Company bills and charges for the month that passed have just arrived. Everything looks business as usual until you hover over the section where it mentions the biggest charge among all the other amounts which reads, “Employees’ Technology Expenditure”. You were confused as to how in the world of business did this happen. Well, calme-toi, we all know that this line never appears on our company bills and charges. However, this amount is so spread out, that no one notices how much it contributes to the costs of a company. At the end of the day, employees’ interaction with technology has a risk that might cause your company a good amount of money.
I know you love your colleagues, and only want nothing but the best for them. But as much as you love to see them satisfied, I know you would also appreciate for them be involved in your technology expense management strategy — am I getting a small nod right there?
One best cost optimization practice is to understand employee behavior in relation to the technology services that they use at work. Getting a view of your employees’ tendencies in different situations helps you make better decisions aligned to your company goals and objectives. Evaluating the Employee-Technology interaction is the 37th reason to go beyond TEM and manage the enterprise digital footprint. Behaviors vary from one situation to another, or one employee to another if you will. Therefore here’s a shortlist of 5 unique employees you might want to consider in planning your technology expense management strategy:
Nick the New Kid
Having so much to contribute from his university stint, this fresh graduate decided to bring his own devices to manage and keep private company data. Being the tech-savvy that he thinks he is, Nick confidently continues this practice without informing the IT department — sounds like Shadow IT to me. Having visibility on this matter helps you take immediate actions in order to prevent risks of information breach.
Tracy the Tourist
Oftentimes out of the office, Tracy travels a lot. Since there are times when he crosses from one country to another, mobile plans applied to his account have to include roaming services. These roaming services if not toggled off once not needed, will continue to charge an extra amount of money to your company. Therefore, having visibility on this information keeps you updated on the tech activities of your employees and if constantly verified then it also saves your company from bill overcharges.
Hannah the High Maintenance
Hannah requires the latest technology in the market to perform her daily tasks. Costing is not her strongest suit; therefore, she might need help in acquiring an efficient technology that performs sufficiently yet remains rather affordable. Visibility on employees as such can prevent overspending and save a big amount of money from compulsive buying.
Vinta the Virtual Citizen
Only showing up to the office once a month, Vinta works remotely. She requires a couple of things to function, such as an internet service provider, a portable device to stay connected to the company database, and probably a mobile device for communication — quite a bit, right? Therefore, having visibility on all these services and devices will allow you to properly allocate costs to the respective department this employee works for.
Gary the Ghost
Gary is one of those that left your company yet did not turn in all the devices and cloud subscriptions that the company provided. Also termed as zero-usage devices, some of Gary’s equipment, for example, a mobile device with active talk, text and data plans, just lies around the office, unused yet still registered to the network under the company’s coverage. Visibility on these records can help the company update its inventory details and save you from paying bill charges that none of the current employees are using.
Having visibility on those types of employees is easier said than done. I know. Let’s admit it, every office has at least one Nick, two Hannahs and perhaps a whole lot of Garys, that cause some challenges — sometimes a few headaches — in solidifying your technology expense management strategy. But, fear not, TEM providers like Upland Cimpl, carries out the work for you!
Now that you recognize the different behavioral trends that your employees might have, it is time to set up an action plan. Hence, to help you with that, here’s 3 things you need in order to better track these profiles:
#1: A leader not a boss
It all starts with you. Employees need someone that guides them to make the right decision regarding their tech expenses. Although it might require a little bit of effort from your end, trust the process and eventually, employees will adapt to the system.
#2: An atmosphere of trust
Establishing trust between you the manager, and the employees is crucial to gaining visibility on tech expense-related activities. Employees are less likely to hide decisions from their managers if there’s a working relationship built on trust and confidence with each other.
#3: A TEM Solution
To solidify your action plan, you might want to acquire this type of service. A Telecom Expense Management solution, like what Upland Cimpl provides, offers a platform that is capable of automated tracking of an employee’s behavior with regards to activities related to technology spending. It has a dashboard that shows a record of each employee’s usage and telecom expenses, which becomes handy in having full visibility on practices that you might want to evaluate.
Upland Cimpl offers a cloud-based, multitenant telecom and IT expense management solution that provides value in managing your Enterprise Digital Footprint. In addition, as Upland Cimpl becomes part of the UplandOne’s Project and Financial Technology Solution Suite, it now offers extensive services that covers your full IT Lifecycle Management. For more information about our services, please contact Upland Cimpl team now!