UNUSED TELECOM SERVICES, EQUIPMENT, AND FEATURES

Based on over 300 audits completed, we can say for certain that the biggest waste of telecom expenses is failing to identify unused services, equipment, and features.

In other words, a lack of oversight with regards to telecommunications inventory results in your organization over paying minimum 10% monthly/annually for voice, data, and wireless services.

Unused services can include land lines, toll free numbers, data circuits, internet, wireless devices, and billable features or equipment associated with these services.

Let’s look at a few examples of why un-used services or services no longer required fall through the oversight cracks.

·???????? Closed locations where you fail to identify all services, equipment, and features terminating at those addresses.

·???????? Downsizing or consolidating staff, following which the previously associated services for those staff/locations are not removed/cancelled.

·???????? Submitting disconnect orders for the main billing number only, leaving additional voice or data numbers/circuits still in service.

·???????? Not completing a full inventory review before renewing contracts. This results in un-used services being contracted that can not be removed during the term of the agreement without incurring significant early termination charges.

·???????? Relying on TEM software to maintain an accurate inventory of services, equipment, and features being used. Remember TEM billing information is simply a duplication of vendor invoices loaded into the TEM system. TEM software has no idea whether, or not you are using those services.

·???????? Over provisioning for services, particularly related to VOIP. This can only be determined by performing traffic studies during peak times of the year.

·???????? Toll free numbers no longer being used. Many vendors charge a base monthly rate for TF numbers, as well as expensive monthly features in a call center environment.

·???????? Wireless devices/tablets not being used by current employees, or active devices still billed to staff no longer employed.

·???????? Expensive wireless data plans or plans with unlimited data not being used by staff. Many vendors will offer reduced monthly rates for those devices where staff are not utilizing any data.

In addition to the above, many organizations have been incurring additional monthly telecom costs related to the increase in staff working from home over the past several years. While some employees are responsible for the additional cost for business internet and phone lines if working from home, many organizations reimburse their staff for these expenses. The question is, are the employers still paying for those same services at corporate locations where the employee no longer works at. Failing to remove these un-used services will and has resulted in an increase in monthly/annual telecom costs for many organizations.

Identifying un-used services can be time consuming and frustrating, due to lack of information from the vendor or internal records, Further, the majority of IT staff are reluctant to remove services, equipment, or features for fear they will mistakenly remove services that are in use, resulting in those un-used services being billed for years.

If your objective in 2024 is to reduce your telecom expenses by minimum 10%, the simplest way to achieve this is to have an experienced and knowledgeable billing consultant perform a detailed inventory audit of all services, equipment, and features billed to your organization.

Don Wright, President ERORS Inc., can be reached at 613-599-3412