We see many organizations pay their Telecom bills on trend. If the bill is about the same as last month, it gets paid. This sounds like an efficient practice. Let’s face it, going through Telecom bills is about as much fun as watching paint dry.
But what happens when you have some services that have been in place for years? Then, add some staff turnover into the mix and chances are you are overpaying for a service that you are afraid to touch. Nobody wants to pull the plug as there could be some dependency on this service which would cause a massive melt-down if removed.
Consider this. In the September 2018 Economic News Release, published by the US Bureau of Labor found the median employee tenure to be 4.6 years and the median tenure for workers between 25 to 34 years of age is 3.2 years. Therefore, it is likely that employees will be turning over in about 5 years or less (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm). It is fairly easy to lose this history behind these services.
Furthermore, advances in technology have made things cheaper. For example, look at Long Distance calling. This rate has dropped considerably over the past 10 years. The rate for a North American Call now is approaching zero. The same is true with Conference Calling, a service that use to be very expensive. But thanks to newer technology, the rate is far less and the service has improved to include video and desktop sharing options, to name a few.
Given vendors are providing services with more features for less money combined with employee turn-over every few years, there is a high probability that many organizations are over-paying. So by paying on trend, many companies are doing themselves a disservice.
The solution is to actively track billing and talk to your vendors about pricing and services each year. By actively tracking services, there is a greater probability of preserving important information used to make better and more confident decisions. Plus, the information can then be passed on to the next responsible person/team. By touching base with your vendor(s), you can leverage their knowledge and act on any favourable changes in market pricing. At the end of the day, you must take responsibility for your billing.