Stop Manually Monitoring Telecom Spend for Optimal Profitability
February 05, 2016
By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor
The small business owner generally has a pretty good idea on where money is being spent to keep the operation going. He or she likely has a tight rein on spending to ensure profitability. When that business starts to grow, however, it’s more important to spend time on core competencies than to monitor the books daily, which often leads to unnecessary costs. This is where call accounting can be a valuable tool.
The costs associated with staying connected with clients and colleagues can often get out of hand if not monitored on a regular basis. But manual monitoring is not something that’s beneficial for business leadership – it doesn’t help to propel the business to the next level. Instead, automated systems need to be in place to identify unnecessary spending and help eliminate problem areas. Putting a staff member in charge of the call accounting process is critical.
This approach also eliminates the overspend-recovery cycle that can take a significant amount of time and doesn’t actually correct problems. While it’s great to identify financial waste and try and eliminate overcharges or correct errors, simply fixing what appears to be one-time issues doesn’t stop the perpetual cycle. This is especially true if you find the activity is happening every year and nothing really changes.
It’s not uncommon for the small business owner to want to tighten spending, especially when budgets are being reviewed and prepared for the coming year. But stopping spending for a short period of time doesn’t identify problems in the system or change the culture of spending. As a result, the same problems will pop up every year. Call accounting aims to change that approach, helping to generate savings, identify broken processes, correctly align service delivery and put environmental control back in place.
Understanding the importance of these processes is critical to ensuring business leaders want to put a call accounting solution in place. After all, it is another expense and must be justified to earn its place in the overall budget. The insight into the overall communications activity and spending gained through the application of such a solution is more valuable than the cost it brings to the organization. It not only helps to eliminate overspending right away – thus justifying its cost – it also helps to put standard processes in place to ensure better use of resources moving forward.
The goal of every business is to be profitable. Maximum profitability is only possible when the right tools are in place to keep spending in line while enjoying the benefits of the latest innovations. With the right balance, everyone wins.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi