TC2’s Insights on Gartner’s Latest TEM Market Guide

Tony:

Hello, I’m Tony Mangino from TC2, and this is Staying Connected—where we talk about what really matters to enterprise customers navigating today’s technology and sourcing decisions.

Today, we will be discussing the latest Gartner Market Guide for Telecom Expense Management Services that was published in April of this year.  We will share our perspective on the TEM marketplace based on the work we do with our clients through competitive RFPs, TEM implementations and TEM health check reviews. TEM has been around for a long time, but the market is changing quickly. Gartner’s report makes clear that this is no longer just about invoice processing, inventory and dispute management, or wireless optimization. The category is expanding into broader technology expense management, cloud, SaaS, UCaaS, IoT, utilities, and even emerging areas like AI license sprawl and API consumption.

I am joined today by my colleague Theresa Knutson, who heads up our IT Cost Management Practice and has extensive experience in the TEM Marketplace.   Theresa, welcome.

TK:

Thanks Tony, it’s great to be back —today’s topic is near and dear to me.

Tony:

So let’s dive in as there is a lot of cover.   Tell me your initial thoughts on the latest from Gartner.

TK:

Consistent with prior years, this is a market guide on TEM and not the typical Gartner magic quadrant report that you’re likely familiar with.  This is a detailed report (24 pages) on what’s happening in the industry that goes into specifics on the major providers (which makes up the bulk of the report) and the guide also outlines key findings, market trends and feedback from customers of TEM providers.    

The previous TEM Market Guide was published in November 2024 so Gartner had a lot of ground to cover with their latest report.  I’ve been heavily involved in the TEM Marketplace for over 20 years, so I always find it interesting to hear Gartner’s latest thoughts and compare their “new thoughts” to their findings in previous market guides.

2026 Findings:

• TEM services are more important than ever due to heightened internal cost pressures. (same as in 2024)
• And a theme that carried over for many years, Customers of these services are typically dissatisfied with their current TEM environment.
• Base TEM costs are decreasing.This is coupled with clients wanting more services and better support.  This means that the costs may actually increase in the future or be driven to different pricing models-so be on the look-out for T&M adders/gain share models
• Sourcing, procurement and vendor management leaders want integration of TEM services to broader IT and cloud mgmt. strategies and platforms (AP, ERP, HR, ServiceNow, ITSM, and CMDB) expanding coverage to cloud, SaaS, UCaaS, IoT, utilities as Tony noted at the onset.

Tony:

Ok; So the newest theme in the report is the move from telecom expense management to something closer to total technology expense management. TEM providers are being asked to manage not only fixed and mobile telecom spend, but also cloud, SaaS, UCaaS, IoT, market data, utilities, and other recurring technology spend.

TK:

Yes.  The base scope of TEM services really hasn’t changed—its invoice, inventory, dispute and contract management coupled with provisioning support and reporting.    Clients of TEM services want all of their invoices received and paid on a timely basis, an accurate inventory, errors identified and resolved on a timely basis, provisioning activity well managed and meaningful reporting that aligns with all other enterprise systems (AP, GL, CMDB).    What’s changing is that enterprises want these same services for more categories of technology spend. 

And with this expanding scope of spend to cover, Gartner has included a 2-page glossary to cover all of the new industry acronyms!

Tony:

We will get to the list of key suppliers in a few minutes, but let’s talk about where TEM providers are investing their money.   I read through the Gartner report and noted that providers are investing heavily in AI,  ML (machine learning) and RPA (robotic process automation) in order to automate repetitive tasks such as invoice receipt and reconciliation and to provider NLQ (natural language query)/virtual assistants in their platforms.    They are trying to get to “zero touch”.    I can see now why Gartner added the glossary.  

TK:

Yes, automation is their investment focus, which is being driven largely by the declining price pressure—but here’s the big caveat.  

 I host a group called “TEM Talk”.  This is a group of 50 enterprises.  We meet monthly to discuss what’s happening in the TEM market, best practices and to share lessons learned. We discussed the latest Gartner report in great length last week   The member’s key complaints are around lack of account team support (i.e. people) and reporting and the big one—missed cost savings opportunities.   These are all areas where AI can enhance, but not replace people—TEM customers want human support.   A key failure risk for TEMs is reducing staffing before these AI/automation solutions are ready. 

Tony:

Let’s get to the meat of the report – Gartner’s evaluation of the key suppliers.  Gartner discusses active vendor consolidation/M&A in the TEM market, including providers being acquired or joining broader groups. Consolidation may create stronger capabilities, but it can also create service disruption, platform changes, roadmap shifts, and account-team turnover. What’s changed in the vendor mix since their last report in 2024?

TK:

Most notably Asignet purchased Cass’s TEM Services in 2025 and Brightfin is merging with Proven Optics and Tellennium in the “NetSpark family”.    This means that for large enterprises, the TEM vendor choices are narrowing.    It also means that if you are currently a client of one of the TEMs that has gone through M&A activity, that you are likely facing some changes in platforms and/or support. 

Gartner covered 15 different TEM providers.  They include a 2-3 paragraph summary of the providers background and strengths. We typically see large enterprises engage most often with Calero, Sakon, Tangoe, and Asignet.  In my opinion all of these providers have excellent platforms, so what differentiates them?   It’s how accurate the data is in inventory, how good the reporting is, the quality of the account teams and how knowledgeable the auditors are behind the scenes so that cost savings aren’t missed. This knowledge of the auditors is an area that TEMs hope to replace with AI.  And you heard at the beginning that most companies are not particularly happy with these services, so it begs the question “why?”

I often work with my clients in helping them improve their relationship with their TEM provider.   There are a lot of issues that can arise in these relationships.   The most common of these issues is a lack of governance by customers and providers (it goes both ways).   Customers need to make sure that they give the right data to their TEM provider on a regular basis including things like current contracts and any amendments and site lists.   Customers also need to review inventory and reports in a timely manner and most importantly, hold their TEM provider to the responsibilities outlined in the contract.     Providers typically are challenged with playing the victim—meaning a theme of “we can’t provide good service because we don’t get what we need” and “if we paid your bills for you, all of your problems would go away”.  Providers are also quite good at over-promising and under-delivering.  I find many clients are frustrated when they ask questions to their TEM and get a promise of response that never comes or doesn’t fully address the questions raised.

Tony:.

This is where SLAs and governance matter.  Gartner even referenced “savings guarantees” in their report.   We’ve been a big proponent of this in our TEM procurements.  

TK:
SLAs need to be tied to meaningful business outcomes, not just process activity. It is not enough to measure whether invoices were loaded. Customers should measure invoice accuracy, dispute cycle time, credit recovery, inventory accuracy, order cycle time, savings implementation, reporting timeliness, and responsiveness.

There should also be financial consequences for chronic underperformance. And the metrics should be adjustable as the environment changes. A static SLA structure may not work if the customer adds cloud expense management, expands globally, or changes its carrier portfolio.

I am a big fan of savings guarantees—at a minimum, TEM providers should provide savings equivalent to the cost of the services that they provide to you-for each year of the contract.     Make sure to clearly define what counts as savings in the contract to avoid any misalignment.  I hear many complaints from TEM users that they don’t understand nor agree with savings that the TEMs claim.   Savings need to be clear, measurable-and realized by the clients and for a reasonable period of time (not for years and year ahead).

And don’t forget to clearly articulate in the contract the governance responsibilities of each party—daily interactions, weekly, monthly, quarterly meetings and reporting. 

Tony:

So, for existing users of TEM services, it is important to assess how your provider is doing today.   Are they delivering for you?  Are you satisfied with accuracy of inventory, reporting and savings delivered?   If not, it might be a good time to have their performance independently assessed. 

TK:

TC2 offers a TEM Health Check review—we deploy TEM experts to review your pain points, your TEM supplier’s performance and your internal environment and processes.

We develop a custom Health Check Report with detailed recommendations that address the identified pain points and gaps to TEM best practice and provide a roadmap to achieve
best-in-class market standards.  This type of review is especially beneficial if you are looking to renew your current TEM deal or if you are assessing if you should go to market to competitively bid TEM services.

And I would add one more point: do not let the market’s expansion blur accountability. TEM providers are moving into adjacent domains, but enterprise customers still need measurable value. The provider should be able to explain where it will reduce cost, improve control, automate work, and support better decision-making.  Expanding the scope of expense management services to other areas creates an opportunity to bring in a competing provider vs putting all of your eggs in one basket so to say.

The best engagements will be the ones where the customer and provider are aligned on scope, data quality, workflow ownership, and financial outcomes from the beginning and where the relationship is closely managed by both parties.

If listeners want to get a copy of the full Gartner 2026 TEM Market Guide, you can either access directly from Gartner if you have a subscription to their services or reach out to your TEM provider.  

Tony:

That is a good place to land. The latest Gartner guide shows a TEM market that is still highly relevant, but also more complex. AI, automation, platform expansion, vendor consolidation, and new commercial models are all changing how enterprise customers should evaluate providers.

To our listeners, if you would like to discuss how TC2 can help you evaluate TEM providers, strengthen your lifecycle management model, or address broader technology strategy, sourcing, and cost reduction needs, please give us a call or shoot us an email.

Please also reach out to Theresa if you’d like to join TC2’s TEM Talk group.

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