Billing Optimization
Controlling your Telecom and Technology monthly expenses

It’s a new year. 2015 profits are in and accounted for in most cases, with maybe a few accrual items hanging in the balance. Big question is… were we profitable enough, and how could we have been more profitable? Most companies turn to the big items first, as they of course have the biggest impact. but how many other costs are bigger than we think? Take one large item like telecom costs.

Telecom & Technology Services are necessary but also very confusing and operationally costly. Therefore, these must-have monthly bills are likely to be overlooked when a company is looking to improve bottom-line performance. According to a study by Aberdeen, “…few enterprises have had a comprehensive and accurate way to determine what they are spending on telecom services, with whom and why.” The study also notes that 85 percent of mid-market companies pay their telecom bills in full without auditing.

Telecom & Technology service providers are not required to and, in most cases, do not audit client’s bills. It is the client’s responsibility to ensure correct contracted rates are being invoiced and that the services being billed are actually in use.

Who In Your Company Is Responsible?

Often times, companies leave this responsibility to the IT Department. The IT Department is thought to control this because, after all, telecom bills are related to “Technology”. However nothing in an IT manager’s training has prepared them to understand and keep track of the telecom industry with respect to the myriad of ever changing plans and rates. Couple the vast amount of telecom rate options with the a wide range of potential sources including CLECs, LECs, Brokers, Agents …etc. that can provide these critical services and you can see how these expenses get lost in the shuffle. So IT continues ordering lines, phones and other related services based on requests from a wide variety of managers, department heads, directors and locations without regard to cost controls or contracts that may be in place. The end result is telecom bills continually spiral upwards without anyone ensuring that services being paid for are actually necessary or even used!

Add to this to the fact that the accounting department, who pays the telecom bills, simply does not have the time or expertise to adequately scrutinize these invoices and cost escalate without evaluation.

The honest answer to the question “Who in your company is responsible?” often is that there is no person whose job description matches that responsibility…but don’t you think that it is still necessary to eliminate costs you do not need?

What is the solution?

Companies who engage with an independent, recommended, and expert 3rd party Billing Optimization Provider experience average saving of 25% or more and are positioned recognize and prevent the constant upward spiral for 3 – 5 years after the process is complete. How do you know which company to choose? Ask any billing optimization company approaching you this question:

“Do you make 100% of your company income by optimizing companies’ telecom expenses or do you also represent the very companies or their competitors that will be scrutinized?”

If they are reps for the carriers that they are talking about auditing, you may need to think twice about what you’re getting.

Do Not be fooled by brokers, agents or software companies. They all want to perform this service but do so as a way to sell you their solutions. This is not about buying more or different, but rather critically evaluating what you have vs. what you need and correcting the delivery, rates and errors. Once a comprehensive audit on the services you already have is completed, you may safely work with these companies from a position of knowledge and with the security of knowing what you are paying is correct forcing them to provide you with better and hopefully less expensive solutions in order to win your business

What should the process entail?

• Determine which services are required
• Review existing contracts, rate plans and existing services
• Confirm contracted rates, taxes, tariffs & applicable discounts are being billed
• Obtain and analysis Customer Service Records (CSRs)
• Perform “Ring no Answer” on all lines associated with every bill and inventory specific function
• Research competitive rates and plans.
• Assist you in centralizing management of the services.
• Optimize existing equipment eliminating excess and preventing unnecessary additions.

In conclusion if you’ve not had third party perform billing optimization in the past 3 years it’s time to review these critical and often times expenses 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 your Telecom and technology providers.

Micromanaging’s definition is “to control every part, however small, of an enterprise or activity”. Micromanaging has a stigma associated with it. Most employees hear micromanage and they think of their boss hovering over them and telling them how to do their job. However, this article discusses how micromanaging can be a useful and even a necessary component of an organization’s operations.

First, the negative stigmas associated with micromanaging, which are generally related to employee management. An example would be an employee has been hired because they have the skills necessary for a specific job. A manager feels he has more experience than the employee begins to constantly tell the employee how to do the job. In extreme cases, managers can even take over the employee’s job and ignore manager role. Micromanaging in this form makes the employee feel as if the manager has little faith in their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The reason micromanaging people is so negative is because employees lose motivation. Micromanaging people, in the long run, stops two employees from doing their job, reducing overall productivity.

However, there is a positive side of micromanaging. If you look back at the definition, micromanaging simply means to have control over the company. If a company is not controlled, then it will most likely fail. However, what needs to be highly controlled is not how the employees do the work, but overall operations. Managers need to be constantly looking at the revenues and costs of their sector and making sure they are doing everything possible to control them. For example, it does not matter how talented salespeople handle their leads (Calling many times a week or once a month), as long as the salespeople are keeping their costs down, are making good revenue for the company, and their clients are happy. A company should particularly micromanage costs since they are one of the biggest potential threats to any company’s success. Costs need to be analyzed thoroughly in order to make sure the company is receiving the best bottom line possible.

In conclusion, operational functions should be micromanaged while employees should be given a relative amount of freedom in how to do their jobs successfully. Employees will respond better and want to do more work for a company they feel trusts and respects their ability to do the job. Constantly monitoring the operational functions of the company will ensure that, when there is a problem, the problem will be seen and corrected faster than with a company that loosely manages its operations.

While each of us has our own opinion on the solutions to the financial burden plaguing America, the bottom line for why it’s happening is simple… We stopped controlling costs, and created policies that deepened debt.

1. Okay…now what???

2. What do we do?

3. How afraid should we be?

4. What can we control?

Here are some thoughts on how we can start making all of our holidays brighter and improving our countries economic future:

1. Voting better from now on and more often. How does one vote better? Well, voting better comes from research and understanding what’s happening in the country from a go forward political platform, while paying attention to historically relevant activities of the people we are voting for in their current roles. [There is another option however, if you don’t want to understand the issues and simply have an extra $16 trillion you can give to the Government]

If you are already doing this (the research and understanding part)…hurray you’re already making a difference. If you have decided to just give the money…then thank you for reading my newsletter Mr. Warren Buffet.

2. Understanding what is happening economically. As Henry Ford said, “It is well enough that the people of this nation do not understand our banking or monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Understanding the country’s finances gives you the best chance to be proactive vs. reactive when making decisions that impact your financial futures, possibly creating a beneficial economic revolution.

3. Depends. We should probably fear what we don’t know…but to avoid that, take out the time to build a plan to cover your down-side risk. If you feel insecure about building it yourself, get a financial professional to help you understand, and make some better or stronger choices for your personal and business future.

4. Starting with Ourselves and our Companies. And… a good start would be to take action now both personally and in business to best leverage your available assets. Protect yourself from the downside. Don’t stop spending; just don’t spend more money than you should for what you have, or better yet things that don’t enrich your potential.

Maybe what we should be really asking ourselves is how can we get involved locally to help increase “our collective voice of reason”? This question and answer benefits our future generation’s capabilities to make better choices and changes than…hmmmm maybe we, and our elected officials have in the past.

Oh yeah…you may be asking right now, “what about that Gift you mentioned?” Well, in my humble opinion this nation’s current financial cliff makes us take a deeper look at what is really going on, what changes are being made, and how they personally affect us. The real gift is that knowledge will bring better choices and changes that we will make in the future.

And while you may not fully agree with a single opinion, you have to agree better choices and better changes always create less stress and better possible gifts in the future.

What are your thoughts?

(866) 504 4050

www.limitlesstechnology.com

Personal Tip to Save # 1: When you pay for Apps or Ringtones to your phone, make sure it is one solid fee and not a fee plus a charge every month.

The telecommunications industry’s goal is not to target your company to pay too much. However, if you’re not looking through your bills thoroughly they are probably not going to say anything if you are over paying…

The fact is, telecom companies are not evil, they simply don’t tell you every time their rates and charges go down or if you are paying too much. However, after years of not checking thousands of bills, errors continue to occur and the most current telecom fees available are not apllied, and those small charges and old fees really add up.

The problem is, if you don’t have deep experience in the telecommunications industry you often don’t know where to look for those hidden charges. Experience is something Limitless Technology CRS has in abundance. For instance…Todd Larsen, President and CEO of Limitless Technology, has dedicated 25 years of his career to the telecommunications industry, and he and his staff know all about  those charges the average business person may miss.

Limitless Technology CRS’s only job is to save you money, so if your company doesn’t save, Limitless Technology CRS doesn’t get paid. We are firm believers in helping companies improve bottom lines and become more successful.

Give us a call at (866) 504 4050 or go to www.limitlesstechnology.com to find out more about us.

Specializing in: telecom auditing, telecome expense management, contract negotiation.

We want our customers to know everything about what we are doing with their telecom bills and how what we do saves them money. We know that your vendor and bills are very important, so we go over the process step-by-step and tell you why, how what and we are doing to improve your bottom line costs.

We research every part of your telecommunication based services and look for errors which can be eliminated. We go over everything and process that we want to implement to ensure your company saves money. However before we enact these plans, we review everything with you to make sure you are comfortable with the changes. If you do not feel comfortable with a recommendation that one of our Cost Reduction Specialists is suggesting, simply say so…and we will discuss it further bringing  you more evidence to prove its value without affecting your company’s day-to-day operations, or we will simply eliminate it from our implementation plans altogether.

For example, we do testing on phone lines to make sure they are being used efficiently. If we feel that we can eliminate a phone line cost for you, we will inform you after all the tests have been run and the total benefits of eliminating the line. If you feel uncomfortable because you are afraid it may be an important line, we will do more testing… and if you still feel uncomfortable we will not remove it.

BOTTOM LINE We Improve BOTTOM LINES, while making you as happy as possible!

Call us at (866) 504 4050 or go to www.LimitlessTechnology.com to get in touch with us!