Saving money and controlling company costs are crucial to any business, and that shouldn’t mean you need to cut corners just to save a couple of bucks. One way to control your companies’ communication costs is by conducting a company-wide Phone Bill Audit.
Naturally, having a phone is an essential tool for any business, but too often you can see an increase in your company phone bill when phone carriers add on erroneous charges which increase over time. Additionally, some businesses don’t know they are being billed for services they didn’t even know they had.
Hosting a frequent phone audit can help your business uncover any unnecessary usage or expenses while also recovering any costs that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
What Is A Phone Audit?
Studies have shown that as much as 80% of phone bills from corporate businesses contain errors. Those errors can seem like small miscalculations, but they can add up to a significant amount of money over the long term.
A phone audit may seem like a labour inducive and complicated task that will take up a large amount of company time. But with an audit, businesses can evaluate, monitor and collect data on employee and company phone systems. That data can be further inspected to detect any inconsistencies and prevent future mistakes.
Related: How To Choose The Best Phone System For Your Office
How To Audit Your Phone Bill
- Delegate – Assign someone in your company to do an initial glance at your company phone bills to uncover any errors or overages. This can often catch mistakes right out of the gate.
- Simplify your audits – It can be as easy as using an Excel document that charts employee phone usage over the span of a few months in order to get the average usage. Be sure to include big-ticket items, like long-distance calls and premium line subscriptions into your chart.
- Consult your Carrier – Once that average has been calculated, be sure to discuss phone plans with your carrier that will not exceed your company average. Thus, avoiding overage fees. Often the additional upgrade charge is more cost-effective.
- Phone Log – Each employee should keep a record of phone usage. Track the date of each call, and the company or person contacted.
- Compare & Flag – At the end of the month compare your phone log with your phone bill and be sure to flag anything that does not match up with your data. Transfer any unauthorized calls into your spreadsheet and mention them to your phone company to verify that those calls where made from your phones.
- Avoid More Paperwork – Try and use electronic bills and invoices when monitoring your phone bills. Using an out-of-date paper method will only add to the stress of an audit and can often lead to more errors. Today’s bill auditing specialists use high tech programs and automation, paired with human experience and skill to give your business the savings you seek.
Related: Company Mobile Phones: To Own or Not to Own?
Make It A Habit
The best way to ensure that your bills stay consistent is to consider making an audit an on-going responsibility, rather than just a one-time occurrence. Putting a system in place that continuously monitors phone usage within a business will guarantee a minimize in overspending. It is recommended that you do an audit every few months.
When to Hire a Professional Auditor
If you are a company with limited funds, hiring an auditor has very low risk. Most auditors work on a percentage of savings and recovery, so if it turns out that you are currently paying the lowest prices for your phone plans there would be no fee for the auditor’s time.
Related: Discover 8 Other Expenses That You Could Stop Paying For Today.
A New Phone System Could Save You Money
A phone audit can be a great start to find savings in your spending, but have you considered the phone system itself? Your telecommunication provider has the goal of selling you as many traditional phone lines as possible. Whereas an office equipment provider has the sole purpose of selling you the solution that will create the most value for your organization.
At Office Interiors, we audit your phone bill for potential cost savings and discover opportunities for line consolidation. On average, our customers reduce their monthly phone bills by up to 30% when switching from traditional telecom to one of our VOIP systems. We find the system that will work best for your staff by providing you with the features and technology to keep your business running smoothly.
To schedule your free phone bill audit, contact us today!
Cody Turner
Digital Content Specialist
Office Interiors
