Company description::
Like many accounts payable managers, Jim received big, bewildering phone bills every month. He was responsible for approving the invoices for payment, yet really didn’t feel that he had a handle on what, exactly, he was paying for – for his company’s phone system, long-distance calls, and staff cell phone usage. When he read through the pages, the costs listed and the terminology used were so baffling that he always gave up in frustration. It had gotten to the point that he simply okayed the bills for payment without even attempting to understand the amounts he was approving.
Then he heard about a phone auditing company that provided a free initial telecom audit of telecommunications invoices. He called them and learned that there was no obligation, and that he could find out once and for all whether his company was being overcharged. Jim decided to take them up on their offer to review a month’s worth of bills to see if his company’s monthly charges were appropriate. With a sigh of relief, Jim boxed up last month’s bills and shipped them off.
A week later, he got the call that confirmed his uneasy feeling: yes, there was a substantial amount of savings to be had. He signed a contract that gave the phone bill auditor the authority to deal with Jim’s company’s phone providers. The telecom auditing company would be paid a percentage of any savings they achieved, which didn’t cost Jim’s company anything out of pocket. Only if the auditors saved Jim’s company money would there be any financial obligation. In order to whittle away unnecessary expenses, the auditors needed more bills and copies of the current contracts Jim had with his various phone system providers.
A short time later, the phone bill audit revealed that the long-distance carrier was charging Jim’s company fees that were specifically supposed to be waived according to their contract. The local phone company had been charging for lines that had been disconnected eight months earlier. Employees were using any wireless plan they wanted, running up monthly costs in excess of $600 in completely unnecessary charges. The total savings amounted to nearly $1,400 every single month that Jim should not have been paying.
After the telecom auditors worked with Jim’s company’s providers to get credits for overpayments, Jim’s monthly phone invoices shrunk to a manageable size. More importantly, he actually understood what he was paying for and felt confident about signing off on the bills for payment. He sent the auditors checks that were much smaller than the amounts he had been paying every month, and was recognized by his boss for his accomplishments in saving the company considerable money.
All in all, it was a win-win situation. If you’re in the same boat as Jim, check into an audit of your company’s telecommunications invoices today. There’s no risk, and chances are, you’ll be saving your company a bunch of money. Is your budget really so plentiful that you can afford to keep paying for services you aren’t getting?
Mark Evans is President of Bottaboom.com, a national telecom audit firm that’s been saving organizations considerable money for years. Call 1-866-FOR-BOOM (367-2666) or check out their web site at www.bottaboom.com for details. |
