One of the most expensive – but most valuable – commodities for any growing business is telecommunication services. But as with most business technology, you have to put some work into getting the most value out of your telecom spending. Fortunately, you can take several easy, inexpensive steps right now to optimize your services and reduce costs.
Top 13 Telecom Service Optimization Tips to Reduce Costs
Reducing your telecom costs isn’t impossible, but it can take some time and elbow grease to get your bills where you want them to be. Here are our top 13 tips to help you reduce telecom spending today:
Do Your Research
First, you need to understand your telecom invoice. This includes acronyms and specific jargon used in the telecom and technology industries. Once you grasp the words used in your invoice, you will better understand what expenses you can cut.
Break Down Telecom Invoices
Most providers already break telecom invoices down into different line items. However, you can optimize your services by grouping line items in-house as well. Each section of your invoice is separate, so do they all work together, or could you take some of the fat out to optimize? Breaking down your telecom invoices can help you answer these questions.
Update Antiquated Hardware and Services
Legacy hardware usually isn’t the best bet, especially when it comes to telecom service optimization. Increase efficiency and save more on your monthly telecom costs by upgrading to newer hardware and technology.
Consolidate Telecommunication Services
Whenever you can, you should try to bundle your telecommunication services together. Bundled services help you reduce costs and ensure you’re not paying for any services your company isn’t using.
Conduct a Telecom Audit
If you’re looking to expand your telecom service optimization, you will need to conduct a telecom audit to find and correct any billing errors. A professional technology advisor can help you with this task to help you get the most cost savings out of your telecom services.
Update Telecom Software
Updating your software is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce telecom spending. Software is essential to today’s telecom services, from accounting to data usage, so keeping it up-to-date is critical.
Applying Certain Metrics to Infrastructure
Instead of manually monitoring your telecom data usage, you can install metrics to monitor for you. This means better optimization in real-time so you can stress less about your company’s telecommunication services and expenses.
Monitoring of Data Usage
One of the best ways to optimize your telecom services is by monitoring data usage. When you carefully monitor your usage, you can find out what is going to waste and eliminate excess costs.
Limiting Data Usage
In addition to monitoring usage, you can limit or rearrange how your business uses data for the best optimization. This means trimming out unnecessary calls and other excesses that increase your payments.
Switching Telecom Providers
One of the best optimization tips you can take away is simply switching telecom providers. If another provider offers a better monthly package or has services more aligned with your goals, it makes good business sense to switch.
The next three cost reduction tips deal with understanding your telecom contract and negotiating the most beneficial terms for a flexible and fair contract.
Seek Coterminous Telecom Contracts
Coterminous contracts are when all of your services from a vendor end on the same date. These contracts give you leverage over your telecom company – which is why most vendors don’t want to offer them.
Businesses are less likely to switch vendors when their contracts are out of sync. Because of this, telecom providers typically offer staggered contract end dates to make it difficult to move all your services at the same time.
Negotiate Your Telecom Minimums
Your telecom vendor wants you to commit to your telecom spending under contract. For example, if your telecom expenses are $1,000 per month, your vendor wants that $1,000 as a guaranteed minimum spend. This guarantee makes it difficult to switch vendors because you are under contract for that minimum spend regardless of your actual usage. You have no leverage to renegotiate rates if you can’t move services from your current vendor.
Aim to reduce your commitment level to 40-50% of your total telecom costs, which can give your business leverage to explore other telecom vendors.
Have An Annual Commitment – Not a Monthly Commitment
Telecom vendors prefer companies to sign on for a monthly – not annual – commitment. Considering the $1,000 per month example above, a $12,000 per year guarantee would be much better for your business. Annual commitments enable you to explore other vendors once you spend your yearly minimum without worrying about upcoming monthly payments.
Reduce Your Telecom Spending With PAG
Telecom vendors structure contracts with the most favorable terms they can negotiate for themselves. Since their services are difficult to understand, they can slip in conditions that make it hard for you to gain the upper hand. To get leverage on your telecom vendor, follow the tips above and download our free guide to understanding and reducing telecom expenses.
Any questions about reducing your telecom costs? PAG has you covered. Request a risk-free, zero-cost audit today to see how much you can save on your telecommunication services.
