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.

However, in telecom auditing, recognition of my strengths and weaknesses is definitely not a luxury that I take lightly.  Not too long ago, I sat down with a few different clients who started asking me a number of questions that were fairly complex in nature.  “If my company has a government contract that is based on revenue coming from a department within the state, what are my options in completing my contract with my carrier if our facility loses its funding?”, “Our carrier claims that because our inbound toll-free numbers are not being answered, it actually costs them significant money because termination costs for them still ring up. However, because we don’t have facility to field those calls we’re not answering them.  What solutions can you suggest?”

Fortunately, in both cases I had one of our technical advisors with me who was able to field these questions very handily.

When selecting a telecom auditing company to work with you, keep in mind that various telecom auditing companies MAY be capable of handling one organization’s needs.  For example, Company A is heavily wireline-centric with a call center located in one city where Company B that may sale representatives all over the country spend a similar amount of money each month is wireless-heavy with tax considerations when it comes to telecom spending.

Listen, I’m ready to admit – I DON”T know everything about telecom, but what I do have is the best team of SPECIALISTS that can handle each concern and make sure that we can address every concern our client’s have.

If you’re considering a telecom audit for your company, find out a little about their specialties, where there strengths are, what they’re good at doing AND what they’re not good at doing.  You’ll be glad that you hired an telecom auditor, make sure that if there are any holes, get them filled so you don’t miss a thing.

He smiled and looked at me “Benny, I know I need to exercise and I’ve been reading up on it.  I’m going to follow this 90-day program and then I’ll be set!”

“Great!” I answered back, “doing that will make it easier for you to maintain your exercise regiment after that” I said.  My friend looked at me a little puzzled, “What do you mean?  After I do this program I’m done – aren’t I?  I mean I’ll be in shape…right?”

And so it goes, the reality of getting in shape is pretty easy and basic but often misunderstood.  You start to exercise, eat properly AND THEN you maintain that FOREVER if you want to stay healthy.  Okay – as far as YOUR health goes, please note, I am not a health care professional, and my advice is meant to give my friend a guideline and in this case for you, an analogy.

So here it goes, your company’s telecommunications services are NOT meant to be maintained occasionally and reviewed when “the contract is up”.  If you lightly monitor your billing  by making sure that it’s total is around the same level of spend each month or if you decide that when the contract is up next year you should review your services then – because it is a pain looking at it more frequently, this is where having a telecom auditing, support and TEM solution would help your company in ways most management stakeholders don’t consider.

Why?  Here are three things to know why having a telecom audit done for your company is essential:

1.  A TRUE telecom audit (not one your telecom provider does for you by adding up your minutes used and multiplying that by new rates), will reveal errors, fraud, waste, omissions, tariff violations opportunities to reduce costs all WITHOUT disrupting services and adding any length of time to your contract and show you where costs can be reduced in general

2.  Support services are necessary for short-term projects for implementation and management when you don’t want to hire a IT/Telecom employee on a permanent basis.  You can hire a temporary pro to complete the project by the hour or by project.

3.  Telecom Expense Management Solutions.  If you have a very large telecom spend, the proper management, review, and implementation can be off-loaded to a professional services organization that can do that for you every single month.  Working as your telecom department, TEM solutions can reduce headcount, streamline telecom review and maintain your services running at peak efficiency.

Telecom, like a person’s health can become overweight and out of shape, engaging with a firm like GrayBear Resources will keep your telecom expenses, services and management in tip-top shape – FOREVER.

According to the report, 2 of the 3 carriers that the State utilizes for wireless services provided requested data to conduct an analysis for the department.  (AT&T and Sprint provided data, Verizon did not provide the data requested)

The report goes on to summarize that areas where changes could be made that would reduce the taxpayer burden are:

1.  Unused cell phones (phones just sitting around being paid for on the off-chance they’re needed)

2.  Extra charges for overuse

3.  Charges for missing phones

While some of this may surprise the average resident of Oregon, we are not at all taken aback.  This type of thing occurs regularly, everywhere – in small organizations as well as in big companies and government agencies, worldwide

According to the Secretary of State’s study, during the year that was reviewed, total expenditures were approximately $3,000,000.  Savings potential was, according to an internal report, $588,000  or approximately 19.6% of total.  In our experience, waste and overage is only a PORTION of savings to be found;  what the report neglects to show is that should a deeper audit have taken place – MORE savings could have been found.  While the Secretary of State more than likely did a through job of finding areas of improvement, I will bet that there is still more money to be saved.

Where?

No disrespect to the Secretary of State Department, but while the charter of their department is to be the “auditor of public accounts“, the report does not mention  the following items:

1.  billing errors

2.  overcharges related to refunds and credits

3.  tariff violations

4.  duplicate or erroneous payments

5.  overlooked (most likely unknown) discounts and rebates

The above are all very typical for companies and organizations of this size (we have found all in small companies as well).

Why would any organization that was able to provide such an excellent analysis be lacking? Very simple – it is NOT their expertise.  Incredibly, what was also lacking was any reference to the cost of what the actual audit cost the taxpayers of Oregon, and my guess is that it was large.  Yet another reason why hiring an outside audit firm such as GrayBear Resources would be beneficial – our costs with almost all of our clients is zero or minisucle.

Lastly, for an organization the size of a state, at the VERY least, continuing and proper management with specialized Telecom Expense Management tools are absolutely MANDATORY. You would be shocked to know the organizations that simply use spreadsheets because they are unaware that certain tools exist that can show them instantly where each and every dollar is spent and where missing phones are, not to mention set spending amounts for departments and individuals.

I would welcome the opportunity to enhance the savings to the State the Oregon and allow GrayBear Resources the chance to review their bills and see if we are able to reduce their costs further as I would guess that there are savings left on the table.

Where is your organization in the mix?  Don’t blame your executives or even department heads if you’re paying too much for any telecom services.  Believe it or not expense control, when it comes to telecom, is a very specific practice (we like to think talent). We have seen studies conducted in VERY LARGE organizations where, with a fine tooth comb, every bit of savings possible was uncovered, or so they thought. In one instance they internally recovered 20%.  Our expert auditors were able to go back in and recover an additional 25% ON TOP of their own found savings.  A telecom audit is a must for any organization that watches their bottom line.  When are you going to do the same for yours?

I started asking her a list of questions trying to diagnose the issue.  “When did it start acting this way?”, “Have you changed any setting?”, “Was this something that continued to get worse or did it come on suddenly?”  Questions you would ask prior to figuring out what the problem was so you could create a solution.

Our conversation was overheard by this associate and he jumped at the chance to make his input into the conversation.

“It’s probably a virus” he confidently said.  “Yeah, it sounds like it could be a result of a memory leak as well”

“Are you sure about that?” Diane replied?  “Could you take a look at my laptop and see?”

I got a call and had to take it and off they went to solve the IT issue of the day.

Later that week, I was headed to a meeting when I overheard that voice again, “..it sounds like a virus… could be a memory leak as well” sure enough it was the same associate talking to another colleague telling him how to fix his computer.  I just kept on walking.

In my business, many business owners are dismissive of the idea of a telecom audit by creating decisions on wrong information.  I’ve spent a great deal of time talking to CEOs and upper-level executives discussing the need to evaluate how reviewing your phone bills and having a professional audit firm can find savings and surprises because well over 98% of companies don’t have the time or knowledge how to discover savings.  I was once in a meeting with a number of managers all nodding with the idea of potentially saving that firm much needed operating expenses.  When from the back of the room one gentleman exclaimed “Getting a telecom audit is a waste of time, we review the bills monthly and we’re getting the best rates and services available today”

I explained that our service was unobtrusive and that we’d typically only need about 30 minutes of help from them to start our process without any obligation from them.  I went on to let him know that our auditors are trained on various issues such as tax, tariff and a through understanding rates that could be used to their advantage.   He furrowed his brow, crossed his arms and let out the occasional comment throughout the rest of the meeting.

The company went ahead with the audit and although they had done some base review, we were still able to find 24% savings MONTHLY for them which they are still enjoying today.  The decision to have an audit creating TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars annually for their bottom line – very nice in this economy.

While many business professionals may believe that there is no savings to be found or that they have the best deal, let an auditor find out for you – sit back and know for sure.

Oh and by the way, that issue with my colleagues and their computers?  It wasn’t a virus, the network was slow.

One observant reader indicated that on his Verizon bill each month “he receives a couple of erroneous data charge of $1.99 each – yet we download no data”

Is it possible for your bill to incur data charges EVEN IF you don’t access data services?  You’d better believe it!

He goes on to say “…. They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit keystrokes to launch ‘Get it now’ or ‘Mobile Web’—usually a single key like an arrow key. Often we have no idea what key we hit, but up pops one of these screens. The instant you call the function, they charge you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn’t matter; they’ve told me that ANY data–even one kilobyte–is billed as 1MB. The damage is done….Imagine: if my one account has 1 to 3 bogus $1.99 charges per month for data that I don’t download, how much are they making from their 87 million other customers? Not a bad scheme. All by simply writing your billing algorithm to bill a full MB when even a few bits have moved.”

And so it goes, yes the carriers we trust in providing us service AND telling us how much we used and what we owe.  So those of you reading, a simple question.  If you see your bill increased by $1.99 for the month, what do you do?

a)  Wait on the line with your carrier for an hour and a half trying to get that refund?

b)  Do you drive  to the local wireless carrier’s billing center during your lunch hour and stand in line at your local bill center?

c.  Eh, what the heck, it’s only $1.99 (or the modified employee view – I’m not responsible paying for the bill so no biggie)

Think of your company’s bill for  a moment.  Does your company phone bill reflect similar charges?  What if each employee had a similar charge added each month, multiplied by the number of phones, AND what if it were multiple charges added per bill for other services (think software applications, text messaging, or ringtones with monthly costs).  It is NOT inconceivable that an employee’s phone bill could be increased by 10% or more NEEDLESSLY each month.  The charges become much more significant than this example and can go from innocent mistakes to downright “highway robbery”.  These additional charges can add up significantly over time without oversight.

By the way, it’s our experience that most companies choose option “C” every single time.  Don’t let that company be yours.

Okay, I can hear the laughter out there now, but let me ask you, why do you think they’re so confusing?  Certainly they don’t have to be.  Most people simply dismiss this fact and say, “Everyone has to deal with it” (That’s right, but not everybody does, more on that later)

If you were to ask a telephone company exec (and trust me, because I used to be one) why do you make the bills so confusing, a pat answer might be that “the complexity of your bill is directly in alignment with the various features, add-ons, ancilary charges and most agregiously – those darn taxes we HAVE to charge you from the goverment!”  Not bad as I think that is what I was asked years ago in an interview.

According to a recent study by Gartner Group, a leading information technology research and advisory company, when it comes to telephone and data bills, an estimated $13 billion in overcharges will be generated in the next 12 months and less than 2% of these telephone billing errors will ever be identified.

Take for instance the new Motorola phone that Verizon is rolling out called the Droid running Google’s Android operating system.  Many industry pundits have labeled it everything from the next best thing in smartphones to an outright iPhone killer.  It will cost subscribers a competitive $199 for the phone if you sign a 2-year contract, and add a MANDATORY $30 unlimited data plan.  In my mind, unlimited means just that, “all you can eat”, but in Verizon’s vernacular unlimited means a cap of 5 GB or 5,120 MB per month.

The ability for you to “tether” an external device like a laptop is an aspect of your smart phone that some people have started to use to be able to be connected where Wi-Fi might not be available.  If you’d like to use that feature, guess what?  Verizon’s going to charge you more, add an additional $30 more PLUS the required $30 before ABOVE your “normal” wireless plan AND still with the extra $30 (which they call unlimited) is capped at 10GB per month.

In addition to that, Verizon isn’t stopping there with the upcharges. It also announced that as of November 15 the early termination fee will be double just for high-end devices like smartphones (read- the Droid phone).  Users who cancel out of the agreement before the two years are up can expect a $350 bill.

Head spinning yet?  Well hang on.  On your $30 “unlimited” 5GB maximum usage plan, it’s okay for any traffic just as long as it doesn’t come from a Microsoft Exchange server, because that will cost you $45 per month instead.

Also on the third Friday of each month with an “r” in it, your data plan only works 3/4 of the time but you can use it as much as you like – okay, I just made that one up but I couldn’t resist.

This is just policy for ONE phone, think about your organization with hundreds of wireless devices.  We see companies that have “rogue” phones that add and change aspects of their data plan and make it a nightmare to manage.  Additionally, companies also leave language in your contracts that allow them to change these terms at ANY time.  If you’re concerned about managing your telecom costs, this is where an audit can identify and help reel in your costs, because believe me the phone companies aren’t going to help make it any easier for you ANYTIME soon.