Your IT and mobile assets are an essential part of your enterprise, and managing those resources is not an easy undertaking. Without an organized approach to technology expense management, your business can suffer decreased efficiency and lost profits.

Technology expense management, or TEM, is defined as the effective management of an enterprise’s entire mobile devices, telecom assets, and cloud services. TEM is a complicated task that requires tracking, managing, and optimizing a telecom environment while attempting to stay up to date on new technology. 

Proper technology expense management will give your finance and IT departments a clear understanding of your business’s services and assets, from device maintenance to contract management, invoicing, and policy enforcement. Bottom line: technology expense management can save a company time and money, while creating efficiencies that give employees time back to focus on finding other ways to grow your business. 

So how can you ensure that your TEM is being handled effectively? Here are some of the best practices when it comes to technology expense management.

Inventory Management

Knowing exactly what’s in your IT and mobile environment is the most important part of effective technology expense management. Tracking devices and their usage will help you understand how your tech is being used, create/enforce policies, and eliminate inefficiencies.

Invoice Automation

Manually inputting and tracking invoices is one of the biggest ways money can slip through the cracks in an IT environment. Invoices are often incorrect, and their management often falls on employees who are already spread thin. Automation ensures that invoices are properly tracked and calculated, and keeps your vendor channels running smoothly. 

Contract Management

Make sure you are working with the best providers and that the contracts are properly tailored to your business’s needs. Experienced negotiators can help with this. Then, having a system that gives you full visibility of all your IT contracts can help keep everything up to date and, ultimately, help to avoid overpaying.

How Cannon Group Can Help

Working with Cannon Group’s Expense and Mobile Management technology ensures your TEM is properly handled and optimized. Our technology gives executives and IT managers a clear picture of how money is allocated, and provides consistent policy enforcement and billing/invoicing automation that eliminates revenue lost to human error. 

Cannon Group doesn’t just set you up with TEM automation software that sends you monthly reports. Our hybrid approach to technology expense management means our work is executed by TEM experts who not only continuously review your infrastructure to find savings opportunities, but who go a step further to execute actionable recommendations based on the insights they gather. At the same time, their extensive knowledge of mobile technology and carriers guarantees your service contracts are tailored to your needs and sharply negotiated so you get the best prices possible.

Other TEM providers give you data. We give you solutions.

Talk to a Cannon Group expert today to learn more about how we can help optimize your mobile environment.

It’s not news that the workforce structure massively changed in 2020. Worldwide shutdowns and restrictions caused by COVID-19 made remote working an overnight necessity. CIO’s and IT leaders were challenged to adapt quickly and create secure working environments for their organizations, which led to companies majorly increasing their investments in their IT departments.

IT spending is predicted to hit $4.2 trillion in 2021, an 8.6% increase from 2020. This number is expected to continue to climb with another 5.3% increase on the horizon for 2022. As boards and CEOs see the importance of spending more in their IT environments, they will be more eager to increase budgets to stay competitive. 

So what are the most important areas in which to invest in your own organization’s IT infrastructure?

Social Software and Collaboration Tools

As businesses continue to become more and more mobile, companies are expected to increase their investing in social and collaboration tools by 14% in 2022. To take advantage of this trend, CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software providers have expanded their systems to include more tasks and capabilities.

Automation and Data Analytics 

Automating manual tasks like complex invoicing is an easy way to eliminate capital lost to human error and free up time for your employees to focus on more urgent tasks. Better yet, moving toward automation enables companies to effectively gather data to use for informed decision-making. Data-based decision-making is taking the place of “going with your gut,” as it takes the guesswork out of how to increase your bottom line by identifying inefficiencies for you.

Cloud Computing

Keeping your technology running at top speed is essential for any business to thrive. Investing in cloud platforms has been a critical element in keeping businesses flexible, competitive, and collaborative. Some businesses are even upgrading to virtual cloud desktops, which can reduce and even eliminate the need for costly updates and replacing outdated technology. Virtual desktops are also more flexible and secure, as they can be easily scaled and monitored.

Cybersecurity

Increased mobility means increased vulnerability, and executives are taking note. It is estimated that 55% of businesses are ramping up cybersecurity in order to push back against hackers and keep their data safe. Investing in a long-term cybersecurity plan will free up time for your IT team to explore new ways to innovate in other areas.

How Can Cannon Group Help?

No matter what your investment plan for your IT environment, Cannon Group can help you  optimize it. Cannon Group’s experts will ensure that you not only have the best suited providers working for you, but that your contracts are sharply negotiated and tailored to your company’s needs. Better yet, our auditing and data gathering automations will help you find inefficiencies and free up working capital, so you can improve your bottom line and redirect funds to where they are needed most. 

Talk to a Cannon Group expert to see how we can work for you.

What To Look For When Choosing an MMS Provider

Your business is growing, and so is the task of maintaining your company’s mobile environment. Instead of expanding the responsibilities of your current IT department, you’ve made the wise decision to outsource your mobile management. Now comes the hard part: choosing an MMS provider that will give you the best service for your enterprise. 

Before choosing a provider, you should internally discuss your MMS needs and expectations. Deciding on the level of service you’re looking for is also key; make sure you know whether or not you will be managing the MMS internally, or if you want the provider to manage the day-to-day operations. Having a clear vision of what you’re looking for in a provider will make narrowing down the options much easier. 

There are a lot of providers out there vying for your business, so how can you be sure you’re in good hands? Here are some important factors to look for when choosing a mobile management provider for your business.

Compatibility

The first step in choosing the best provider for you is to confirm that the MMS vendor you’re considering will easily integrate with your current IT infrastructure. The less manual intervention needed at the outset, the better. Make sure the provider is compatible with your mobile strategy and cloud services.  

Customizability 

Your business needs are unique. So when it comes to mobile management, you shouldn’t settle for a cookie-cutter approach. Look for vendors who offer customizable plans so you’re not paying for services you don’t need.

Ease of Use

Outsourcing mobile management should create efficiencies and increase employee productivity. However, if the end user has a hard time with the provider’s platform, it’s a wash. Make sure the provider you choose has a user-friendly interface. 

Availability

Let’s face it – business no longer operates within the 9-5 workday. The best MMS providers offer round-the-clock support for IT and end users. Look for a provider with a 24/7 help desk – your employees should always have access to assistance. 

Service Beyond Data

If you’re outsourcing your mobile management, you should expect more than just monthly data reports. Make sure your prospective providers go beyond churning out numbers. A good MMS provider will analyze your company’s data and provide recommendations based on their findings. A great MMS provider will go a step further and actually execute those recommendations.

Security

According to the Verizon 2019 Data Breach Investigation Report, 80% of security breaches are due to stolen or weakly secured mobile devices. Effective mobile management is paramount in keeping your business and your employees secure, and also helps enforce policy compliance internally. Discuss integrating MDM software into your mobile environment with your MMS vendor, especially if your business uses BYOD or hybrid mobility models.

Scalability

You’re looking for an MMS provider because your business is expanding, so make sure you choose one that is capable of continuing to support you as you grow, and as technology changes. Make sure your provider is able to adapt to new trends, has their eye on process modernization, and can accommodate your future plans.

Cannon Group offers scalable, customizable plans with 24/7 support. We go above and beyond to help our customers increase their profitability while keeping their mobile estates running securely and efficiently. Talk to one of our experts today to learn more about how Cannon Group can work for you.