Most organizations are aware of the savings that can and do occur through bill validation, optimization, inventory reconciliation and contract negotiation as well as better sourcing from other providers. Most organizations know that managing telecom communications expenses and their utility expenses will pay for itself by eliminating unnecessary spending.
Healthcare industry in particular includes many forms of communications from Smartphones, tablets and machine-to-machine mobile communications. Healthcare providers have many applications that can improve productivity. These applications require management to be cost effective.
If knowledge of potential savings is known by administrators, management, IT staff in the Healthcare industry and in most industries – why isn’t there anything being done to reduce these costs? Why do organizations continue to overspend on services month after month? In our experience, we have seen first-hand were most industries (while different in the products or services they provide) are all faced with the same common challenges. Organizations overspend on telecom and utility services simply because they do not have the resources to effectively audit invoices.
The individuals in a company that are responsible to audit from the administrator to the IT personal to the CFO are in demand with many other obligations. They are not equipped with the resources, expertise and knowledge that are needed to negotiate contracts, manage product inventory control for multiple sites, ability to dig deep into each invoice for validation in taxes, tariffs and other charges. YES – we agree that anyone given this responsibility to review invoices before they are paid may be able to briefly analyze and find a few savings BUT what else is missing? How much MORE is there in opportunities that take more than just a monthly, quick line item “review”.
One of the items that most often times get missed is Inventory Reconciliation. This could present a 10%-15% savings alone. Most organizations with multiple facilities do not have the resources to maintain an accurate inventory of telecom services and utility expenses in order to validate every invoice from every location. In some cases facilities are charged for products or services they are no longer using, closed facilities and duplication among facilities is also quite common.
Most often times there is billing overages that go unnoticed and paid resulting in a 5% – 15% payment overage. Here reconciliation (comparing bills to contracts) will result in savings. In contract reviews we have seen were facilities with multiple locations will pay different fees for the same service from the same service provider. Failure to reference contracts, discount arrangements and other pricing arrangements can result in billing errors costing organizations to overpay every month and it goes unnoticed for years. How much are you overspending? With knowledge and expertise you could be saving by simply applying; bill validation, inventory reconciliation and contract negotiation.
If you need more information or if you’ve not had third party perform billing optimization in the past 2-3 years it’s time to review these critical and often times expensive services. Ask yourself what a 25% annual reduction would allow you to do. Hire, retain, expand, or simply improve your bottom line. This money is far better in your hands then in those of your telecom, utility and technology providers.
LT~CRS – NATIONWIDE
866-504-4050
