in place the organization can benchmark against other departments and getting a better idea on which department is using or requires more IT services. When reported information is reliable and relevant, it can aid in answering the question: where can we improve?

Knowledge

Chargeback reduces the likelihood of wasting money on obsolete, unused, or unnecessary services. IT organizations can make informed decisions when developing a long-term plan for cost savings and opportunities for performance improvements. Furthermore, companies can implement policies and negotiate contracts based on realized usage patterns from various departments.

Conclusion

Once in place, the end result for utilizing an IT chargeback solution is that it can dramatically help an organization cut costs. The data is processed and transformed into valuable information that improves efficiencies by facilitating the better allocation of IT infrastructure, elevating the organization’s ability to improve the use of existing resources, and uncover areas that might yield hidden cost-savings.

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Nina Wales is the Marketing Coordinator for MBG Expense Management, a leading provider of telecom expense management (TEM) solutions and services, and is the editor of its monthly newsletter, MBG CrossCurrent.