Manage your telecom costs
Four simple ways to better manage the proverbial "line-item from hell"
When the telecom bill (or more likely “bills”) arrives each month from your telecom service provider, are you constantly asking, “How did the cost get so out of hand?” The reality is that many companies have multiple locations with multiple vendors and multiple people ordering services. So, the odds are good that your bill will grow higher and faster than you are comfortable with.
The question becomes, how can you control the spending to an acceptable level without affecting the quality of your telecom service? Here are some answers:
1. Have one person or one department be responsible for ALL of your telecom service orders.
A sure fire way to not have any idea why your telecom bill is hovering in the nosebleed seats is to have different people from different departments and different locations ordering the service. Forbid Sam in the Muskegon office from ordering those extra lines. Keep control of the ordering and you keep control of the costs.
2. Use one carrier for like services whenever you can.
Of course any IT person who has had to order telco services for multiple locations in different states knows it is sometimes difficult to always have the same carrier. However, there are national carriers such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint that are in just about every state and even smaller carriers that have a national presence. By utilizing one carrier for all or at least the majority of your telecom services, you can usually get volume discounts and you keep those nasty surprise bills in check.
3. Keep abreast of technology and price changes.
Seemingly every few months there is some sort of technology change in the telecom industry. A trusted agent or telecom consultant can let you know what new technology is available today (for example, the new varieties of VoIP), what is coming, and what carrier’s particular technology might best suit your needs. The beauty of new technology is that it often comes at a lower price and even if it doesn’t, employing these new technologies can still save you money in overall efficiencies. And if you don’t need a change of technology, your agent or consultant should be able to keep you abreast about promotions and pricing discounts from a variety of carriers.
4. Don’t lock in to your contract for too long.
In this era of rapidly changing technology it does not make a lot of sense to lock into a contract for more than 2 or 3 years. Prices have generally been on a downward trend, so take advantage of the 1, 2 and 3 year contract price breaks, but anything beyond that is most likely not in the best interests of your company. Does anyone honestly know what the telecom landscape will look like in 2 or 3 years let alone 4 or 5? Probably not, so limit your contract lengths and you will save money in the long run.
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