What Could You Do with an Extra $100,000… or More? - TEM and Call Accounting Technology Blog - TeleManagement Technologies, Inc.

​If you’re an IT manager, it won’t take long to answer that question. Between updating old systems, adding more apps for end users, and attracting new talent, another $100K would be welcome.

So where can you find that kind of money?

​Through an audit of your telecom inventory and services. But not just any audit. We speak regularly to IT managers who are proud to have saved 4% off their annual telecom through an internal audit. That’s great, but …

Most don’t realize they could be saving even more. Much more in fact.

​To achieve savings of $100k or more you really need to know what you’re doing. Conducting your own audit will only take you so far. Here’s why:

1. It takes time away from daily tasks. A typical deep dive, line-by-line audit takes 60-90 days because you need to catalog all the issues, open disputes with your vendors and start of process of working to get your refunds. Depending on the complexity of the billing issue, it can take an additional 30-90+ days to fully resolve some of those issues. The process of organizing the kind of effort needed to conduct a full audit takes time and uninterrupted concentration, along with a lot of back-and-forth communications and negotiations with your vendor account team(s), as we’re sure you are aware.

2. A telecom audit requires multiple steps for each issue.
   These include:

   • Identification of the billing error, proof of the mistake your vendor made, and how much of a refund is owed.
   • Creating and formalizing the dispute with your account team(s).
   • Taking any corrective action required on that inventory item or billing issue to stop the continual erroneous billing going forward.
   • Tracking and managing the dispute process.
   • Obtaining some credit amount

3. ETF (early term fees) from vendors are on the rise. Most of the time these charges are erroneous and can be disputed/reversed.

4. Your team lacks deep knowledge of where to find the savings. Telecom vendors have made the entire process more complex. In some cases, they may purposely delay giving you refunds that are owed. They will often try to settle with you for pennies on the dollar of what they actually owe you.

That’s why when IT managers want to save serious dollars, they turn to professionals. Doing so will save them about ​**25-45%**​ on their annual telecom spend.

Here’s how the pros do it:

They catch more billing errors.

According to analysts, 85% of IT/telecom invoices received from vendors have billing errors. And they can cost an organization up to 12% of their annual IT/Telecom spend in the form of inflated costs. An auditor can quickly find these errors.

They know how to get rebates and refunds.

Why? Because, at least in the case of our TTI professional services team, that’s all they do. They specialize in telecom audit and optimization engagements. They go to bat for you, reconciling with your service providers to resolve the claim and secure the maximum refunds possible, while also taking the corrective action to stop the error going forward.

They are experts in contract renegotiation.

They have fine-tuned the negotiation skills and tools to eliminate paying for products and services you’re not using and tighten up your contracts.

​And, if the auditor is from TTI, they will do even more. That includes an optimization of your existing services and rates. It also includes documenting areas of savings and identifying cost reductions you can act on immediately to ensure best in class rates for your telecom spend and type of service.

Billing issues and invoice errors are increasing.

Our team is seeing a 5% increase (averaging 14.4%) in our clients’ savings over the last 18 months. That means the problems are getting worse, not better for clients like you.

When you decide to conduct an audit, check us out first. Unlike many companies, we offer a no risk option – if we don’t find any cost savings it costs you nothing.

But it doesn’t end there.

​Once you conduct an audit, whether yourself, through TTI or another professional, the key to keeping ongoing visibility over your IT/telecom invoices and other charges is by putting in a TEM (Telecom Expense Management) Solution. The good ones, like our WinBill®, help IT/telecom managers tighten up control over their expenses and save money for all the projects they are planning, to support their end users, and help their companies thrive and grow.

The time to get started is now.

​Don’t spend another year with a mediocre internal audit (or no audit at all) because you are too busy. We can help you do it the right way and get the savings you deserve. Give us a shout. Our experts have over 30+ years’ experience in telecom auditing and sourcing. Let us put those years to work for you.