I’m really angry! In fact, I’m ticked off in a major way. A significant number of my friends and relatives are unemployed. The economy sucks and this recession has gone on for far too long.
As a professional telecommunications audit professional, I find some major blame with the telephone companies for much of this fiscal nightmare. U.S. telecommunication companies are still over-billing U.S. businesses by well over 38 billion per year! Within that number is a lot of peoples’ jobs that we could save if we could stop this injustice! The sad thing is, with some focused attention, we can easily curb these telecommunications inefficiencies by the telecommunications companies.
Historically, nothing has changed in that U.S. businesses continually throw good telecommunications money down the toilet. In 1997, over 80% of business telecommunications bills had some kind of error associated with them. Today, the billing overcharges still remain close to 80%. It’s been this way for years! Don’t you think that with advent the most recent recession and all of the recurring cost efficiency talk in the past that company business managers would finally wake up and start trying to recoup the billions of dollars in lost expense they are paying unnecessarily to the phone companies every day? Well, it’s just not happening and as I’ve said over the past 25 years, its time for bold action.
I am amazed that there are still thousands of companies who continue to overpay on their telecommunications costs and needlessly waste money.
As a contingency fee-based audit company, it is our job to stop the bleeding and recoup that 38 billion in (easily) recoverable money. Here is my action plan for your company to recoup your fair share of those billions in telecom cost savings:
- Conduct a business inventory of your telecommunications services. Quite simply, I’ll make sure that you have and use the telecommunications lines that you are paying for. Believe me, it’s easier said than done, it takes hard work, but it will pay off for your business. You’d be shocked to learn about all of the telecommunications lines you pay for that don’t work anymore!
- Let me call your telecommunications sales representative on your behalf, and tell them we are trying to save your company money. I’ll tell the rep that they have an opportunity to be a hero and continue to get your future business. I’ll ask them to suggest cost saving ideas for us. You’d be surprised at some of the value-added responses we’ll get and some of these cost savings suggestions will actually help you realize some significant cost efficiencies. I’ll be more than happy to ask the question on your behalf and allow you to reap the majority of the benefits.
- Allow me to compare that great service contract deal you recently signed with your actual telephone bill. Please don’t be shocked to find that the telephone company is not living up to their end of the deal. Everyone thinks that once the ink dries, the deal is done and they close the books. Well, the deal is not done; it’s just begun, so let’s analyze the results by scrutinizing the bill and compare it to the contract to see if the telephone company is true to their word. I’m going into this exercise with some serious doubts about the validity of the telecommunications billing system; how about you?
- Let’s stop cramming. Allow me to check the 3rd party billing charges on your phone bills. I’ll bet you’re being crammed and I’ll be happy to get all of that money back for you. I’ll check the last page of your local telephone bill, and then I’ll go back to the crammers and get you all of your money back.
- Let’s check your PBX and VOIP service agreement pricing and contract terms and conditions. I am pleased that you have a wonderful new VOIP system, and your bids produced the lowest price for your system. However, you’re paying $150-$250 per hour to your vendor in telecom maintenance fees. They’ve got to make up for the lost revenue on the sales deal so they’re sticking you with huge maintenance fees and hidden telecom maintenance coverage you don’t need for the next several years. There are alternative, its time to put a stop to that.
- Let’s do a thorough cell phone audit. We’ll find all those employees racking up tons of charges for texting their relatives and loved ones on your company’s dime. We’ll also find the download charges for all of those picture sharing privileges and extra shared minutes spent unproductively. I’ll talk you into allowing me to write a telecommunications usage policy for your company, which will simply set guidelines for your employees, guidelines that they previously did not know existed because they did not exist. This simple act will save you thousands of dollars in wasted telecommunications expense. We’ll review smart-phone purchases and costs, and ensure that your wireless network and cell phone cost is under control.
- Let’s do some traffic studies on all of those telephone lines and data lines you have. In many instances, I’ll find that up to 50% of those lines are not being used. Let’s do the traffic study analysis and cut the lines as needed.
- Well check out those telecommunications taxes and surcharges. Are you an educational institution? A Credit Union? A healthcare facility? A non- profit organization, an Native American owned entity? Its time to do an analysis of all of your telephone taxes to see if each one is correct.
- Let’s do a telecom fraud analysis. Are calls being made at 3 am to strange countries from your headquarters? Do employees report strange activity on their voice mail? Are VOIP and PBX features monitored to ensure outside callers are not penetrating your system to conduct criminal activity on your dime?
- Shop around for telecommunications services. Its time to stop thinking that you have to stay married to a major carrier because even though they are the most expensive choice, they provide the best service. That myth does not hold water anymore. There are plenty of small competitive local carriers (CLEC) that can provide you the same service at lower cost.
In summary, these kinds of implementations take guts and the time has come for us get some managerial fortitude and make some cost efficiency changes to your organization. Forget about how a telecom cost efficiency project might expose that your company has been wasting precious money on telecommunications costs for years. Good managers, courageous managers, qualified managers know that it’s never too late to implement telecom cost savings techniques and gain business cost efficiencies. I’m not asking you to be a hero, I’m simply asking you to do your job.
Tags: cell phone bill audit, Telecom Audit, telecom cost savings, telecommunications audit
