Let’s face it! In the current economic environment, all nonprofit and charitable organizations are finding it increasingly more difficult to compete for the same disposable dollar. All are being tasked with looking internally for budget cuts in order to maintain the bottom line.
A trending approach is to identify waste in the current budget and reallocate those dollars to fund other organization initiatives.
One of the most successful ways of doing this is to look at the fastest changing sectors of nonprofit’s operations. This includes technology, and, more specifically, carrier services and equipment maintenance costs. Savings for a telecom expense audit typically range between 15 to 35 percent.
Industry statistics cite that nearly one in three carrier invoices contain costly errors and more often than not, equipment maintenance contracts are poorly managed over time. In response, nonprofits are turning to third party consultants who specialize in auditing and managing telecom expense by identifying billing errors, waste and opportunity in an organizations current telecom spend. They outsource this process because the learning curve associated with conducting an efficient and effective telecom audit make it impractical to conduct it themselves. Those organizations that attempt an internal audit telecom expense could be leaving significant dollars on the table.
Watch for ERRORS
Errors frequently occur at the time services are ordered or disconnected incorrectly and when identified, present opportunity for credits or refunds.
Watch for WASTE
Waste is the result of neglect in part by lack of IT resources that are too thinly spread and heavily tasked with keeping the operation going. Eliminating waste means a reduction in expense.
Watch for OPPORTUNITY
Opportunities arise when there is clear visibility regarding where an organization’s telecom dollars are being spent Additionally, opportunities occur by leveraging technology that reduces costs and creates operation efficiencies through a technology refresh and carrier renegotiations.
The best part outsourcing these projects is that there is no upfront cost to the organization!
Compensation is paid as a pre-negotiated percentage of credits, refunds and reductions. Keep in mind that the longer errors and waste go undetected or undisputed, the organization will experience even greater losses or unrecoverable money.
