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.

Recently, AT&T has been under fire for misleading its customers on several of its program’s pricing strategies. Additionally, the FTC just discovered that AT&T is also affecting how a customer’s data functions in order to reduce AT&T’s data costs.

AT&T has developed the promotion of the Unlimited Data plan which is supposed to charge a relatively low flat rate for all the data usage the customer needs in a month without charging them overages. This is a highly competitive tactics since other telecommunications providers say that there are too many costs associated with unlimited data problems.

Seems too good to be true? Well, the Federal Trade Commission says that it is. Based on FTC research, AT&T is being sued for mis-advertising the unlimited data plan. Apparently, once the customer gets to a certain level of data, the service slows up to 90% of the speed, making it impossible for customers to use the data quickly and forcing them to either wait for their connection or give up and stop using it. The barrier ensures that AT&T does not have to pay excess costs for data, essentially setting a technical limit on an unlimited plan. This technique is called throttling and it is not legal. It is illegal because AT&T is telling customers that they will get the same access to unlimited amounts of data, but really they are guilty of false advertising by making it impossible to use the data (even though technically they are providing unlimited data to the user).

Although this is frustrating for an individual AT&T user, it could be detrimental to businesses using AT&T services. Businesses rely on access to large amounts of mobile data to speak, present, and share information with clients. The unlimited data plan is enticing because business owners and corporations generally use a large amount of data. However, AT&T’s tactic ensures that business communication will slow and valuable partnerships could potentially end because of lack of response.

In many articles, I speak of how important it is to monitor costs. However, it is also important to know the company providing a service respects you and your business. Telecom providers often are not seen as partners to a business because they are a necessity. However, you need to remember that you are a client to them and their main focus should be to make their service work best for your business, not to make money. Make sure that those you form business relationships with are serving your best interests, or find another resource that wants to see their client’s succeed.

Everyone has a leadership style, and no two leaders are exactly alike. There have been thousands of studies on leadership, and there are various opinions on how to categorize leaders. This particular article will classify leaders based off of three categories: Leaders that listen, Leaders that communicate, and leaders that observe. These categories are based off the experiences of the influential leaders that surround LT~CRS.

The Leader That Listens-

These are leaders that really have the ability to not only listen to their employees, but also truly care about the things their employees say. These are the leaders that shake the hand of someone once and remember the clients name, their kid’s names, and where they went for vacation last summer. These leaders often make their followers more productive because they know what makes each member of their team tick. An example of a leader that exhibits this type of leadership is Warren Buffet.

The Leader That Communicates-

These are leaders which keep their team informed. They are constantly organizing, storing, and disseminating information to their followers. As well as communicating often, they are the leaders that communicate effectively. They have no issues speaking on stage and inspiring large audiences. An example of a leader that exhibits this type of leadership is Martin Luther King.

The Leader That Observes-

These are leaders that deeply observe aspects of their business and work to resolve the problems that they see. They are the group that tends to innovate because they look more closely than the other two groups. This leadership groups’ personalities vary the most because they can be quite/shy or have a extroverted personality. An example of this type of leader would be Woodrow Wilson.

Although sometimes leaders fit into several of these categories, it is rare that a leader does them all well. Often, we see leaders lacking in at least one of these aspects. Although all of these styles are all equally beneficial, it is safe to say that the leader that observes is often not as acknowledged. These professionals are usually technically inclined and their works includes many facts that are difficult for the average follower to understand.

So what are a couple of options if you are lacking a particular skill set? Well, of course there is always training. But training takes time, and why in the long run will be best for long term improvement, lacks a bit in short term gain.

But there is an option to get a more immediate gain or effect. In order for those leaders to seek more recognition in their industries, it may help them to gain partners who are experts in the other two categories. Partners who can listen to others about the issues the organization faces as well as communicate effectively to resolve those problems. That way the leaders can notice the problems, and the partners can make it easier for the leader to make a solution come to fruition. This can have a significant and immediate impact to productivity, efficiency and most often sustainable bottom line improvements.

By Todd Larsen – CEO,  Limitless Technology ~ Cost Reduction Specialists

So, it’s the end of the year…

Not  a bad one. Business has improved, interest rates have remained low, the market has done extremely well, and the economy is slowly recovering. Goods things all in all and you can feel a certain change coming. 

And then you look at your P&L. Does it reflect this years tide? Does the bottom line look as good as it could have or should have? Was there any more that could have been done? Could more have been sold, expenses reduced, delivery made more efficient or products manufactured for less cost? Questions that have been most likely bouncing around in your mind since beginning budget planning for 2014.

Ok…so questions arise to help ensure profits next year soar. Right? Planned for everything, up turn, downturn, right purchased, right trend, right color, right size, right service model, right price….everything. No doubts, no concerns, no worries. Right?

Hmmm…most likely the perfect scenario but, not the most probable one. If you are like the majority of owners and executive leaders, you worry if all the plans are correct and will be executed in a way that ensures the most profitable growth. 

So is there is one thing you can do to ensure higher profits? The answer is yes, lower costs! I am not advocating lowering service quality, or purchasing inferior goods; I am a proponent of lowering the costs of what you already are buying. Sounds simple. Just pick up the phone, call your vendors, and tell them you want the lowest price for the  best product and service. Done. You call, they jump, bring you better products, lower prices and instantaneously you improve profits.  

Unfortunately most likely not, but it’s not for lack or trying. However, do you know how to negotiate the best offering for a particular product or service? Are there questions in your mind like…

– Where do you start? 

– What’s reasonable? 

– What’s good? 

– What price is right?

– What terms are best? 

– Am I protected against business trends? 

– Are my contracts flexible?

Quite honestly there an endless stream of questions and doubts. Ok…so how can I get all the questions answered, and moreover, improve my vendor positioning while improving my price points, flexibility and profitability? The answer is easy, but it’s not. Sorry to be ambiguous but that is the truth. In order to have the best positioning and pricing you will most likely need to look for a resource outside your company which has the skills, knowledge and experience to help you gain this positioning. Ok…now the tough question. Who do you trust? I believe when you can answer that question, you are on your way to having your problem resolved. First lets look at some points you should inspect when selecting a “trusted advisor”.

– Does the firm have inside industry experience?

– Do they have several written testimonials from other companies in your industry?

– Will they quickly provide a list of references?

– Can they show you a proven process to ensure success?

– Do they offer a money back guarantee? 

When you find that trusted resource, which can provide the above answers and position you best with your vendor, the questions will go away and peace of mind will take their place. You will allow them the opportunity to help lower your costs and provide the bottom line results your were looking for at the end of this year, last year and the year before. And this way when you look at next years P&L, you’ll know you could not have done anything more in those areas to be more profitable. 

Now… it’s an end of the year.

www.limitlesstechnology.com

Recently, I was brought a strong question from my brilliant daughter (who is attending the University of Florida, and pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing). Her question was…”Do companies sometimes love themselves too much?”

Being the curious and investigative type, it led me to my favorite question, “What do you mean?”

She explained further, “The companies we run, own or work for can be very close to our hearts. We can love the company culture, the way they do business, and even what they do for society. However, our “love” can blind us from the imperfections of our company.  We may think, because we like the people we work with, that they are catching every  error that they make and we may think that our company runs “well enough” and that it is running cost efficiently enough even when it isn’t.”

 So as usual, after stopping being impressed by her comment and thought process, I was compelled to provide what I was hopeful to be a fairly intellectual thought.

 I see it this way; all Leaders of Companies have a dream or a vision. That Vision involves people. People that:

1. Will perform over and above expected deliverables.
2. Have the ability to perform their task that drive their company’s revenues or profits the most.
3. Will give 110% at their jobs, because we do.

We also build cultures where we are “incredibly passionate” about we do.  We expect the people we employ, no matter what their skill set or training, to have that passion and do more than they may be capable of to enhance our dreams. Because we hire great people, and hired them in a specific function of the business in which they are brilliant, we sometimes expect them to be “brilliant” or “experts in all areas of the business. But is that real? Is it fair? Are we “experts” in everything? As my daughter put it, we may just be “blinded” by our “love” for success. However, successful organizations realize there are needs beyond their “culture” or “people’s capability.” Let’s see where that may be applicable…

•   If a legal battle ensues over HIPPA compliance for a hospital based on the breech of electronic information from a server in IT, do we expect the CIO to legally defend our position of electronic security and integrity in court? Or do we seek “expert” legal advice and defense internal and “externally” to ensure we defend ourselves the best?
• If one of our people in HR becomes sick, although they provided the entire company employee base with a wellness program, do we expect them to “heal” themselves? Or do we expect them to seek out the “best” treatment and “expert” resource to become healthy again?
• If our earnings are high, and we need to ensure our tax liabilities are in the “best order”, do we only trust our internal resources to make final tax decisions, or do we seek out the “highest” level of “professional” tax guidance possible to “ensure” we make the best business choices to minimize our ”risks and liabilities”?
• Or even simpler, if our business has a pest infestation, do we ask any of our employees to go get the appropriate chemicals and treat the issue as needed, or do we have them call an “expert” to “remove the issue and concerns?
• Are there not many more examples where we use external resources to “guarantee” we will get the best advice, guidance, resource or service?

 I would say yes.

 As I believe would you, in recognition that no matter “how well run”, “how great our cultures are” or “that our Company runs well enough”, where we can’t better our businesses by “recognizing” our employees may need the assistance of “expert” external guidance, (just as we seek for ourselves) when it comes to making our businesses the “best they can be”.

 Let’s “love” our businesses enough to realize that it’s the right thing to do.

Limitless Technology~CRS

Delivering expert results on: telecom auditing, telecom contract management, telecom expense management, and telecom billing optimization services.

www.limitlesstechnology.com

Every carrier sells a bundle as a money saving option, but does bundling really save your business money?

In some cases yes and in some cases no. The key is to know exactly what services are included in the bundle and what actual costs they are adding for those services.

Example: the carrier bundles a phone line with what they call “unlimited long distance”.

What is not normally known is that unlimited long distance is being charged at on average of $15 to $20 dollars per line. At an average long distance rate of 5 cents per minute this is not paid for until you have used 300-400 minutes of long distance. If you are not doing at least that much long distance, you are literally giving money to the carrier.

So to answer the question yes, bundles can save you money. However, you need to know exactly what is included and that the services being offered are actually services you benefit from.

Hint for Saving Money on your DSL: “DSL” or Digital subscriber line: a technology that allows high-speed transmission of text, audio, and video, usually over standard telephone lines

Has your Business had to call your local phone service provider to add internet or DSL to your account?

Are you aware that DSL can run over a basic phone or fax line, and that many times they add not only the DSL service but an additional voice line for the DSL to run over?

This additional $30 to $45 dollar expense can be easily avoided by, always requesting that the DSL service be added to an existing line such as your fax or alarm line; both of which can co-exist on the same telephone line. Faxes and modems use voice frequencies and are thus unaffected by your DSL service (Note: a filter may need to be added in some situations). By doing this you have cut your line costs or overall DSL expense, sometimes as much as in half, without affecting any of your existing services.

For everything else, there’s Limitless Technology CRS

Summary: This may end up being cheaper, flexible IT, but it won’t work for every business – let’s see why???

Here’s some reasons why:

1. It most likely won’t reduce your costs

IT directors worry that BYOD will cause IT costs to “become uncontrollable”,  because companies will lose the ability to cut expenses through bulk buying and national discounts, they can end up paying more for call and data plans, especially if employees can claim these as expenses.

2. Employess hate paying for business “stuff”

BYOD is attractive for employers because they can use it as a way to get staff to pay for the tools they need to do their jobs.

3. It makes it harder for the IT

Allowing employees use their own devices could rapidly turn into a headache. Becasue these deveices will be utilized to touch “company data” IT will be the first point of resolve in MANY cases.

Add to this new security measures to cope with the influx of consumer devices is another large costs which could incude:

• mobile data protection,
•  network access control and mobile device management,
• costs of configuring access privileges on an individual device basis.

4. Corporate issues – Lack of Uniformity

Allowing BYOD can inadvertently create an uneven playing field between employees. based on compensation one worker may be able to spend more money on a high-end device so they can get their work done quicker, this may lead to resentment – as  as other workers scramble to catch up.

If employees find themselves having to spend more of their own moneyto keep up with their colleagues – that’s could be afor morale (even if productivity rockets) detroyer.

5. Security problems

Security is one of the biggest issues with BYOD because allowing consumer devices onto corporate networks brings significant risks – unless managed correctly. And even bigger risks for employees who are dealing with sensitive personal or business info.

Strict and enforceable guidelines for employees, and that means staff have to be vigilant about security, whether they  are using their device for work or personal.

Because the IT has less control over the personal devices used by employees,  individuals will have to ensure their devices are patched, encrypted, and have up-to-date antivirus software running.

6. Data loss – BIG RISK

The risk that sensitive data could be placed on employees devices, and lost can be SIGNIFICANT. While there is plenty of mobile-device management software that can reduce the risk, employees may be reluctant to grant IT access and oversight to what is their own device (personla reasons). CIO’s and CTO’s must be careful to protect corporate data (by doing a remote wipe when someone leaves the organization) without running the risk of compromising the individual’s data too (by wiping all their personal photos at the same time).

7. Short-term gain with a possible long-term pain

The upside  is going out and getting a shiny new device to display too thers in the office. And it’s even better if a corporate BYOD policy means it’s subsidised, too, which is why BYOD has been so attractive to employees.

But in day-to-day life it may be different. The problem is…once staff have spent the money, they’re on their own, and IT – and the boss – won’t be pleased if their work performance suffers because they’ve chosen bad tools OR SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITIES.

8. It’s a licensing – and legal – DISASTER WATING TO HAPPEN

Switching to BYOD means you have to keep an eye on licensing too. Companies need to make sure enough licences are available, which can eat into expense control.

Under some licences, the software can only be installed on devices owned by the business, which is another complication. Some other legal issuesis it remain’s “cloudy” for who would be liable if a device used both in work and at home was also used for illegal downloading.

9. Consumer devices will hurt productivity!!!

There’s a reason why business devices are boring – they’re for business, not pleasure. Your decison may encourage employees to bring devices that are more suited to watching videos, playing games and keeping up to date with their digital social lives, if so…they will do exactly that!.

Take a minute or 10,000 to reaaly thinnk about what is best for productivity and efficiency before making a poor choice which will impact the company profits.