Your phones are pricey paperweights
Save money with every conference call by moving from traditional conference-calling services to Web-based providers.
It's hard for even small companies to get a clear picture of what they're spending on equipment, services, support, and logistics. Harder still is to measure these costs against productivity and the bottom line.
Ann Sorensen of Intelligent Networks says that most companies throw away money by the fistful because they can't keep track of all their equipment, contracts, and bills. The logistics for cost analysis can be a nightmare. Sorensen experienced this in the process of upgrading her insurance company client's networking and telecommunications system.
"This insurance company is moving a lot of its workers out of the corporate offices and into home offices," Sorensen says. "For this reason, we're looking into putting in telework equipment so that employees can dial into the main network and it will seem almost as if they're working in the office.
"When we first looked into this, we realised that we [could not] implement this system because the PBX phone system is antiquated." With the old system, a telecom technician spent hours every week moving handsets around the office. Worse, the outdated Siemens system cost about $60,000 a year to maintain.
Ditching the old way for a more modern IP-based PBX would allow workers to dial in, and it would cost less. A network-based system from Interactive Intelligence works with the existing PBX system and would cost the insurance company about $200,000â€"with a yearly maintenance cost of less than $10,000.
Phone lines are another cash drain, says Sorensen, whose team test-calls every phone line in every one of their customers' facilities. They've found that 30 percent of the phone lines that turn up questionableâ€"no one answers or they give a busy signalâ€"lead to nowhere. "If an employee leaves or a line is moved, the company forgets to alert the service provider, or they aren't able to check that the changes have been made. So the company is getting billed for nonexistent lines," says Sorensen. "That's only about $40 per month per line, but it really adds up."
Once these internal costs are cornered and tamed, you'll want to analyse what you're spending for outside services. Most PBX-based phone systems can't handle sophisticated conference calling, for example, so companies have to go elsewhere for this crucial feature. But it doesn't come cheap.
"When you're doing conference calling through a service, you're paying 30, 40, 50 cents per minute, per leg, per userâ€"that's expensive," says Mark Winther, group VP of worldwide telecommunications at IDC. For a 30-minute phone call with five participants, that works out to a minimum of $45 per call.
Belarc, a company that provides PC-management software, has three sales offices and a team of remote software developers. Conference calls were crucial to keeping everyone informed, but the company found it could no longer afford its old conference-calling system. "We used to employ a traditional conference-call service," says Belarc chairman Sumin Tchen (pictured). "We had a PBX phone system, but we had people working across the country, so not everyone was on the same system. To make conference calls, we would have to arrange the conference call time, distribute an 800 number and a pass code, and have everyone dial in at a certain time. The system worked fine, but we were paying 24 cents a minute per line, per person to use it."
Then Tchen heard about a service called eDial, which provides Web-based conference calling for one-third the price. "Switching to eDial was a no-brainer: 8 cents a minute vs. 24 cents. eDial does give you a bit more control and it's easier to set up, but those are minor issues compared to the cost savings."
eDial and other Internet telephony services such as Acallto and Evoke Communications enhance your existing telephone system with easy-to-use, inexpensive conference-calling capabilities. With eDial (which will soon also offer a hardware system for enterprises) you can dial a number through a Web interface by clicking on a person's e-mail address in contact software such as Microsoft Outlook, GoldMine, or Maximizer. You can conference call without being forced to buy expensive bridges or pay a premium to a service provider.
For small-business owners, maintaining a huge PBX system may not even be an issue. But you can still save money by keeping your service agreements up to date. Avoid signing long-term contracts or long-distance service agreements, says tech consultant Patten: "Reevaluate your phone and Internet service agreements every year because you'll frequently find you can save money or get special deals from one year to the next."
For a professional evaluation of your communications, consultants like Teletron and Intelligent Networks will audit your office for you, including your phone system and long-distance plans. Intelligent Networks boasts an average 26 percent reduction in overall annual expenditures for its customers, and it offers a guarantee that it will reduce your company's operating expenses by 150 percent of its fee or it will refund the difference.
