How Do You Know If Your Company Needs a Telecom Audit
One of the questions we run into when the topic of a telecom audit is raise is when is the proper time to actually have your telecommunications services reviewed?
The answer depends on a number of different factors and what your goals are, but typically there are a few indicators that it might be time to take a look how your services can be “buttoned up”.
1. Has it been longer than 14 months since your last review? At the minimum, you should review your bills and audit your services every quarter. Why? Many people falsely believe that service contracts and technology do not change much and that what they signed for is being honored or is relevant today. Even though you may be in the middle of a contract, errors occur EVERY SINGLE DAY in the telecom world and it is ultimately your responsibility to uncover those issues NOT your carrier’s. It is their responsibility to correct any errors, but no one should ever be surprised if upon review you can discover significant savings.
2. Thinking about reviewing your bills makes you groan. It’s funny, but try as you might, you can’t stop those telecom bills from showing up at your doorstep every month. Most companies simply take a quick look at the total and if it “seems about right”, then sign off on them. The biggest mistake we see is that all too often, we leave a tremendous amount of power to our vendors and carriers and assume that everything is okay, internal audits are time-consuming and a waste of your resources – hiring a professional telecom audit and management company makes sense to eliminate those worries.
3. Your sales rep isn’t talking much to you nowadays. When you put out an RFP or contacted a few vendors to you get a quote on your services, more than likely you were treated like royalty, but it’s been a while since then and today you rarely hear from your providers. If that’s the case, you may well be in need of a “tune up”. One of the greatest things is having a good relationship with your service provider, they take care of issues, make sure you’re happy and that in general they value your business. However, what we see in many cases “behind the scenes” is that you may not be as important any more as you once were. Why? If you are dealing directly with a carrier, more than likely after about 4 – 6 months of doing business with them, suddenly you’re not a top priority and you may be shuffled off to a call center 5 states away or worse – out of the country! This typically occurs because your sales rep has received their commissions from your account, and the “uplift” or new revenue you can generate is minimal or small. Don’t confuse the fact that your account manager who may be responsible for your day-to-day service doesn’t care, it’s that you’re typically one of over 200 accounts that they are responsible for. You may well be missing out on new product offerings, price reductions and changes that can effect your bill.
4. A lot of things have changed over the last year with your company or are going to change soon. Inevitably things change. Inside and outside of your company. So how many different responsibilities do you currently have? We typically see that our clients handle several different aspects of their business that make the idea of managing telecommunications less of a priority – if it works don’t mess with it. A professional telecom audit firm will be able to handle maintenance and review of your services without creating ANY disruption to your day-to-day business activities. An audit is done in the background and discovery of what can be done to reduce your costs and obtain refunds is handled for you without you ever giving it a second thought or lifting a finger.
5. You’re just plain unsure of what’s going on. As companies grow, a couple of phones are added here, a couple of new data lines installed there, consolidate this and changes services providers there. After a while, things are a little confusing and perhaps disjointed more than you care for. You can easily get your “house” back in order by having the telecom services audited and you’ll have a full report at ZERO cost to you showing you exactly how you can find savings for your company.
Dealing with a firm like GrayBear Resources is a NO RISK proposition. By having an analysis completed and done for you at no cost, it begins to make sense that now is a good time to engage sooner rather than later.
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Benny Carreon is the President and CEO of GrayBear Resources Group. GBR is a next-generation telecommunications consulting firm. We aren't a telephone company's vendor disguising itself as a consultant. We don't sell carrier products that would conflict with out mission - our goal is to work for our clients by reducing costs, streamlining services, eliminating waste and fraud while providing the least disruption to your business.
Honesty, Integrity and Quality Service - Our pledge to you. 
