In the past decade, there has been a significant rise in telecom audit solutions in order to better exercise telecom expense management. The success of companies providing telecom services largely depends on aggressive cost-cutting. This is exactly where telecom expense audit comes in handy.
But what exactly is a telecom audit, and what sort of telecom audit solutions exist? Let us find that out today.
Understanding Telecom Auditing and its Need
Like every other industry, the telecom service industry is too being challenged by many factors. These including technological advancements, acquisitions, complicated billing and contracting practices, billing platforms and the likes. With these problems, the telecom costs increase that consequently aggravating the problems for the company.
This is where it becomes necessary to consider getting telecom auditing.
What is a Telecom Audit?
Organizations nowadays depend heavily on their telecommunications to manage routine operations, regulate their systems and network, handle customers, review operations, and take care of other such activities.
In order to execute the day-to-day operations, constant and efficient communication clients, resources and vendors demands the use of emails, phones, and other digital devices. All these operations and activities incur a certain expense.
At the end of the year, just like other companies go through an internal audit to inspect their accounts, a telecommunication company offering telecom services undergoes a telecom audit. The audit company analyzes the telecommunication expenses, telecom invoices, telecom bills, internet bills, wireless services, long-distance phone calls and similar costs.
What is the Benefit of Getting Telecom Audit Services?
Getting a thorough telecom audit can help telecommunication companies save hundreds and thousands of dollars every year.
Identification of Billing Errors
Auditors identify problems in the telecom bills, processes, and systems. Once those issues including billing errors improve, naturally the companies save time, effort, and tons of money.
Getting Refunds
Moreover, companies also get credits and refunds that they are probably unaware of prior to getting the detailed telecom auditing of their organization.
Any telecom company can dedicate a resource or a group of their own human resources for their telecom auditing. However, the resources may not have the auditing expertise the job demands. Hiring a full-time resource or auditing software will cost way more.
To control the additional expenditure, manage telecom spend and get the job done, companies look for telecom audit solutions. These solutions bring forth the following benefits to the company:
- Cost savings
- Efficiency
- Elaborate auditing by professionals
- Increased productivity
- Better data management
- Streamlined data
- Secure networks
- Identification of billing errors
- Foolproof telecom audit solutions
- Enhanced telecommunications
- Improved inventory management
To avail these benefits, telecommunication organizations get telecom audit solutions.
What Telecom Audit Solutions Are Available?
There are quite a number of telecom audit solutions available that businesses in the telecom industry can access. Let us take a look at them.
Manual Audit
As the name suggests, a manual audit is done by an audit service provider. It helps businesses determine their telecom assets, billing and invoice issues, and any errors that have raised the expenses.
Manual audits are very beneficial as they help review billing line items which in turn determines any circuits, lines, features, and asset charges that aren’t bringing forth any benefit to the company.
However, manually conducted audit services tend to be time-consuming and cumbersome. Plus, a manual audit may not always be successful in identifying many telecom billing errors which if fixed can save tons of money.
Auditing Software for Telecom Invoices
Auditing software is one of the most sophisticated and profitable telecom audit solutions you can get. It is a tool that helps analyze all the data pertaining to a telecom company. Once data is loaded on the software, its advanced technology reviews the data in detail and identifies the different problems and shortcomings in the telecommunication operations of the business. This includes billing errors, price issues, backlogs, inefficient cancellations, and the likes.
Enhanced Efficiency
Auditing software is more efficient as compared to manual audits. Moreover, since it is a tool, its results are faster and more accurate as compared to those provided by manual auditing services.
With an auditing software, you get a deeper understanding of the entire telecommunication operations and usage of the business along with its assets and liabilities. It also identifies future savings, but it does not help in managing future telecom spend.
Telecom Expense Management (TEM Software)
TEM stands for Telecom Expense Management in the telecommunications ecosystem. Getting TEM software is one of the most profitable telecom audit solutions a company can invest in.
Basically, TEM is the structured approach to managing, consolidating, and optimizing the telecommunication environment in order to curtail all the risks involved as well as minimize the costs. When considering TEM solutions, comparing options like FreeAgent vs Xero can provide insights into which platform better suits your company’s specific financial management needs.
Improved Cost Tracking
It is the process that helps manage and keep track of the many voice, data, and wireless services to comprehend the total telecommunication costs and expenses. It is focused on figuring out all the billing errors that may have happened. Moreover, it also does wonders in managing the future telecom spend and usage of the business.
Now that we have analyzed the three main telecom audit solutions, let us take a look at what you need to look for in a company offering telecom audit solutions.
What To Look For When Getting Telecom Audit Solutions?
Getting a thorough telecom audit is paramount for a telecommunication business, but it is tricky to select the right organization with the best telecom audit solutions. Here’s what you should look for when seeking telecom audit solutions.
1. Experience: Select a service provider that has been in the industry for at least 3 years, and is well aware of the ins and outs of the telecom industry. The more seasoned the business is, the better it will serve you.
2. Customized Telecom Audit Solutions: While the fundamental requirements of all telecom businesses are the same, every company has its own unique needs. Look for organizations that offer customized telecom audit solutions that can be tailored to suit your needs.
3. Provision of TEM Software: As we discussed above, TEM is quite helpful in figuring out telecom costs and expenditures. Plus, it also figures out the areas that can lead to improved telecom savings. Hence, ensure to onboard a company that offers a TEM software as a part of its telecom audit solutions.
4. Money-Back Guarantees: If a company offers money-back guarantees and refunds, it means it is trustworthy. before signing a contract with any telecom audit provider, ask if they offer some sort of refund or money-back guarantee.
Seek these features when getting telecom audit solutions to ascertain you get the right telecom audit services for your company and minimize its telecom expenses.
Conclusion
Telecom expenses in any telecom company account for around 5 to 20% of its total telecom spend. This totals up to thousands of dollars. If issues in these spends are identified timely, a hefty amount of money can be saved. This is best possible by getting top-notch telecom audit solutions.
