The reality of the figures tells you bluntly that this is not just a feeling. Yes, your company’s telecom costs are eating into your budget. Don’t go blaming yourself for poor management, because most SMEs are going through the same nightmare. In fact, telecoms are among the top 5 most cost-intensive items in a company’s operations. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by Aberdeen Group in 2009. In the meantime, nothing has changed for decision-makers who are reluctant to take advantage of the benefits of a virtual number. In any case, the situation is in peril. Take matters into your own hands and stop the flow of euros. To help you, here are 5 good actions to take right now.
The right skills for the right jobs
The function that demands your full attention, if you want to cut telecom line costs from your budget, is not accounting. Sound financial management of your company is an imperative, of course. But an optimal organization of skills will have the effect, among other benefits, of lowering the amount of your telephone bills. Et cela, que vous utilisiez un centrex IP ou non. How? ‘Or’ What ? What drives employees to have work-related telephone conversations is the need to obtain mission-related information. For one-off requests, this is not a problem. Conversations that last as long as a speech at the Académie française, on the other hand, are a symptom of a lack of competence on the part of the initiator. Employees who feel out of place feel the need to call on others all day long to resolve their difficulties. It would therefore be necessary to ensure the timely deployment of know-how to different positions within the company. Communications between agents would be reduced, resulting in a drop in your communications costs, even in a VoIP telephony context.
Use common sense to better control expenses
The second action that will reduce your bills is to check them carefully. Don’t just glance at the total amount quoted by the supplier. Inspect the individual rows of the table. Do the services invoiced actually correspond to the items listed in your contract? What wording can you do without without causing a tsunami across your teams? If your organization doesn’t operate in this way, another operation to be undertaken quickly is to bring together all the consumption branches of your corporate telephony tool on a single dashboard. Instead of letting the budget run all over the place, centralize the various packages on the same observation sheet. This practice provides an instant overview of cost trends. This allows you to set an alert on a threshold not to be exceeded, to avoid unpleasant surprises at the end of the month.
Use the right keys to choose the right formulas for your organization
There’s no point in aligning telecom services just for the sake of it. Make sure you select the package whose contents will actually cover your needs. Does your SME operate internationally? If not, why pay unnecessarily for a service designed for an organization with international offerings? How many calls per month does your
Each time, say to yourself: what could be better?
Here’s a reflex that will cut your monthly bill by a factor of ten. It’s a simple gesture that involves asking the question: can I do it differently? Whenever you and your colleagues need to communicate, this question will inspire you to come up with low-budget solutions. You may find yourself foolishly sending an e-mail rather than making a call, resorting to calling applications on social networks, and so on. Raising awareness of this practice among all your teams is a prerequisite for success. Keep an eye on it.
Convert to VoIP telephony
Last but not least, to reduce the erosion of your cash flow, you’ll need to switch to IP telephony. If your business still relies on traditional telephony, now is the time to embrace tomorrow’s technology. Whether you’re talking about initial investments or day-to-day running costs, you’ll achieve savings of between 50% and 90%, depending on the line of expenditure.
In conclusion
To reduce your telecom costs, you need to manage your skills more effectively, scrutinize your invoices for any aberrations that add to their cost, review the services you subscribe to, and switch to VoIP telephony. Your company’s financial health will improve.
