IT Expense Management : What added value does it bring your business?
The Digital Workplace is becoming more widespread within organizations IT expense management
The use of the Digital Workplace is becoming increasingly widespread within companies, and telecommuting has begun to spread among employees. Its popularity is due to the flexibility it brings, as employees can work wherever they like.
However, the digital working environment presents many challenges, such as the growth in mobility, usage and virtualization. Employees routinely use a multitude of terminals (smartphones, PCs, tablets) as well as diverse collaboration and analysis tools.
However, the changes that the Digital Workplace has brought to the daily lives of employees entail a number of risks, including financial slippage and loss of control over usage. To prevent companies from using more resources and funds than they should, they need to optimize IT spending, or outsource this task.
The various services associated to IT expense management
The main aspects of Digital Workplace expense management are :
- Cost tracking
- Budget management
- Invoicing
- Invoice payment
- Contract management
- Usage analysis
Given the diversity of the elements to be managed, expense optimization includes a number of services that focus on a specific area. These include FinOps services, bill payment delegation and usage monitoring.
FinOps services
Aimed at CIOs, IT Departments and Purchasing Management, FinOps services monitor all IT costs, in order to understand the added value that suppliers bring to the business. To monitor expenditure, FinOps breaks down costs into different categories (e.g. asset type, operator, etc.). From the information on the dashboard, it is possible to carry out a detailed analysis of the costs associated with the Digital Workplace, which will check whether they correspond to the allocated budgets. FinOps also takes care of re-invoicing companies, integrating and checking invoices. Automated processes detect billing errors and place them in a dispute list, where the user can perform various actions, including disputing an invoice.
Bill Pay
This is a secure process for paying recurring invoices, to ensure timely payment. Each invoice is reviewed and registered, then sent to Accounts Payable for approval. Once approved, invoices are paid via a dedicated bank account funded by the customer. This process ensures the accuracy of billing data.
Usage monitoring
Allows analysis of fixed-line usage, with a view to optimization. This service also makes it possible to supervise the quality of incoming calls. With detailed call handling statistics, such as the number of calls received and handled, as well as the identification of faulty extensions, companies can take steps to improve service quality and optimize your telephone infrastructure.
Platforms used in cost optimization processes
The services included in IT expense management use various platforms to ensure the smooth running of the process, such as the FinOps software interfaced with the company’s IS and the software that ensures the secure and punctual payment of all invoices. Other systems used in these operations include ERP and APIs.
ERP
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is software that enables a company to manage and integrate all its business processes and functions in a single, centralized system. This often includes functions such as human resources management, financial management, inventory management, supply chain management, production management and sometimes even functions such as sales and marketing management. The main objective of an ERP is to streamline processes, improve operational efficiency, provide real-time visibility of business data and facilitate decision-making.
API
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules, protocols and tools that enable different software or IT systems to communicate with each other and exchange data or functionality in a standardized way. It defines the methods and data formats that developers can use to interact with a specific service or platform.
ROI of IT expense management
Optimizing spending on the digital workspace has a number of strategic benefits for companies, which go beyond simply reducing costs. FinOps, the delegation of invoice payment and usage monitoring provide companies with a wide range of added value.
FinOps benefits :
- Global supplier management
- Central repository of assets, invoices and contracts
- Budget control
- Track the evolution of your Digital Workplace
- Consolidation of all costs
- Breakdown of costs by organization
- Service chargeback
- Real-time reporting
- Optimization of on-demand services
Benefits of bill payment delegation:
- Automatic import of all your telecom invoices
- View details of each invoice
- Automatic detection of variations.
- Modification of the amount to be paid
- Invoice validation through a reliable, secure process
- View transaction history
- Export data to your ERP system
- Payment on time and without penalties, without jeopardizing the possibility of any claims identified thanks to invoice control
Benefits of usage monitoring :
- Number of calls received
- Number of calls handled
- Traffic peaks
- Identification of faulty extensions
- Causes of call loss
To find out more about Saaswedo’s financial management services, click here.
Financial operations management offers several services:
- FinOps service
- Invoicing
- Bill pay
- Supervision of fixed and mobile usage
ROI:
- Control over contracts
- Visibility of all costs
- Invoice verification
- Punctual and secure payments