About half our customers are paying phone and Internet carriers for services they don’t even know they have, or may not even be using.  Does your business need a Telecom Audit?

I know that’s a bold statement, but we’ve found it to be true.  With turnover in the IT and telecom arenas many businesses find themselves having to relearn what a previous employee put into place.  One IT or Telecom Manager’s idea of simplicity is not the same as another.  Needless to say in these scenarios a company or local government customer can find that they need some real help.

There are companies in the market right now that will charge you upwards of $10,000 – 50,000 for one of these.  Be cautious.  Some will cover your wireless and some will not.  If your total telecom revenue exceeds $50,000 each and every month, paying an expert for this might make sense.  If you’re a small or medium sized business or government entity that has revenues in the IT and Telecom column that are below $20k a month you would be crazy to spend this type of money for an audit.  Right now there are many qualified individuals that will do an impromptu audit of your existing phone/voice and data services for next to nothing with an opportunity to compete for your expired services.

If you find yourself newly appointed to the telecom area of your business and need help you’ll want to find a carrier agnostic agency to support you with this.  These groups have relationships with many of the carriers and are familiar with billings from them all.  They’ll be best able to support you particularly if you see invoices from multiple carriers. 

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* Change out all of the batteries on home fire/smoke alarms

* Replace furnace air filter and have at least one back up on hand

* Lube & oil the garage door so that it’s not so noisy and continues to work for us for years to come

* Evaluate family portfolio and make sure to rebalance funds/stocks if necessary

PearlofAfrica suggests that taking dancing lessons, and going a minimum of 21 days without one complaint should be part of everyones personal list for the new year.  I’ve taken dance lessons, but haven’t done the other. 

Here’s a few off my business tune-up list:

* Organize files and begin pulling all details together for 2009 taxes

* Evaluate all expense aspects of our business to ensure things are in line for 2010.  This includes Wireless service, computer hardware and software needs, insurance, payroll, etc…

* Goals for 2010, What will we target monthly as targets?  What strategies will we take on to accomplish our goals?  

These are just a few things that I’ve been thinking hard about over the last 2-3 weeks.  Getting things tuned-up for the coming year is critical for most business owners.  When’s the last time you had a “carrier agnostic” telecom professional provide you a free tune up on your voice and data service? 

There are many groups out there today that charge for a telecom tune-up, but I’ve found that it’s not necessary to pay additional for this service.  If you can find an individual or an agency that is “carrier agnostic” they can look at your existing set up for local, long distance, wireless, Internet, WAN and all other billable telecom expenses in an un-biased way to provide you solutions for reducing your total cost.  Why hire a consultant to run some “fancy smancy” software program then pay them 50% of your savings for six months when you can work with an agency that’s just as qualified to look at your existing billings and make recommendations to you for free.  If you work with a representative from just one of the carriers your only getting solutions from a single carrier – only one piece of the pie.  Most of the “carrier agnostic” agencies don’t charge for their advice, they get paid by the carriers they represent when they place new orders for services. 

If you had your druthers, would you rather have a part-time individual at H&R Block run your tax numbers through a computer, or have a Certified Public Accountant at Wilson Downing Group LLC go through your return line by line?  Times are still tough for many business owners - if you can get better service and a greater return by working with a “carrier agnostic” agency, you should get your tune up today!