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

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.

Channel Partners Expo, Las Vegas

March 1-3, 2009, our CEO will be attending the Channel Partners Expo at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. Please look for us as we would like to visit with you & share with you some of our newly refocused projects & skill sets for 2009.

Project Management - Refocused on PM services with multiple carriers

• We have always provided PM support for multiple carriers, many of our partners are Qwest focused Agents
• We are seeking Agents that provide services from other carriers as well.
• We currently support Agents across the United States
• We only need a few items to manage projects for other carriers provided by your Channel Manager
• Call us today to see how easy it is to keep you in the field in sales, while we take the PM burdon off of your plate with ALL carriers

Commission Management - diving deeper for our Agents

• We have always provided commisisons management as a service to our partners
• We are re-announcing this skill set for all new & existing customers as another way to eliminate back office headaches & optimize your time for sales & business development
• We can support multiple tools including RPM, Tiger Paw, custom Access Databases & more

Please contact us if you would like to schedule a one on one meeting with our CEO & Founder.
Clere Communications - Here for you.

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.

Project Management or Administrative Services

When considering how to fulfill Back Office or Project Management needs, one will review experience, budget and time. When housing a full time employee you consider your bottom line, training, supplies, benefits, ramp up and office space.

The support we offer is tailored to our customers' needs. Outsourcing provides many freedoms and growth opportunities to any business.


We have experience with multiple Telecommunication Providers offering Analog, Voice T1's, ISDN BRI, DSL, ISDN PRI, Frame Relay, DS1, DS3, OC3, Dedicated, ATM, Internet, Ethernet, Long Distance and more.


We offer you and your customer:

* Extensive knowledge of Telecom Products and Services
* Pricing and contracts
* Order Management and Order Delegation
* Professional Start to Finish Project Management
* Proactive Problem Resolution
* Industry Resources to "Get the Job Done"
* Administrative / Back Office Support
* Account Optimization Audits
* Repair / Support Assistance
* Commissions Management
* RFP Negotiation
* Billing resolution
* Many other services that fit your business structure

Types of Associates:
* Project Manager/Provisioner
* Administrator/Back Office Support
* Business Audit Representative
* Data Entry Representative
* Commissions Management Representative



We have many package options, so call today to see which package and services that work best for your company.

Telecommunication Consulting and Products

Communication Consulting


We have relationships with Professional Consultants that are seasoned in the Communications Industry. Not only can we support you in Telecommunication Services, but we also can assist in Communications Network optimization and corresponding expenses. We have developed relationships with other companies in the Communications Industry on the local, national and international level, to save money on equipment, support, managed services, interconnect rates, website and hosting, phone systems, cabling and equipment leasing solutions.

Our job is to discover the best solution. We want to help optimize your productivity and business efficiency.

Telecommunication Products

We have very strong relationships with multiple Telecommunication companies and Partners. Through these relationships, we have experience with services from nearly 45 different carriers. A few of these services include Analog, Voice T1's, ISDN BRI, DSL, ISDN PRI, Frame Relay, DS1, DS3, OC3+, Dedicated, ATM, Internet, Long Distance, Wireless, Satellite, Ethernet and more.We do not have Master Agency with Any Carrier, so we are not partial to any specific carriers.

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