A telecom audit employs the knowledge of an auditor (or team of auditors) to complete a thorough search through all of your organization’s telecom and IT related bills in order to find billing errors and identify cost reduction opportunities. Audits can generally take place every 12-18 months, with some audits offering an ongoing review of telecom expenses each month for the following 12 months after initial hire. Audits are meticulous and non-intrusive, allowing business to go on as usual without disruption.
A standard telecom audit generally includes:
- Expert review of every line item on your invoices
- Thorough comparison of charges to contract and billing tariffs
- Identification of any billing mistakes
- Identification of under-used (or unused) services
- Identification of any credits/refunds due from your carrier
- Complete inventory of all lines, circuits, wireless devices and features across the enterprise
- All services properly assigned to correct cost centers
- Understanding of all existing contracts, what commitments are, and when terms expire
- Development of a formal contract strategy
- New contracts entered which level the playing field regarding terms and conditions
- Thorough review of procurement policies for telecom-related orders (including disconnections)
- Suggestions for procurement policy revisions to eliminate potential breakpoints
- Blueprint for future vendor accountability reviews to ensure proactive management of services
- Price points, correct billing, etc. so that corrections put into place stay correct moving forward
- Negotiations for customizing telecom contracts
While the option to conduct an exhaustive, internal audit of your own is always on the table, many companies find that without a thorough understanding of every telecom related pricing point, plan, and add-on, the audit doesn’t work as expected. Many hours are invested only to produce underwhelming results. It serves an organization well to have an outside set of eyes with up-to-the-minute industry knowledge come in and review the infrastructure.
Running a hospital isn’t easy, and a telecommunications audit can be a time consuming and thorough undertaking that many employees are not prepared to take on.
[author_bio username=”Ken” name=”yes”]