Our
Baseline Audit and Recovery service is designed to help companies who
want to find and correct potentially costly problems which have crept
into their telecom billing and their service management efforts. Here
are a few Q&A elements that help explain what we do and how we do it.
Typically,
we allocate 10-15 days to assemble all of the client invoices, contracts
and related source materials. Following that, we project a similar timeframe
to assemble vendor source materials, although some materials can take
longer. Audit analysis and client review of findings can be performed
in about 30 days. Where we identify overpayments, requests are submitted
to vendors, which will typically appear within 1-2 billing cycles. Some
recoveries are more complex and may require escalation within the carrier.
Clients with greater than $5 million in annual spending may require some
sequencing of spend categories.
We
recognize that you brought us in to get a quality job done without tying
up your internal resources. As a result, we ask our clients to accept
two key responsibilities. The first is to provide us with primary account
information such as invoices, contracts and location lists. That allows
us to gather additional materials from the vendor and perform the audit
analysis. The second responsibility is to review the findings that we
bring forward, and to accept or decline our recommendations on a timely
basis. That allows us to efficiently begin generating savings for you.
Our
Letter of Agency agreement with you is "information only." While we can
request refunds on your behalf, we are not authorized to make service
changes. Instead, we provide you with the information and support you
need to request any service changes that the audit demonstrates will lower
your costs.
TelAssess
will take full responsibility for identifying overpayments and requesting
related refunds or credits on behalf of the client, then insuring they
are properly applied to the invoices.
We
believe an audit should do more than just put money in your pocket. At
the conclusion of our audit we will provide the client with a comprehensive
Service Inventory Report that details all of the vendors, circuits and
services that we have audited. This report becomes an excellent baseline
for ongoing telecom cost management. We also provide a Telecom Savings
Report that details each of our findings and the results of those findings.
Yes,
but we are certain we can do it better and faster. There are so many nooks
and crannies where overpayments can be found, that it is beyond the capability
of most businesses to find them all. It's no secret that slogging through
stacks of invoices and rate codes is not "sexy" work, and it's hard for
companies to tackle this task, especially if they have tightened the belt
on human capital. Our proprietary automated processes and tools make this
detective work more efficient.
Some
state tariffs are more favorable to consumers than others. Many states
even have statutes of limitations that limit the requirements on issuing
credits. But companies should beware that we are seeing more and more
vendors attempt to add contract language which limits their liability
to just 6 months, which TelAssess vehemently opposes!
For now, most carriers are comfortable granting refunds back two years. But the two year timeline can also be greatly extended in select cases. On a recent audit we secured a refund for five years and eleven months where the mileage being applied to a T1 span was inaccurate. That small error of just $55 per month returned over $3,000 back to the client.
If you are considered to be an important customer to a vendor, they may be willing to go back further than their standard policy provides for. The key to a successful recovery is to be accurate and complete in documentation of the claim, persuasive in the presentation, and persistent in pursuing the longest possible duration.
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