2009 TechNO Expo

These may be challenging economic times, but if you have older technology or service contracts that need to be replaced or upgraded, there is no better time than now to buy new technology and services.

It is a rare organization that really understands what they have in terms of telecom inventory and the related costs. For example, I’m currently working with an out-of-state client that spends $1.5 million annually on cellular services. They have no clear idea how many phones are in use or the plans or contracts currently in place. No one has ever managed these critical services—accounting staff has just kept paying the bills every month. A preliminary “pre-audit” estimate suggests they will save 15 to 20 percent per year just negotiating a new contract with a lower cost per minute.

To get a handle on expenses, companies must establish technology platform “owners” who have overall responsibility for the specific technology and the attendant costs. The owner has to be ultimately accountable for understanding their technology infrastructure and:

• Creating and enforcing policies and standards
• Developing strategic plans
• Managing vendor relationships and contracting
• Providing support services
• Developing and managing capital and operating budgets

Not an easy job but absolutely necessary to control and reduce expenses.

Marc Agar, president, CA Communications, Inc., Wayzata

To effectively manage telecom costs, figure out what you have; this would include finding contracts to determine length and pricing, documenting equipment at all of your sites, finding out what equipment is under warranty, if you have any special service agreements in place with vendors, and checking your bills to see if what you are paying each month measures up to what was promised on your contract.

What makes telecom bills complex is that most customers don’t have an understanding of what they have for services and products. It is difficult for them to verify they are being billed the correct amount.

I would suggest bringing in a telecom expert first to help you gather this information. Then the expert can make recommendations to either upgrade to a better, faster, and less expensive product, disconnect circuits or lines that you are no longer using, establish a system to track all of your telecom assets, and lastly to negotiate on your behalf with the carriers to get you the best terms, pricing, and service agreements. For example, we provide many of our clients with a Web portal that allows them to track all of their telecom assets; local, long distance, data and Internet circuits, phone systems, routers, servers, etcetera.

Voice and data networks are converging and wireless is ubiquitous, which makes security and data backups critical components to staying in business. Most of these things can be outsourced, but depending on the complexity of your set up, some things may be better managed in house.