Going GREEN in TELECOM

How can we go Green in Telecom?

Today, people are growing more & more concerned with conservation, carbon footprint, energy efficiency & further protecting the planet. Telecommunication companies have also jumped onto "Go Green". What does this really look like in Telecom & how can we - as business owners make a change in our businesses? Or is this marketing that just makes us "feel good"?

What are Telecom Providers starting to consider?

There is a lot of talk buzzing about reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Large providers throughout the world are making preparations to take specific actions to improve energy consumption in their "highest energy-consuming" facilities. If you search online, some companies have actually posted their "Carbon Footprint" publically to show measures of their concerns & efforts to reduce it. Some are considering power resources such as solar or wind-powered facilities.

In research I have seen, here are viable ways your company can "Go Green" with IT . . .
Recycle used equipment - seek the rules in local and national laws, research companies with specifically approved licenses to refurbish & reuse existing phone systems, mobiles or IT equipment. Be sure to research & implement the best ways to protect your company information as the equipment you recycle should be whipped clean of anything private or proprietary.

Paperless Office - invest in the equipment and backup/remote backup necessary to ensure limited to no paper/ink materials are utilized on a daily basis. This transition will take time & money, but you can eventually scan all of your paper folders into electronic versions & come close to eliminating the need to paper documents. Most important thing to note is you MUST MUST MUST back up all of your electronic data & files to a local & remote backup source. You should carefully research these options. In most cases, you will have an initial investment, a monthly investment on backup services, but then little to no investment in paper/folders/ink/etc.

Recycle Office Supplies - paper products are most used in offices, which is a great place to start recycling. Consider investing in a shredder & recycle all paper materials you would normally throw in the trash. Like I mentioned previously - be aware of confidential information & the proper ways to destroy that information. Ever considered toner or ink cartriges? Many Office Supply Stores are now providing options to recycle these supplies - some actually have incentives for discounts based on quantity. Other companies offer services which give you the ability to reuse your ink/toner cartridges by getting them refilled. It is a cost effective way to reuse a product. Even consider purchasing recycled products instead of newly manufactured products.

Energy Efficient Lighting - There are light bulbs & different light sources that are supposed to product bright light without the use of as much energy. Consider in investing in the change to these bulbs. They are a bit more expensive, but are made to last longer.

It makes since - really - for everyone to be more aware of the resources that are available & ways to utilize those resources.

Clerecomm uses all 4 of the options noted above - though we will never be a "true" paperless office until the carriers eliminate the need for paper agreements, we are as close as we can be to it. We encourage you at ways to consider how your business supplies are resourced & if you own a large office, building or multiple locations, consider the investment on how to "Go Green" with renewable resources.

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.

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

TEM - Is this a solution for your customers?

Many companies have looked at TEM options for thier customers / businesses. Telecommunication Expense Management is a good long term solution to manage large networks of accts with multiple carriers.

Here are some advantages:

• Your accts payable department can focus on thier primary job functions instead of sitting on the phone with carriers each month managing & disputing bills
• Every Telecom acct will be flaged if there is any variance in MRC & the TEM team to research on your behalf
• You will receive credits sooner as you will not be managing the carrier on your own
• You give approval for each investigation on behalf of your company
• Employee resources are maximized
• You can run reports on specific locations, spend types, and monthly costs for internal reporting - saving time on manually generated data
• The fee associated is based on your Telecom volume

Here are some things to consider:

• The TEM tools on the market today are run by companies that are not affiliated with Agents or Partners. Thus when an acct comes up for renewal, the acct can auto renew at a higher rate or auto renew at the existing rate as no one is managing that peice of it.
• TEM is a good solution - but only a full package value after the inital audit is fully complete & all changes are made to the acct.
• The auditor/agent / broker then becomes dis-engaged with the management of the acct, thus is unable to have visibility to promotions or contract changes that should happen long term, to avoid this - just have a strong relationship with your TEM representative.

Rules of thumb:

• Higher an auditor focused ONLY on Telecommunication services
• Higher the auditor to audit full inventory, recommendations, optimization & contract renegotiations - make sure the auditor completes all of the work - so nothing gets missed (keeping multiple hands out of the process as well)
• Once the invoices and records reflect all changes are made, then it is time to engage the TEM organization for the long term management of bill review.
• Each month the TEM will then work to ensure your accts do not show any new increase or decrease of monthly spend - keeping your bottom line where it needs to be
• Re-higher your original auditor to do an act review every 6 months to ensure no accts are up for renewal, no new promotions are to be had & everything is up to par on the lowest possible rates.

We highly recommend you only work with companies who have been trained specifically how to audit Telecom invoices. Many "auditors" are not trained on how to read tarrif, contract vs csr vs invoices & thus many items are missed. Also such auditing firms have relationships and/or employs individuals who focus only on tax billing issues on Telecom invoices as well. These are all key items to review & will only be accomplished with seasoned Telecom auditors. We have a combined 35 years of experience in this specialty & we outsource our skills to other auditing companies & Agent Brokers. Feel free to contact us directly to work out an arrangement that is right for you & your business. We now work with over 5 TEM solution providers.

Telecommunications Auditing

We can provide an audit of all communication related expenses.

In this audit, we analyze:
* How competitive are vendors’ rates
* Accuracy of billing
* Most cost effective solution


On average, we discover and recover billing errors that average 15% to 30% on each monthly Telecommunications invoice. Our goal is to reduce monthly communication expenses. Most of an organizations communication costs are 60% of their monthly budgeted expenses. This includes all voice, data and long distance services, networking and communication devices. With a thorough audit of each bill, we can recommend the reduction, elimination or consolidation of those expenses. Then, with your approval we will implement these changes. The goal is to save as much money as possible with a solution that makes sence.


We do not have Master Agency with Any Carrier, so we are not partial to propose any specific providers.


You will receive . . .
* A full itemized inventory of each location/account detail.
* Detailed descriptions of the function of each communication service.
* A financial analysis of current rates vs. new reduced rates after the recommended savings were implemented.


We require the most recent invoices and bills for all local, Internet and long distance service, current communication equipment bills, a letter of authorization to view the account (required by each telecommunications carrier) and a meeting to discuss your current communications infrastructure.


What we offer:
* Professional Start to Finish Project Management
* Extensive knowledge of Telecom Products and Services
* Order Management and Order Delegation