These moves are in response to a recent study by the FCC, which found that 30 million people have experienced some form of bill shock, typically $98 in overage fees, and as much as $8,553 for unspecified data usage. The FCC study also found that some individual complaints have even been as large as $68,505 in unexpected overage fees.

If this is what’s happening on the consumer level, imagine the overages phone companies routinely charge to global corporations, where telecom spending is one of the largest components of the enterprise expense budget (as much as 4 to 10 percent).

Companies typically receive phone book-sized telecom bills each month and have virtually no checks on their accuracy, and no framework to understand whether their telecom service is properly utilized. However, there are a few simple things companies can do to better anticipate, track and control their overall usage and correct billing errors while keeping pace with the latest mobile technologies.

For both individuals and companies, one must know what the baseline mobile usage figures are.  Implementing a comprehensive inventory and usage management system is central to gaining and maintaining control over mobile usage. These systems track who is using which devices, how much cost they are incurring and what their pattern of usage is. When coupled with effective policy enforcement (e.g. device/plan selection, rate plan optimization and identifying unapproved use) companies can reduce their costs, improve policy compliance and reduce bill shock risk without impacting usability.

You can’t manage or find errors in what you don’t track usage-wise. Given the rapid growth of mobile usage within corporations, it is critical to monitor different types of mobile usage for cost control, security and policy management reasons. Managing by department in particular gives line managers the insight and incentive they need to control the usage patterns of their user groups.

However, capturing the information is only the first step. It is critical that information be made available to the budget holders and the individuals that are actually using devices in order to drive maximum benefit. Everyone must understand what the base usage costs are so that discrepancies can be discovered quickly and resolved.

This process provides multiple layers of oversight that work with one another in order to understand and monitor usage. In addition to this process, companies should survey the telecom needs of their employees to streamline usage from top to bottom and to avoid being oversold by providers.

The following steps provide both short-term financial boost and long-term cost reductions. These steps can streamline the telecom budget with resulting baseline operational costs reduction.  They also provide greater oversight and reduced bill shock risk exposure while equipping your workforce with the best technology for the job.

• Survey the technology and services  in every category where you have visibility
Look at both the internal communications structure and the mobile structure of the company and the work force. Internal and external communications must be consolidated. Most of your large expenditures should be defined by contract. Review your contracts to determine if there are openings in the contracts that allow you to take action. 

• Include employees in the reduction and optimization efforts
Consider distributing the corporate responsibility of your telecom expense management. If you bracket it during the period when you need the help most, you will find everyone can gather together and push forward, leaving old habits and biases behind. 

• Negotiate with your service providers to maximize your ROI
The best way to achieve this is by hiring expertise to negotiate the price and terms of telecom contracts on your behalf. This will force providers to compete and will drive down the final cost of the contract. This is similar to hiring a consultant to do your taxes, to find the most possible deductions.

Prepaid gives any small company the best option for controlling costs and avoiding prior credit issues.  Here are some reasons why companies may implement a prepaid cell phone plan.

 -          limited budget imposed by boss

-          the carrier doesn’t consider them apt for a postpay account

-          company does not want to be tied to a long term contract

-          company does not want to share personal information because of security and tax purposes

Spiritel Wireless is expanding its prepaid offering and would love to assist you in reducing your cell phone bill. For more information, please give us a call at 866-770-0300.

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For the past seven years Spiritel Solutions has been dedicated to helping our clients reduce telecom expenses. Our team of experts have successfully helped companies reduce their annual telecom spend by an average of 30% or more. Spiritel also provides telecom analysis and consultation that is guaranteed to lower costs for all types of voice, data and Internet service. For a free consultation, please visit us at http://www.spiritelsolutions.com or give us a call at 866-770-0300.

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If you are looking for an unlimited voice, text and data plan, at an aggressive rate, then you should check out the offer from Payless Cellular. For $89.99 per month on a 2 year agreement, you can talk, text and surf the web right from your super smart BlackBerry Curve 8330. This offer is available for a limited time but is guaranteed to save your company money compared to other carriers. The service is provided by one of the largest nationwide CDMA carriers and comes with outstanding customer support from a respected MVNO.

Along with the excellent rates on unlimited plans, Payless Cellular also offers tremendous savings for companies with at least 10 handsets. Payless Cellular will analyze your phone bill and come up with a customized data plan designed to drive down the cost of your cell phone service. Payless Cellular is able to pool cell minutes so that your company eliminates overage fees and surprise charges.

Payless Cellular also offers the best pre-paid plans in the industry. It may be in your best interest to mix and match cell phone plans based on the end user plan requirements. This way each employee optimizes cell phone minutes resulting in big savings. With cell phone optimization, your company will continue to save a bundle of cash each and every month. If you want to save 30% or more on your cell phone bill, then please give us a call at 866-770-0300 to discuss your cell phone plan options.

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For the past seven years Spiritel Solutions has been dedicated to helping our clients reduce telecom expenses. Our team of experts have successfully helped companies reduce their annual telecom spend by an average of 30% or more. Spiritel also provides telecom analysis and consultation that is guaranteed to lower costs for all types of voice, data and Internet service. For a free consultation, please visit us at http://www.spiritelsolutions.com or give us a call at 866-770-0300.