For most businesses, telecommunications are one of, if not the most, business-critical services and expenses on the books. Imagine how difficult it would be to get anything done if there was no internet access for an entire month, or no ability to make or receive telephone calls. That would leave most businesses in a desperate position. At the same time, however, it’s also a service where expenses can quickly get out of control. Balancing these two terrible fates becomes crucial, and it’s not as easy as you might think. However, with the application of telecom expense management, this potential disaster can be more easily avoided.
What Can Telecom Expense Management Do for My Business?
Bringing in telecom expense management systems can deliver value for your business in ways you may never have imagined. Improving your bottom line might be as simple as managing expenses in one of your most critical services.
Reduce unplanned expenses. It’s one thing to have a budget for your telecom expenses and have that number fit into future planning. It’s another entirely to discover at the end of the month that your projections were wrong thanks to unplanned expenses. Sure, there’s usually a little wiggle room built into a budget for such things, but preventing as many unplanned expenses as possible is imperative to keeping this line item under control. With telecom expense management, you’re more likely to spot errors in billing as well as find unauthorized usage, both of which can generate those unplanned expenses. Reports suggest that as much as 12 to 20% of telecom charges are in error, and considering the entire United States telecom market is worth over $700 billion annually, that’s potentially serious savings.
Find more sources of planned savings. It’s one thing to find and prevent unplanned expenses, but planning for savings is even better. Telecom expense management can help here as well, allowing better and easier comparison of vendors to find who’s offering the best value in the market. Better yet, by bringing in telecom expense management systems, it’s a process the business itself no longer needs to engage in. No more going over bills with a fine-tooth comb, looking for issues. No more manually comparing providers to find the best rates. All of the efforts that drive savings can be very costly if a business tries to do them internally. Internal staff value comes from running the organization and delivering the product or service, not digging into telecom services and invoices where they do not have the experience.
Generating data. Telecom expense management service providers gather a vast amount of data about telecom systems, services, and costs in order to perform their function of finding errors and seeking out better deals, among others. That same data can be taken and put to work by other departments to find other critical points. For example, if you knew that you received the most calls between noon and 1:00 PM every day, would you operate under a normal lunch hour? No; you’d change that lunch hour to have the most people on hand. That’s what analytics can do for you.
Fast responses. For those who outsource their telecom expense management operations—which is generally the best move since this is a dedicated operation with one goal in mind, to find opportunities for savings—there’s the one great value of any third-party operation: responsiveness. Those third parties know that their only chance of getting, and keeping, your business lies in results. So these third-party businesses maintain their availability to answer your questions as needed. And even as they pursue the savings and overhead improvements that make them worth hiring to begin with.
A complete audit. The best third-party telecom expense management providers will start with a complete benchmark and audit of your current telecom profile. This includes which provider you’re currently working with as well as the bills, accounts, and contracts, all of which will be investigated thoroughly. This alone may spot some immediate sources of savings and set up the potential for more savings to follow. It also offers an easy point of reference for future expansions; the complete audit shows just what’s in place already, so it can help give an insight into what needs to be added or removed.
Optimize services. The technology and options for telecom services continue to improve and grow. At the same time, your business needs and dependency on telecom services become greater and more critical. Ensuring the best types of telecom services that are cost-effective while providing scalability, flexibility, and redundancy to prevent outages is vital to your business. Edge Insights can address all of these issues while ensuring the best possible pricing.
How to Onboard Telecom Expense Management
When you’re ready to put the full power of telecom expense management to work for your business, start by reaching out to us at Edge Insights. We can bring the full range of telecom expense management systems to you. And we’ll let you pick and choose which ones are right for your business’ unique conditions. Whether it’s comparing providers, managing implementation, or just handling the bills, we can take one of your most important tools and make it run as smoothly as possible. Just get in touch with us to get the process started.