Whether you are helping run a mature business or a fairly new startup, everyone needs to have at least a fundamental knowledge of telecom audits to succeed in the modern world. Our dependence on technology has skyrocketed in recent years, and modern infrastructures are becoming exponentially complex. With each passing day, the skills to manage and maintain telecom infrastructure are becoming more and more valuable. As you prepare for your next telecom audit, keep the following considerations in mind.
Most Crucial Situations for Telecom Audits
Though telecom audits should be performed regularly for any company with a telecom infrastructure, there are some scenarios that have a more dire need for an audit. Some scenarios with the greatest need for an audit include:
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- Businesses with multiple locations – either within one city, across the entire nation, and especially international organizations
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- Businesses that have recently experienced mergers or acquisitions
- Businesses whose telecom infrastructure has been statically located for a long time
In each of these instances, there is a high risk of failing to account for existing telecom equipment. Having an unclear picture of your infrastructure will make it difficult to plan for the future and will result in a lot of wasted money or failure to obtain a favorable ROI. Without regular audits, your profits will leak into your infrastructure, never to be seen again.
Each Audit is Different by Nature
You also need to understand that each audit will be unique. What worked for one company may not be the best option (or even applicable) for another company. An audit is a process, and any number of opportunities could surface. Opportunities such as renegotiating contracts or switching service providers could be uncovered that were not identified in past audits. Remember to stay flexible and to adapt your telecom strategy to the latest trends in technology.
Time Constraints
A lot of businesses have the same question: Exactly how long does it take to perform an audit? It might be easier to answer the question, “How long is a piece of string?” Each business has different needs and varying sizes of telecom infrastructures. The time it takes to successfully complete an audit varies from business to business. As you work with external telecom audit professionals, they will help establish a timeline and reasonable estimates to create clear deadlines.
External Audit Services
You also need to be aware of how labor intensive and time consuming the audit process can be. Data typically needs to be pulled from multiple locations from different functional areas of a business. If you try to perform an audit using internal resources, you will undoubtedly eat up a lot of your staff’s time that could have been better spent on operations. This is one great benefit of using an external auditing service. Your staff will be free to operate your business instead of spending their time on the audit process.
[author_bio username=”Ken” name=”yes”]