THE BOTTOM LINE
Lowering the Expense of the Communicating
By Liese Hutchison
Every company
needs a phone line to talk to customers, vendors, employees and
shareholders. It probably needs a fax line. How about Internet
access? Three-way calling, call forwarding, voice mail systems,
conference calls and even video conferencing are standard requirements
for most businesses today. The costs of these telephony necessities
don't have to hurt the company's bottom line.
George
Putney, vice president and general manager for NEXTLINK in St.
Louis, says a company should answer a few questions about its
needs before signing up with a carrier:
- What
is the current requirement of the company? Is it voice service
only or does the business need Internet access, local and long
distance?
- What
are the future communication requirements? A company must determine
if it's planning on expanding or contracting in its existing
location or whether it will open branch facilities.
- Is
bundling the way to go? That means using a vendor that offers
Internet, local and long distance services.
- Does
the business need voice mail, conference calling or video conferencing
systems?
- What
type of personal customer service will the company need from
its carrier throughout the contract?
NEXTLINK
initiated services in St. Louis last December. The national telecom
company employs 50 people in the region and plans to double that
number within the year. "We're the only facilities-based
carrier in the region other than Southwestern Bell," Putney explains.
"What that means is that we employ our own switch, and we've also
laid fiber in a ring around St. Louis." The company currently
offers services to commercial clients only.
Once
a company answers the above questions, what can it do to ensure
it doesn't spend too much on its telephone services? Putney offers
several suggestions. "First, compare business line costs. Some
companies charge by calling areas and others by a flat rate no
matter where the office or offices are located. The benefit of
a flat rate is a consistent rate pattern," he points out. Another
way to save money is to use a carrier that doesn't charge toll
costs when crossing various calling areas.
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Fast
Facts
on Business Phones
- Businesses
use 57 million access lines in the United States
- Businesses
in Missouri use 1.2 access liness
- The
average basic rate for a business with multiple lines
is $60.39 per month, less than a $2 increase in the last
10 years
- The
average basic rate for a business with a single line is
$41 per month, less than a 10 percent increase in the
last 10 years
- The
nationwide average telecom expenditure per business is
$2,500 per month
- On
average, voice services equal 45 percent of a company's
total communications budget
- On
average, data services (high-capacity access, data and
Internet) equal 35 percent of a company's total communications
budget
Sources:
United States Telephone Association and MCS
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Going to one
vendor for several needs also saves money. "The bundling of services
allows the company to have one access method, typically with a
T1 line. This reduces access costs, because you have one access
line for Internet, local and long distance. It also saves money
because it reduces paperwork and time--you don't have to deal
with multiple vendors," Putney says.
A business
should also check its phone costs to determine how it's being
billed. If the carrier rounds up to the nearest minute versus
charging in six-second increments with no minimum, the rounding
up can add significant costs to the bill.
Finally,
Putney recommends that companies look for volume discounts. "The
higher dollar amount a company spends, the more of a volume discount
it should receive," he states.
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