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Telecom Invoice Management - Telecom invoices have become
increasingly complicated over the last two decades. Not only
do they come in several different formats, but they can also
average over 100 pages. This is where Telecom Invoice
Management comes into play. Often, a company uses different
vendors for each service, which means that they could
receive thousands of pages per month. The average company
receives 300 invoices per month, and they are all created in
different forms. Many vendors have the option to send
billing electronically. Some, however, send bills via mail,
which can cost thousands of dollars a year in postage and
printing supplies. It is for these reasons that companies
make the effort to centralize and closely manage invoices.
Telecom billing is not, by any means, readily understandable
to the untrained person. Billing has its own language and
format, and it is never a quick process. Invoices contain
several cues with which one can determine billing errors. To
find these cues, though, invoices must be individually
reviewed each month. Most companies simply do not have the
time, money or manpower to complete this process. If a
billing error is not caught in time, it can quickly grow
into a problem that may cost you thousands of dollars. Due
to these factors, it is estimated that up to 50% of
companies today are losing money because of invoice errors.
Invoice Problems
The following are some of the most common ways in which a
company loses money because of insufficient invoice
management.
1. If a billing error has existed for a certain amount of
time (commonly, 90 days), the funds that you have been
over-billed for can become unrecoverable.
2. You may be receiving bills for services that you have
since changed or terminated. Without regularly reviewing
your updated service agreements, these errors will slip by,
costing you money.
3. Late payments are often penalized with a fee. Creating a
system to prevent late payment can save as much money as
refunding an overpayment.
4. Many businesses do not recognize the importance of
consolidating billing. Receiving too many invoices makes it
almost impossible to review each one for errors.
Invoice Management
This process involves the administration, verification, and
reconciliation of invoices. It is often difficult to manage
invoices, though, due to the fact that they are not always
computerized. The problem is only complicated when we
consider the number of vendors a company may use for several
telecom services. Each service provider has the option of
creating invoices in several formats and in varying levels
of detail. An invoice management system, once implemented,
can save you enough money to make up for its cost.
Finding the right invoice management system for your company
alleviates the burden of verifying hundreds of invoices. It
also ensures an ongoing assessment of services in the
future, and not just a quick fix for the time being. By
utilizing consultation services to accomplish your telecom
management goals, you remain free to focus on core
competencies and you can more easily navigate the
complexities of invoice management. |
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A note on Refund Systems vs. the big software
companies. Not all telecom expense management companies offer
telecom expense management solutions that fit your organization's
exact needs. In fact, many of the vendors offering telecom
expense management software approach our auditors to outsource a
telecom expense audit for their clientele. These are usually
companies that are more interested in selling telecom software than
they are in a traditional invoice audit. That's why they
outsource. At Refund Systems, we offer telecommunications consulting
services in the truest sense of the term. You may need a
software solution but we would first offer and far less expense,
less time-consuming, and more profitable traditional audit and
telecom asset management solution to minimize your cost and maximize
your profit. In short, we'd rather analyze phone bill than sell
software.
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