When was the last time you ran an audit on your telecom? Don’t be ashamed if the answer was a long time ago, or never. The truth is most companies don’t run a telecom expense audit unless their invoices are at least 10% over their usual monthly amount.

Wait, 10% of the usual monthly amount? And what if the monthly invoice is wrong to begin with.

Telecom invoices are difficult to read, complicated to track down, and often create more headache than they are worth. Which is why most companies ignore audits until a larger than usual invoice is delivered. Auditing telecom invoices can save a company a lot of money, though. So instead of ignoring cost savings, here’s what you can do instead.

Overall purpose

Telecom expense audits can cost time and resources, which is why we are not surprised businesses do not conduct audits more often. However, the primary initiative of any audit is to review your expenses and usage. Carriers make mistakes in charges, and companies have the responsibility to catch them.

In fact, 85% of carrier mischarges are costing businesses more money.

Also, businesses grow and change rapidly. Mobility and telecom is no different. So, a telecom expense audit is necessary to make sure your contract is working for you. That means verifying there are not overages that are unnecessary, or even the service you have is what you need.

An audit will provide information to be proactive about business telecom needs.

Telecom expense audit checklist

To begin with, an audit will look at several different aspects of your telecom expenses and usage. The first important aspect of any telecom expense audit is inventory assessment. While IT probably has a document saved somewhere that has asset numbers and employee assignments listed, the accuracy of a list is often questionable.

It’s not IT’s fault. It’s not HR’s fault. The fact is telecom has a lot of moving pieces. Taking a simple survey of your employees, asking what devices they have and which numbers are in use, will verify if the document is accurate. And if the document has some errors, it’s a simple way to clean them up. Not only will this get you organized, but inventory is an important starting point for any audit.

After a thorough review of inventory is completed, staff can now review invoices for any inaccuracies. And we bet there will be at least a few. Carriers are under no obligation to verify or audit a company’s telecom usage, so reviews of invoices are necessary to recover any money. When conducting an audit, review invoices over an extended period to cover any reoccurring charges that are inaccurate.

Finally, review the contract language thoroughly. Verify you are receiving the service you are paying for, and make sure the service is still what your company needs. Compare telecom contracts with business strategy to ensure cohesion, and that your mobility contract will continue to support your business initiatives.

Using audit results

The results are in, and we bet you have saved a chunk of money. It was worth all the time and labor, as the bottom line gets some padding.

But it doesn’t end with an audit. Unless you are a small business with little telecom/mobility, the environment is complex and changing rapidly. That means an audit once every few years will not be enough to keep yourself from paying unnecessary expenses.

That’s where telecom expense management comes into play. The invoices are clean, the inventory is accurate, and now it’s time for staff to monitor invoices on a regular basis to catch overages and inaccurate charges. As well as keep the inventory document up to date with all employee and device changes.

Once again, Finance and IT will shuffle telecom review back and forth as neither has the resources or desire to spend time keeping both inventory and invoices clean and accurate. But no worries, that’s where a Telecom Expense Management company can benefit and save you money. Rather than having an internal staff member review each invoice and track every device, a TEM uses software to keep inventory accurate while watching expenses and usage in real time.

Real time data which means catching expenses and saving money before the money is sent to the carrier.

In fact, most TEM and Mobility Management Services will perform an initial audit. Armed with data, a TEM will assist strategy regarding carrier contracts and device management to save the most money while keeping inventory and invoices clean. Rather than having to run a telecom expense audit regularly, or pushing management between two departments, a TEM can save your business time and money.

Let us help

MobileWare is a national leader in Telecom Expense Management and Mobility Management Services. Our white glove service and Maestro platform will save your business time and money. Click here to read how confident we are that we can save you money.