Read more to find out. What else is missing? Maybe several of these $100’s in your wallet every day. Wouldn’t it be great to get more? Well actually you wouldn’t be getting more you would just be keeping the ones that you are giving away. You see every month realistically hundreds and thousands of dollars are being paid out to telecom service providers for services that are either not being used, were never contracted for or worse hidden 3rd party fees that found their way in and were never discovered and never canceled. Therefore, errors just continue to appear on your monthly invoices, get paid anyway and your business losses money almost every time.

Unfortunately, this occurs so often that U.S. Businesses have a $13 billion a year in Telecom billing over-charges and only 2% is ever found. On average U.S. businesses waste over $38 billion a year due to telephone company errors.

If your organization is like most, you are purchasing an increasing variety of telecommunications services, each with a unique pricing schedule based upon a combination of complex service guides or tariffs and contractual agreements. The validity of the charges on the resulting bills cannot be easily verified.

Do you think that your telecom bill has errors? Well for many businesses like yours, surveys show telecom bills having over an 80% error rate which is HUGE and means every month their and potentially your providers are being overpaid. That probably doesn’t rest well with you? Are you OK with overpaying these large profitable companies every month – out of your pocket? If you are under the notion “well they are large corporations and they can’t overcharge or this is probably against the law and can’t occur or they wouldn’t go against best business practices”. We don’t like telling you this but you are probably WRONG! In fact, it happens every day.

So much so, that in some cases these providers are even in the news pending lawsuits for overcharges.
So how do you find out if this holds true for your business? Have you been over spending for years and are now missing $100’s of dollars or maybe $1,000 due to over-charges. How can you protect yourself from over paying? The first step is to obtain copies of your telecom bills. Then start reviewing each line item for charges that:

1. Don’t match your initial contract
2. Look for unexplained items like “other services”
3. Many times there are tax inaccuracies
4. In some cases you are paying for lines that you are not using
5. Look for hidden fees. Once you find errors or unexplained charges contact your provider

Ask questions, review your contract and request that any unauthorized charges be removed.
In many cases it is easier to assume that the bill is correct. However, this could cost the company considerably. Business owners who review their telecom bill and make even minor changes are saving money every month that can be put back in the growth of the business. Here’s an example of how overlooking an invoice can affect a business.

A healthcare organization was paying for a data circuit to effectively provide for a less expensive way to cost out long distance services. This technology had changed and so new carriers were selected to provide long distance making the circuit obsolete. While the company felt they had disconnected the circuit and we’re no longer being charged – charges for the circuit continued for over four years creating a billing for over $232,000. We were able, as a company, to recover that money that was misappropriated by the carrier who continued to bill the client.

So while you may be thinking to yourself, “I don’t have time to check every line item, I don’t know what all of the taxes, government fees, service charges and other fees represent” – Often times not knowing where to begin, or not having the time to perform these tasks keeps you from what you are missing – a potential savings on your telecom invoices.
If you have concerns about your telecom expenses and want to find out if you are overspending – contact us with your questions.

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http://limitlesstechnology.com/missing-1-hundreds/

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Telecom & Technology Services are necessary but also very confusing. 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 midmarket 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 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!

You think, well should the accounting department correct these issues?         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 your services is completed, you may safely work with these companies with the security of knowing what you are paying is correct. This knowledge forces 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
• 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 have not had a 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 you bottom line. This money is far better in your hands then in the hands of the Telecom and technology providers.