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Telecom Cost
Containment
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This year, US businesses will spend
an estimated $403 billion on local and long distance phone service and equipment, up from $274 billion in 1998,
according to the Telecom Industry Association. Call Accounting software can routinely cut telecom costs by at least
20%. Here are just a few examples:
Billing errors account for a large percentage of wasted budget. A large company of 500 employees and $150 million
annual revenue recently upgraded service with AT&T. AT&T erroneously continued to bill for the old service
as well as the new service. The company failed to catch the mistake for several months because the bill was so
complicated - resulting in an overcharge of $75,000. Unfortunately, it's up to the customer to catch billing errors.
When a monthly stack of bills stands several inches high, it isn't hard to imagine how such errors go undetected.
Call Accounting can
be used to report on minutes you are being billed for, to verify that your local and long distance bills comply
with your contract and to document and prove disputed charges.
Inefficient contracts are another culprit. One company wasted thousands of dollars last year due to a contract
which charged for calls in increments of 30 seconds. Installation of a new call accounting system revealed a large
portion of the calls received by their 800 number were 6 second calls - which were being billed as 30 second calls.
They were able to reduce their phone bill considerably by finding another rate plan. Call Accounting evaluates actual traffic usage which can be used to negotiate
better contracts with your carriers as well as verify the correct routing of calls in order to achieve cost effective
routing.
Experts say companies spend 5% to 35% more than they need to, because they pay for services they don't use. Or
they fail to find the cheapest calling plans. They miss billing mistakes. And employees make calls they're not
supposed to. To find out more about how call accounting software can save you big bucks on your current telecom
costs, click
here. |
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