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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Telecom Audit

In this ever changing economy, the nation is seeking freedom from financial burden, release from painful debts and security in the workplace. As we travel down a road of unparalleled oddities, we need to refocus our visions, models and core strengths in Telecommunications, in a different direction for our customers.

Focusing on the Telecom Audit, there are many broad practices which should become fine tuned and refurbished. An audit isn't just a onetime occurrence that sparks possible migration to other carriers, contract renegotiations or increase in spend (in some cases). Develop and market your business as a Customer Care Organization focused on inventory management and cost reduction for your customer. Become their true, single point of contact by engaging with them on a higher level.

The Telecom Audit should be focused on these core items:
* location/inventory management
* validity of contract vs. tariff vs. invoice vs. customer service records
* taxation compliance
* terms and condition clauses
* validity of packages / grandfathered products
* terms of service
* technology changes
* historical review back 24 months

The list can continue, but you understand that the review is more than an apples to apples MRC review, rather an apple to fruit salad list of items. This requires further digging that could result in savings and credits for the customer. Derived from the savings and credits, consider the fee for the time associated with conducting the audit and how that should be negotiated with the customer. Billing errors can occur on any carrier invoice, with any size business, so don't leave out your small to medium sized customers. Also consider the language of the agreement you negotiate to ensure your time is accurately compensated. We can work with the agent to craft the agreement so your fees don't end up higher than the recovery.

We have worked with Agents, Brokers and Business Partners on projects with spend from as small as $1K/month spend to $3M/month spend, recovering an average of 15% on billing errors in historical audits, optimization for long term savings, and inventory management. At times, credits can go back as far as two years, depending on the terms and conditions with the carrier.

We recommend outsourcing the service to companies specifically trained in how to implement a full granular audit. They will know what to look for, how to project and manage the changes, renegotiate contracts, manage inventory and recover credits for your customer. Logically, if your team isn't trained on how to perform a thorough granular audit, it makes since to budget time to bring in those who have practiced these skills for years.

Moving forward, develop a plan to revisit your base every six to twelve months, with a fresh vision of long term savings and credits for your customers. By presenting the extra added value of pursuing credits and long term saving options to your customer, you increase their trust in your service, delivery and most importantly remind them of your presence on a more frequent basis. Retaining those relationships are crucial to maintaining the stability of your base. Equipping your best business practices that offer proven customer experience options, are processes that any Telecommunication Consultant should consider.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Does Outsourcing Support Services make sence?

What are advantages of OUTSOURCING Back Office Support?


Businesses STRUGGLE with these key items:

· Budget
· Business Loans
· Equipment Expenditure Needs
· Telecom Costs
· Office Space needs
· Benefits for Employees
· Salaries
· Overhead vs. Profit


In this market, with the economy changing so frequently and drastically, it just makes since to outsource services. Outsourcing will CHANGE:

· Budget – you budget ONLY for the support you need
· Business Loans – loans won’t need to be taken out to pay for salaries or equipment
· Equipment – the outsource has all of their own, computers, routers, printer, toner, paper, etc.
· Telecommunication costs – the outsourced team has all of their own phones, phone lines, internet, headset, etc
· Office Space – the outsourced is remote, no office space required
· Benefits – the outsourced is responsible for their own taxes, medical, dental, vision, life insurance & 401K
· Salaries – there are no salaries - you only pay for time actually worked
· Overhead vs. Profit – we don’t calculate any percentage of your commissions for our compensation, we will only invoice you for time actually worked.


Outsourcing will help you GAIN:

· More time for sales
· A support team that you don’t have to train
· A support team that helps you diverse into multiple carriers markets
· Experienced
· 1099 support is a tax benefit

Commission Management

We support Agents Commission Management as well. Some Partners have their own tools we can use to track orders, commissions, inventory, etc. Agency Maintenance is challenging with the details of sales, funnels, commissions, disputes & everything else that comes along with day to day management of a business. We can help take the load off with commission management. We can use your existing tools, or help you get ramped up with resources that are proven in the industry. Your money coming in correctly is crucial for your business, we are here to help.

Some partners use a tool called RPM. Here is some information about RPM Software.

"Agent, Powered by RPM, streamlines the commission management process by tracking all agent contacts, quotes, orders, issues and transactions in one location. Analysis and reporting is made simple and easy. Commission reports are automatically made available to your agents which builds trust, not to mention retention rates, sales productivity and account share. Central information management means you’ll never have to worry about multiple spreadsheets in multiple locations.

At the heart of Agent is RPM, a powerful, flexible, commission and process management engine that allows you to manage any contract for any agent without the need of a programmer. Our easy web-based interface makes customizing Agent for your business simple and easy.Agent lowers your administrative costs, increases transparency to information and optimizes the efficiency of your agent-support personnel. Why stay tangled up in complex commission processes? Let Agent, Powered by RPM, straighten things out tos they provide. If you are interested in further information, let us know and we can get you connected. - RPM Software"

We highly recommend their product, and we support the full range of the product offering. Contact us today so we can connect you to this amazing application.