| Starting 2009 off right should include a review of | | | | Research 2002) 3. Up to 85% of a typical enterprise's |
| expenses which are normally taken for granted as a | | | | telecom bills are not audited and are simply paid in full |
| necessary evil. One of the biggest leaks in revenue for | | | | An experienced telecom expense management team |
| business comes from unaudited telecommunications | | | | uses a variety of tools unavailable to an in-house IT or |
| invoices. Most medium size and larger companies are | | | | Telecom Manager, CFO or Controller to identify |
| overwhelmed by the sheer number of pages in the | | | | undetected errors and return credits/cash back to the |
| monthly telecom invoices. We call that the 'weigh and | | | | business. That same team should have expert |
| pay it' syndrome. If it weighs about the same as it did | | | | capabilities to negotiate with the current service |
| last month then it must be accurate and so pay it | | | | provider(s) for better pricing, without making |
| without question. However history has shown that | | | | infrastructure changes and should be able to review |
| telecom bills, up to 80% of the time, have errors that | | | | the network to ensure equipment, lines and trunking are |
| go undetected month after month. These errors occur | | | | not underutilized. However, that same team should |
| due to order processors keying mistakes, failure to | | | | never resell the services of any provider or equipment |
| update customer service records when equipment is | | | | vendor. |
| moved or services are connected or disconnected, | | | | It is critical that finance managers are informed and |
| over-payments or duplicate payments and a number | | | | understand various options and methods to guarantee |
| of other reasons. | | | | they are getting the right pricing, at the right time for all |
| Tightly managing operating costs and looking for new | | | | their current telecommunication needs and ensuring |
| ways to reduce expenses in this tumultuous economic | | | | that they are not overpaying for services. In the |
| environment is a challenge for all businesses | | | | majority of cases the current service provider will |
| regardless of size. Organizations with larger telecom | | | | negotiate updated pricing once you have reached the |
| spending are more likely to either have undetected | | | | half-way point of your Master Service Agreement |
| errors or are overpaying for services and sometimes | | | | (MSA). There may also be sub-contracts for data lines |
| both. The most often overlooked opportunity for | | | | and services that can be re-negotiated at other times |
| cost-cutting in business is telecom expense reduction, | | | | during the life-cycle of a MSA. Once again, never |
| associated with infrastructure and service invoices. | | | | assume that bills are error-free - the majority of time |
| Most financial officers and budget managers believe | | | | they are NOT. |
| their current invoices are correct, and that the pricing | | | | In the current economy, businesses have seen |
| cannot be negotiated during the life of the contract. | | | | expenses rise rather quickly and profits decrease at |
| Many organizations believe they have this expense | | | | the same rate. The high cost of fuel alone in the past |
| under control but realistically, considering the complexity | | | | several months has hurt the bottom line of |
| of today's telecom industry and your communications | | | | corporations of all sizes and has thrown their budgets |
| infrastructure, internal Office Administrators and IT | | | | into a tailspin. With the end of the year quickly |
| Managers may not have the expertise or the time to | | | | approaching CFOs across the nation will find a big gap |
| thoroughly review these items to ensure your billing is | | | | between the previously approved expense budgets |
| optimized. Raise your hand if your IT Manager is | | | | and actually expenditures. There is a need now to |
| already overloaded with day-to-day operational | | | | close that gap before closing the books. One way to |
| projects. If that is the case an independent, | | | | accomplish that is by having a complete audit |
| experienced audit firm can not only find errors, | | | | performed on all your telecom expenses, sooner |
| negotiate better monthly pricing but also consolidate | | | | rather than later. |
| invoices to make invoice review easier going forward. | | | | Depending on the size of the company a thorough, |
| National Studies found: | | | | professional audit can take 2 to 6 weeks to complete |
| 1. 80% of ALL telecom bills have errors (source: | | | | and should never be a strain on your internal |
| Gartner Group Feb. 2002) 2. Less than 2% of billing | | | | resources. An audit should not carry an up-front fee, |
| errors are found and reported to carriers by | | | | and should always be conducted by an experienced |
| customers. In other words 98% of billing errors go | | | | firm with dedicated, knowledgeable analysts. |
| undetected. (source: Telcore Holdings USA National | | | | |