Controlling Business Costs Must Include the Telecom Audit
March 16, 2016
By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor
Staying connected is important in business. It’s also important to keep a handle on the costs associated with staying connected. Interestingly enough, in a world where everything has the potential to be connected, it can be increasingly difficult to keep control of communications costs. Call accounting can certainly help, but it takes a few more steps to ensure optimal spending.
Today, businesses have more than just a phone system that demands their attention and their dollars. Sophisticated technologies, increasing choices, problems with vendor support and a lack of resources and tools internally can all contribute to the challenge. Users today have access to mobile devices, apps, software within the company and more that all must be managed for effectiveness and to control costs.
At the same time, any change that must be applied to one communication platform will likely need to be applied to all. The typical focus of any telecom audit is to identify areas where money can be reclaimed. This benefit is one of the arguments used for approving the audit activities in the first place. Yet, a business can gain other benefits from the audit that are just as important, such as productivity and even the identification of opportunities to put better systems or solutions in place.
When call accounting is blended with a telecom audit, the anticipated cost benefit is an average of 35 percent or more. But cleaning house is another clear benefit as the process helps to eliminate services and features that are no longer in use or deliver no value to the organization. Network services are also optimized in an attempt to better represent organization needs. The audit also offers the opportunity to benchmark and optimize vendor rates and contracts.
A telecom audit includes an inventory of network services, as well as identified visibility of network services according to location. Process improvements within operations are also identified, lending benefits in the areas of productivity as well as bottom line costs. The key is to implement changes as a result of the audit findings and to ensure call accounting is designed to keep these elements in check moving forward.
The point is that communications will continue to be an important element within any business, but it doesn’t have to be the most expensive one. With robust call accounting in place and a commitment to the telecom audit, costs are minimized and companies realize better outcomes overall.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi