How Conducting Your Telecom Audit Can Create Huge Savings
If you’re like most CIO’s or CFO’s, it’s likely that you already suspect that you’re overpaying for telecom services. The question is by how much and what can you do about it?
On average, telecom services amount to about 11% of total company expenditures. Depending on the size of your organization, the amount recovered combined with future savings can be significant. In fact, we’ve had an organization recover nearly $500,000 after auditing their telecom service bills.
So, the next question is, how should you conduct your telecom audit?
There are both benefits and disadvantages to doing an inhouse audit versus outsourcing the audit. Doing an in-house audit may seem like it is the most cost efficient but could lead to company biases, lack of information, and ultimately not give you the best savings available.
Also, you might be surprised to know that hiring a telecom expense manager (TEM) right away might not be the best idea either. Instead, consider hiring a company to conduct an overall audit first, then hire the TEM.
What You Should Consider Before Conducting an Inhouse Audit
1.) Overcoming Enterprise and Personal Biases
The traditional way of communicating audit results is with a formal written report issued weeks, if not months, after issues are identified.
However, you may need the results (and your money) faster, which can lead to the internal auditor assuming information or adding their personal opinion instead of facts. The result of the report will say what the internal auditor wants it to say rather than what you need to know.
For example, if the auditor already believes that the telecom carrier service they are using is the best, they may not do the necessary research or take the necessary steps within the audit to determine if this is true. Their opinion on what is best for the enterprise and time constraints of the audit may overshadow what could be significant overspending and/or potential larger savings.
The auditor may also look for work arounds instead of implementing real change. While you shouldn’t have to completely change carriers for the best savings, sometimes it could be the best option.
For instance, an enterprise could be paying for telecom services that were previously purchased but are no longer being used or were never actually used. An internal auditor might catch this, but instead of pointing out that someone made an unnecessary purchase, he or she may let this item go. This will result in additional costs in business functions and ultimately defeat the purpose of the audit.
2.) Complex Telecom Bills
When it comes to enterprise-level telecom bills, it’s hard to get a clear picture of what you’re paying for and where to find opportunities to reduce your costs. Gartner analyst Eric Goodness says that from what
he’s observed, “…12 percent to 20 percent of telecom charges are in error, and 85 percent of the errors are in the carrier’s favor.”
Without knowing, you may be paying for errors, hidden fees, unused features, and disconnected services. This could be costing you tens or hundreds of thousands in unnecessary charges every month.
Finding these extra costs within your bill is not an easy task and it is time consuming. Instead, consider utilizing a telecom auditor.
A company such as VOX can conduct your audit with expert knowledge and create a process to manage your telecom services, while keeping your business’s overall operating costs down.
3.) Maximizing Your Economies of Scale
From building an asset inventory, to reviewing contracts, and evaluating telecom carrier options, conducting a telecom audit is a daunting process, especially for one person, who likely has other company tasks to focus on.
Additionally, it could take input and work from multiple people across multiple departments to complete the audit. You need your finance department to review the bills and invoices, IT department to review services being used or not being used, and so on.
Companies that conduct an internal telecom audit generally saves 2 to 5 percent on telecom costs, while companies that hire an outside agency to conduct their audit can save 26 percent on average.
Hiring an auditor will allow your internal employees to keep their focus on enterprise related tasks and put the work of the audit in the hands of an expert. Auditors will also have access to telecom billing software and solutions to best fit your enterprise’s telecom needs.
Who Should Conduct Your Telecom Audit?
VOX Network Solutions offers extensive knowledge of telecom services and provides clients valuable cost reduction and optimization opportunities for their entire voice and data infrastructure.
VOX has Over 20 years of establishing associations with a majority of the telecom carriers and provides knowledge that is a vital component to a successful telecom auditing project. VOX offers and goes beyond TEM services to drive down costs and provide greater clarity for client’s unique situations.