Since the early 2000s, telecom expense management companies were introduced and are still prevalent today. They perform standard telecom audits of company’s telecommunications services and bill 50 percent or less of the savings they uncover. Simple and straightforward.

The glaring issue that experts in this industry have noted is the prevalence of billing errors and the responsibility of finding those errors falling on the customers, not the telecom companies. Business customers, however do not just want a one-time audit. They are seeking continuous audits as many are in growth mode. They also want recommendations on service providers during this growth phase and for billing to be simplified. These needs inspired DP Access to create a new type of service which we call Audit, Invoice, Pay.

Because DP Access was the pioneer of this type of service, there have been many other service providers offering a version of a bill pay feature. However, the difference lies in the steps before and after the invoicing.

If your business has not explored this comprehensive engagement, you may be missing valuable resources and telecom service management options. Let’s look at one example:

If your company has a single location and one to three telecom invoices, you are not going to benefit greatly from what the industry now calls Consolidated Billing as a Service (CBaaS) (pronounced SEA bass).

Upon evaluating the need for CBaaS, first look at your existing process, in its full life cycle.

1. Quoting – where and how do you get your quotes for service?
2. Ordering – what is the process for placing an order or changing services?
3. Implementing – who oversees your implementation success?
4. Billing – where do the bills go, and how are they paid?
5. Auditing – how are you auditing the bills?
6. Maintaining – who do you have set up to maintain the service?

Making sure the right telecom services are ordered and set up properly is a critical step for any business. Small business owners realize early on there are gaps in proficiency when running a business. In the beginning, business owners feel must do every task in order to “make money”. What generally happens is they hire or outsource the disciplines they are weakest at, struggle through the ones they can do adequately and focus mostly on the ones they are good at..

So out of the 30+ million small to medium sized businesses, which ones are best at handling all 6 telecom process steps listed above?

The answer is none.

This is why it is probably in the best interest of an organization to look at CBaaS.

Do you have more than one location? Do you have many telecom/IT invoices? Are you short staffed?

Do you fully understand how your company gets quotes, places orders, implements services, where the billing goes, who audits it and how troubles are managed?

If you answer yes to any of the first set of questions and no to the second set, you would benefit from CBaaS.

While ordering telecom solutions has become much easier, one truth remains – relationships matter. DP Access is committed to being more than a provider. Our goal is to become a trusted partner and to work to establish that relationship with you. And that goes beyond an order for telecom services.