When your business is in an ongoing contractual relationship with third party service providers, you know all too well that those businesses have dedicated sales personnel whose sole job is to “enhance” the level or amount of your products and services. You cannot fault them for this effort, as it is easier to cultivate an existing customer than it is to drum up new ones. However, when it comes to your telecommunications services, these continual attempts to sell you the latest and greatest products and service bundles can present unforeseen problems for your budgeted spending level, namely “The Telecoms Trap.”
The Telecoms Trap—What Is It?
In short, “The Telecoms Trap” is best described as the vendor furnishing new telecom technologies or features without them also enduring the attendant retirement or cost modification of unneeded or obsolete ones. Your company winds up incrementally buying add-ons that disrupt the spending level you once so carefully researched and budgeted. The worst part of the trap is that it is so slow in developing that it becomes very difficult to spot the wasted money in a billing statement that is next to indecipherable.
There is no denying that the progress of telecoms technology is usually a net benefit in productivity. The issue is does this new technology also save your company any money? With the inadequately fleshed out data in your billing statements you could easily be overspending for the services you actually use by paying for ones that you don’t. An easy to understand example is one like this: Your company has become increasingly reliant upon email attached documents arriving in the inboxes of employees. Someone may have even rounded up all of the old fax machines and retired them. Did anyone also discontinue all of the old dedicated fax lines? You could be paying for scores of old landlines in a “package” that no longer fits your current needs. Many of the landline numbers you pay for, and all of their attendant excise fees and taxes, could be eliminated.
How An Independent Telecoms Auditor Saves You Money
A professional telecommunications audit reexamines all of your telecommunications presumptions in light of your actual day-to-day use of the services and technology you pay for. Are you paying for mobile technology that languishes at desks because you haven’t examined the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon? Most employees have their own unlimited cellular phone accounts and don’t want to carry two devices. There may be an opportunity for cost savings in that desire if security isn’t absolutely required.
Perhaps your company has not paid close attention to the software as a service (SaaS) movement and is still paying exorbitant per user licensing fees or other recurring charges? It may not be time to change to some of these cloud based services, but unless you examine their capabilities against your actual needs very closely, you could be paying more than you should out of familiarity with a longstanding software provider’s outdated business model.
Has your telecoms provider has been taking your business for granted? It is the rare individual or corporation who approaches you and volunteers to save you 20+% off of their bill. You may be better off opening your telecoms needs in a carefully crafted RFP to multiple vendors and see if one of your provider’s competitors is hungrier for your business. There could be many reasons to switch as there are reasons to stand pat. A professional advisor on telecoms issues can help you arrive at the best decisions for both your telecoms needs and your bottom line.
[author_bio username=”Ken” name=”yes”]
