Finance people tell us they’re always looking for ways to cut costs. They understand their fiduciary responsibility to their organization, and the Bottom Line guides all of their decisions. They understand ROI –how much time, effort and cost it takes to bring in a dollar of profit. So, when the opportunity arises to uncover cost avoidance, they can easily translate that into cost savings that can be removed from budgets, reinvested, or redirected to other spending priorities.
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- Cost Containment needs to be an ongoing systematic effort. Each month, you can count on paying more than necessary to AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink et.al (your “CARRIERS”). ALL Carriers’ invoices contain billing errors. Identifying those errors and getting them correctedto prevent future overcharges is just the first step. Making sure those errors do not reoccur is critical. An ongoing review will ensure that, and will uncover new errors which have cropped up.
- Finance needs to drive the bus. Your best opportunity for financial benefit comes when Finance drives this initiative. If your organization doesn’t promote a mind-set of cost control, it’s probably not on IT’s radar. IT’s main focus is on purchasing carrier services to support the organization’s network requirements. Cost cutting efforts often take the form of migrating to newer technologies i.e. “better, faster, cheaper”. Rarely does IT do a deep-dive review of existing services with an eye to cut costs; it is just too much work, and not in their wheelhouse.
- Finance understands the value of having a third party do “another sift”, but your IT counterparts may not. Most finance people have engaged an outside audit firm and have achieved significant financial benefits. Yet to IT, bringing in a third party can be a sensitive subject. Protecting egos and making decisions based on anything but the bottom line can be very expensive to an organization. Somehow, cost-containment is seen as part of IT’s job, yet IT people rarely have this skill-set.
It’s impossible to control costs which you don’t understand. If you’re in Finance in your organization, it’s important to know where to turn for cost savings that you shouldn’t overlook.
IT isn’t your go-to. They’re focused on function, not cost. And the highly technical language they speak can leave you in the dark. Many “auditors” are second-rate when it comes to overcharge recovery. They will find some cost savings, but they likely won’t pursue the really really tough stuff. IT contracts can be complex, and often require the eye of a contract expert to recover the full financial benefit to which your organization is entitled.
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Overcharge Recovery Group – Helping Organizations Control Costs on Data, Voice, and Wireless AND Recover Overcharges with No Risk to You
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