Despite all the new and emerging business communications technologies of the 21st century (VoIP, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Bluetooth, cell phones, blackberries, etc.) the majority of companies in business today still write a check each and every month to a local exchange carrier for a 125 yr. old technology – local phone service – (sometimes referred to as POTS, or “plain old telephone service”).
Although it may be the same boring set of copper wires that connects to a standard telephone and rings when calls come in, the local phone service portion of your company’s telecommunications bills is the perfect place to begin your telecom cost reduction efforts.
Here are 8 quick ways to begin cutting your local phone service bills. Check them off one by one when completed and you could reduce your local phone service bills by up to 10% or more.
1) Determine the proper local service plan for your needs – then regrade if necessary.
Many Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) offer three basic types of local service plans. Flat-Rate Service allows for unlimited calling within a local area at no additional charge. With Measured Rate Service, charges are applied to local calls according to time and/or distance and/or time of day. Message Rate Service which applies charges to each local call without regard to duration or distance.
Analyze your company needs through observational and personal surveys, then determine the most cost-effective local service plan. You will be amazed at the savings by simply implementing the appropriate plan for your company’s calling patterns.
NOTE: When regrading from a flat-rate service plan to a measured or message rate plan, be sure that you are aware of the extent to which employees are making personal calls. Also, consider any lines that may be connected to frequently used services such as apartment door answering systems.
2) Remove unnecessary or unused lines.
Historically telephone companies have recommended and provided quantities of access lines sufficient to provide a P.01 grade of service. This means that no more than 1% of all callers will receive a busy signal during the busiest hour of the day. P.01 is appropriate for some situations, but it does result in many customers having many more lines than are necessary.
Take inventory of all the lines that are being billed, then track them down and determine their level of importance during day to day business activities. Eliminate lines with phone numbers that cannot be identified, lines that ring with no answer, and/or measured or message rate lines that show no usage.
For more advanced telephone traffic calculations, use , our online telephone traffic analysis program.
3) Remove unnecessary or unused line features and services.
More often than not, most companies have lines that contain features and/or services that are either not needed or are rarely used. The problem arises when features are added to serve a specific purpose or employee, then not removed when things change. Over time, many features may be included on lines and users have no idea they are even available.
Your previously conducted circuit inventory will help you determine the specific features needed for each line. Wire maintenance charges should always be eliminated. These charges can be as high as $6.00 per month for each line!
4) Block expensive pay-per-use features.
Directory assistance call completion, repeat dial and call return are nice and convenient for employees – but they will cost your company over time. These features can and should be blocked through your carrier immediately. If any of these features are needed, contact your LEC and ask if a monthly fee be paid for unlimited usage.
5) Review the summary section of your bills every month.
Nothing can take the place of a well-designed and systematic telecom audit of your entire telecom department. However, a quick monthly scan of the summary section of your local telephone bills will sometimes turn up “golden nuggets” of savings.
Common problems include: more than one long distance carrier included (slamming), bogus Internet charges (cramming) from companies other than your ISP, and directory listings that are not listed. These charges can run as high as $29.95.
To maximize savings, review each bill every month. Bogus charges will continue month after month until they are removed. And don’t be surprised if they magically appear again in 2-3 months time after they are removed from a bill.
6) Consider upgrading to a T1 if you have more than 20 lines.
For smaller businesses, installing a T1 line into your PBX system can reduce your local telephone charges. A T1 can be cost-effective because it combines many outgoing lines into a single digital line that runs from your office to the LEC central office. The T1 can replace up to 24 POTS lines in your PBX. No one will notice a difference except maybe the person who pays the bills. In addition, a T1 can carry data as well.
7) Gather customer service records (CSRs) from your LEC for more detailed local service analysis.
A great deal of information can be found on CSRs that are not contained on your monthly billing statement. They are an invaluable resource when attempting to identify unneeded services and unused lines. CSRs reveal the quantity and types of lines, their PICs, service elements, hunting arrangements, wire maintenance, circuit termination locations, directory listings, and a host of other esoteric information.
Obtaining your CSRs from the LEC can be a painful and time-consuming process, but the effort is worth it in savings and credits that are eventually rendered. Some LECs will charge a fee issuing CSRs, but with some persistence, you may be able to get this fee waived.
Consider engaging a telecom consultant for telecom auditing, bill management or telemanagement services.
Time is money. If your staff is not prepared to consistently implement the above tasks, consider engaging a professional telecom consulting firm to handle them for you. Ideally, a telecom audit done first will turn up many areas for potential cost-savings. Then a monthly bill management program will keep bills clean and free from those pesky recurring errors.
At TelCon Associates, we have structured our consulting services for maximum savings to the client with no risk. We place our emphasis on details, timeliness and a high level personal service for our clients.
So get to work on reducing those local phone bills. You will be glad you did.
Karen Thatcher is President and CEO of TelCon Associates, Inc. a 32 yr. old telecom audit and bill management company. For free telecom cost-reduction tools and materials, visit http://www.telconassociates.com
Author: Karen Thatcher
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty tariff
- Save the Consumer Health Information Service (CHIS)
- Economic Development Internship
- The Elusive Humpback
Related Posts -
Use Voice PRI to Eliminate Excess Analog Lines Does your thriving business still operate on numerous analog lines in addition to your Voice PRI? Do the monthly charges seem to add up month after month after month, and you wonder why you even still have them? Did you know you can get rid of nearly all of...... - TSOP - An Effective Approach to Reducing Business Overhead Expenses Some small business managers across the country who have found a drop in their profits because of the downturn in the economy, are finding success in a cost reduction plan some refer to as the Telecom Services Optimization Plan (TSOP).This plan, according to some managers who have used it,......
- The 3 Most Important Services to Look For in a Managed IT Company Call it a sign of the times. A cultural phenomenon. Generation Y's need for instant gratification. There are many phrases that could describe why more and more companies are outsourcing their IT departments. The basic facts remain that outsourcing offers more (combined) experience, better response times, and cutting edge......
- Would You Like A Professional Telephone System For Your Office Or Home For Free? Skeptic or not, I can anticipate some of the questions that you're thinking."What's the catch?"Well the software really can be downloaded and used for free. It's called Asterisk. It's available under the GNU Public License. It has developed its own following and even has an annual convention. Commercial systems......
- Using VoIP With Your Cell Phone Before many of us came to rely on cell phones to make long distance phone calls, our only option was to commit to a long distance phone company. Long distance carriers charged what were at times exorbitant by-the-minute fees to make calls to friends and loved ones often living only......
Related Websites -
10 Things to do without in 2010 [/caption] Ten years ago, most homes relied on dial-up connections to access the Internet and iPods, flat-screen TVs and the Nintendo Wii didn't exist. In 2010, consumer should expect to see more revolutionary products supplanting old mainstays. In media, DVDs, books, newspapers and magazines will continue to lose ground to...... -
Saving Money with your Phone There are a lot of different ways that you can cut down on what you spend in your household budget every month, and one such example is by saving money through how you communicate on the phone. Telephone services are easily capable of costing a typical family as many as...... -
Indemnity or Managed Care Dental Plan - Which One to Choose? Dental care is very important and choosing the right plan will help you maintain your pearly whites in good condition. There are many dental plans to choose from depending on your needs but the best way to get the most out of a plan is to fully understand first the...... - There are affordable health care solutions for every bracket of income Why on Earth would a real estate professional be talking about medical access? It's very simple you see no matter who you are and your social status we all need to see a Doctor from time to time. I have found in my adult life I have been in situations......
- Low Cost Medicine Insurance from HMOs In this day and age, when sedentary lifestyle is the mode of living, getting health insurance coverage is a primary consideration. Accidents can strike at a time we least expect it to happen and for that we need to be ready. Getting medical insurance coverage during times of serious......
Related posts:
