According to a recent survey done by AOTMP enterprises reported the following:
What represents the greatest amount of cost avoidance savings for your enterprise?
70.3% Correcting errant billing of monthly recurring charges
83.8% Removing unwanted services and service features
56.8% Eliminating late payment fees
54.1% Reducing the quantity of invoices through account consolidation
48.6% Eliminating service accounts not tied to master billing accounts
All of the above are critical components to any Telecom Expense Management Program, and can provide incremental savings, such as being able to pay invoices on time, which would eliminate the 1.5% monthly late payment surcharge.
However we find the most overlooked area, and one that provides the greatest cost reduction/cost avoidance, is negotiating at or below market rates with the carriers. Most of the invoices we process can be benchmarked by our database of available rates and fees. We find a large portion of enterprises overpaying for many of their non-tariffed telecom and wireless services.
Why is that? Most of our small and medium enterprise clients are under a tremendous workload and they simply don't have the time to shop the carriers for the lowest rates and most favorable contract terms. They also lack a database from which to benchmark their services and contracts. And with complex contract language and hard to decipher discounts the carriers certainly aren't making it easy. Lastly with budgets already at the breaking point most small and medium enterprises typically handle negotiations and procurement in house rather than hiring outside consultants and telecom attorneys to negotiate on their behalf.
Is there a better way? At Vocio we have a division of our company dedicated to supplying quotes and placing orders with over 80 carriers. We act as the single point of contact for quoting and ordering as well as managing the installation and on going customer support.
If you're unsure if you're getting at or below market rates contact a sales rep at 888-200-8647 or use our automated quoting tool. In our experience getting the best rates and terms from the carriers is the number one way to drive down costs.
By the way since we sometimes receive commissions for services ordered we credit those dollars to the MRC of our TEM Software. By using Vocio to order carrier services many of our clients receive our industry leading small and medium enterprise TEM Software for free.
