Telecom Expense Management (TEM) has quietly become one of the largest unmanaged operating expense categories in mid-large enterprises. As organizations adopt cloud, UCaaS, CCaaS, mobility, and AI-driven workloads, telecom costs have fragmented across contracts, subscriptions, and usage-based services—often without clear ownership or financial controls.

This definitive guide explains what modern Telecom Expense Management really is, what it includes today, and why traditional approaches no longer work. Written for CIOs, CFOs, IT, finance, and procurement leaders, it provides a comprehensive framework for reducing waste, improving governance, planning network transformations, and restoring visibility to enterprise connectivity spend.
Rather than treating TEM as a bill-pay or audit function, this guide shows how leading organizations use it as a strategic discipline—one that enables cost control, supports digital transformation, and aligns financial and network decisions across the enterprise.