Good Planning Now Leads to Lower Telecom Costs Later
I know this sounds like something your mother would tell you, but looking ahead and making good decisions in the present can lead to good things in the future. As 2010 starts to wind down in its fourth quarter, firms are making decisions about what to spend, and what NOT to spend, in 2011. Essentially, it’s budgeting time for many departments, and with IT costs set to rise with Windows 7 deployment, increasing security issues, and higher demands for wireless devices and data plans, finding ways to save money before you spend it is not a bad idea.
Top areas where your IT department could cut telecom costs next year
- Get a handle on your telecom inventory – Make sure what you have is what you are paying for
- Perform a complete telecom invoice audit – Make sure that you’re paying what your contract says you should pay
- Streamline the paying of your telecom invoices by going“green”. Get invoices electronically on the front end from your vendors and pay them electronically on the back end when you can. Save paper, save checks, save time, save money.
- Reduce your wireless expenses by standardizing on phones and plans, and verifying that usage is withing company policy
- Plan to renegotiate your telecom contracts when they come due. Better yet, get some benchmarking data from a telecom expense management firm so you know exactly what you COULD be paying.
And the easiest decision that can help you cut telecommunication costs for next year is to contract with a firm like Valicom, as we can do all this for you.