Billing errors are well documented and perceived as the primary culprit in excess telecom costs. But almost every audit yields additional savings by lowering pricing with your carriers, modifying and/or canceling circuits and services, and determining improper routing of long distance. True telecom expense management requires rapid resolution of these findings, because savings will not begin until the error is remedied.
Our client made a significant number of infrastructure changes in a compressed period of time. New facilities were opening while others were closing. Telecom vendors were being evaluated and frequently replaced. And on top of all this, they underwent key telecom personnel shifts.
The 25-page monthly summary invoice contained a significant amount of Frame Relay and ATM charges that were not grouped logically, making cost evaluation a nightmare. TelAssess first developed an accurate and complete network inventory. We made sure that every single charge was associated with a specific service, at a specific location, looking for overlaps in services that might be causing our client to absorb excess charges.
Our analysis identified duplicate services from multiple vendors, totaling $20,000 per month. TelAssess arranged to have those services cancelled the very next business day, effectively eliminating a huge expense which had gone unnoticed since our clients has switched vendors eight months earlier.
Our initial position was to request a refund, but further investigation showed that the excess services had never been cancelled by the client. Because they had since switched to another vendor, there was little motivation for the outgoing vendor to issue so much as a "customer service" credit. TelAssess was, however, able to negotiate a full cancellation of further contractual liability, saving the client $560,000 in contracted commitments.
Frequently our clients recognize there are problems with their telecom expense management efforts, but they can't always put their finger on what those problems might be. The most common reason for this problem is because they don't have the resources to perform the required anaylsis.
A recent TelAssess audit for a US airline began just that way. The client had undergone recent facility changes, and the newly hired telecom manager wanted to get his expenses validated and under control quickly.
Within 60 days of gathering our client's telecom information we were able to identify billing errors and arrange for credits of nearly $200,000. Large errors were found in T1 discount calculations, long distance rates, LEC services and regulatory charges.
If you've been assigned the responsibility to manage your company's cell phone program, we feel your pain. It's a thankless job, but the tools and services are available through TelAssess to turn a bad situation into a good one.
In April, 2003 the telecom administrator at a medical equipment manufacturer was tasked with trimming $100,000 from the annual telecommunications budget. He assumed this process would require him to evaluate the entire spectrum of telecom spend, and decided to start with the company's 400 cell phones.
But how? He knew that they were likely spending too much on wireless but he didn't have an internal option to resolve the problem. Whatever thinking had led them to this situation needed to be "rethought". It was time for automation, and help from the outside.
That's where our application capability came in. Within days of deployment, significant rate plan optimizations and abusive-user savings opportunities were identified. Real savings of $25 per phone and $10,000 per month were being captured by August. And those are net savings, after paying the costs of this solution!
Because this company opted for the Application Subscription program, they have benefited from ongoing wireless management improvements. Building upon the initial savings, the client continues to receive incremental monthly savings by enabling managers to closely monitor spending while providing automated rate plan recommendations.
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