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			Free Online Technology    Automated Controls Helps Manage Telephone Expenses By Mark Evans, Principal, BottaBoom Consulting LLC   It’s no secret: managing, approving, and paying business phone bills every month can be a major headache if not a complete nightmare. Things have changed a lot in the past several years, and  with downsizing and reorganizations, many AP staff now find themselves stuck with the review and approval of phone bills.   This is a huge responsibility. Some AP folks even report difficulty sleeping at night. They’re overwhelmed with stress, knowing they must approve millions of dollars in company phone charges each month; the burden can be enormous.    A No-Cost Solution    The good news is that help has arrived with the increased offering of online billing packages from the phone companies. These online services are now much easier to use, even for novices. Even better, these wonderful packages are mostly free. In fact, most telecommunications carriers in the U.S. now offer complimentary, comprehensive online billing and reporting services to their business customers.   For example, Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint all offer their business customers excellent online billing packages for both local and long-distance services. These tools generally offer detailed reporting and historical billing information, allowing customers to retrieve vital usage information and spot unusual billing activity; thus, finding potential errors. This information can be used to help track and reduce costs better, while raising red flags for possible telephone fraud.    What You Need to Know   What are some red flags to look for when using the new online billing tools? With a bit of investigation and basic computer skills, you can learn to spot fraud and call abuse quickly with online billing. A few carriers even label some of their standard online reports as “fraud” reports or “after-hours usage reports.” These reports are created to show abnormal after-hours calling activity and unusual calling locations to help business consumers quickly spot phone fraud and abuse.   In the past, wading through voluminous phone bills and intricate detail was ridiculously laborious. With online reports, it’s relatively simple. Another benefit of these reports is that you can easily spot unauthorized charges from long-distance “slammers” and unauthorized third-party billers (crammers and slammers) each month without having to dig through piles or boxes of paper telecom bills.   Reports   Tracking your telecommunications costs each month is a valuable way to note cost discrepancies. If you make changes to your long-distance and local calling plans to save money, online billing allows you to compare and track your costs afterward without having to dig through old phone bills or call the phone company.   Historical online billing reports are also a great way to keep your CFO and CEO informed about telecom expenses. Many of these reports can be exported to create spreadsheets and charts for easy analysis and presentation.    A Tip   Here is a cost-saving tip you should know when you start using online billing features: If you are paying for costly CD-ROM billing reports to be created and mailed to you (in addition to your paper bill) from the phone company each month, try online billing instead.   You may very well be able to cancel those costly and unnecessary CD-ROM reports. You may even want to go paperless and receive your bills online after trying out the online features. Even if you do this, you can continue to receive a paper bill each month in addition to your online billing, if you don’t want to give up the paper entirely.   Short on Resources?   If you don’t have enough staff or time to monitor and analyze your monthly bills yourself, consider hiring a professional telephone bill audit consulting company to check your invoices regularly. You can arrange for ongoing oversight or spot checks every month or less often.   Once an independent cost-savings audit is complete, your consultant can also provide affordable, ongoing telecommunications expense management for your business. Consultants will also use the online tools, although typically they can give you much more in-depth analysis and recommendations for cost savings.   Whatever your plan of attack, you can breathe easier, knowing you are not alone in your struggle. Take advantage of the online tools available to see if your company is being charged for services you should not be paying. Using these tools to unearth a wealth of information at your fingertips is the best place to start. And you'll sleep better too!   Mark Evans is principal and founder of Bottaboom Consulting, LLC, a contingency-fee-based phone bill auditing firm that has been saving organizations money for almost a decade. He can be reached at 1-888-487-5326 or via www.bottaboom.com.     BottaBoom Consulting LLC is a national telecom audit firm that's been saving organizations considerable money for years.  They can be reached at 1-888-487-5326.  Coming soon in the news...look for more auditing secrets!