There is no doubt that a thorough and comprehensive telecom audit of corporate telecommunications services can uncover significant savings opportunities.
The trick to finding telecom savings is to sift through and interpret information extracted from three prime sources: 1) Customer Service Records, 2) user phone bills, and 3) the traffic patterns of the end users (i.e. the information that results from conducting personal surveys of employees who are using telecom services on a daily basis).
Over-provisioning
Let's examine just one of the seven areas that is ripe for telecom savings - over-provisioning. Over-provisioning means there are more telecommunications services being paid for than are absolutely necessary in order for business operations to run smoothly.
How does over-provisioning happen in the first place? There are many reasons, but some of the main causes are related to Grade of Service or GoS.
Grade of Service (GoS)
Telecommunications services are the lifeblood of any business. Incoming calls and sales inquiries must not be met with a busy signal, or the result could be the loss of a customer.
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, even during the busiest hour of the day. (A P.05 grade of service would mean that no more than 5% of callers will receive a busy signal during the busiest hour.)
P.01 is appropriate for some situations, but it can mean that many corporations are inadvertently paying for more phone lines than are necessary.
Service Features and Enhancements
Not only does strict adherence to P.01 grade of service cause inefficiencies, but so can the proliferation of service enhancements offered by today's telecom carriers.
The commercial thrust of enhanced services, such as voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call transfer, 3-way calling, call forwarding, etc. is obvious: to increase the amount of revenue per customer and to enhance the carrier's profits. The problem is that many of these feature enhancements are either not cost effective or, the features are never utilized.
Finally, users often neglect to remove services - lines, trunks, features, listings, etc. - when the need for them disappears.
The following are 10 specific areas of over-provisioning where telecom savings are often uncovered. Every audit should include an effort to examine these areas thoroughly.
1. Measured or message rate lines that show no usage.
Lines with no usage should be eliminated. The motto here should be "use or or lose it!"
2. Unrecognized service address for an account or off-premises circuit.
If an address is unrecognizeable by employees and staff, chances are none of the lines located at the address are needed. Eliminate them immediately.
3. Lines that ring with no answer.
Lines that ring with no answer could be old lines that were never removed, or they are lines that should have either call forward or voice mail attached. A line that never answers is just as annoying for a customer as a busy signal. Identify lines that should include call forwarding or voice mail, and eliminate the others.
4. More lines than staff at a location and/or more lines than buttons available on the phone.
Six lines in use with just one employee? Unless the employee is super human and can juggle six conversations at once, cancel at least 2-3 lines, or forward calls to other locations that can sufficiently handle the traffic. More lines than buttons on the phone system is a definite indicator either that lines need to be removed, or a new phone system is needed.
5. Phone numbers that cannot be identified.
A true no brainer. If no one can recognize the phone number in question, get rid of it. The phone company will never tell you to cancel, so be proactive and eliminate this waste immediately.
6. Features or voice mail on lines that aren't being used.
This is where personal surveys of users comes in handy. Find out exactly what features the end users need and use on a regular basis, then cancel features that are unnecessary, or are not being used.
7. Wire-maintenance packages on lines.
Wire maintenance is a default charge that will appear on every phone line unless you have it removed. The cost-savings for eliminating this charge far outweighs the risk of having to call a technician to fix a line. The charge will generally only cover repairs beyond the jack, so any repairs will be your responsibility.
8. LEC calling plans that were once needed still on billing records.
CSRs will reveal calling plans that may have been in use in the past, but are no longer being used. Compare your current needs with what you are being billed for and adjust accordingly.
9. Touchtone capability on inbound only lines.
For incoming lines only, eliminate features that are associated with outgoing calling.
10. Features provided by the LEC for a fee when the feature is available on the phone system.
Many phones systems are sophisticated and have built-in features that are quite useful. Examples are speed dialing and conferencing. Be sure that you are not paying the LEC for these features if your phone can handle them on its own.
Over-provisioning is one area that can yield terrific savings results. Although tedious in nature, the efforts spent tracking down the most common areas of overspending will be well worth it. For best results, engage a qualified telecom consultant to help uncover the maximum savings possible.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar