Have you checked that phone bill? You could be losing money!

The number and complexity of bills that corporate executives receive from telecommunications companies can be daunting. Yet taking the time to formally review these expenses often can be worthwhile, revealing room for continued savings.

Consider the example of Central DuPage Health Systems, a health system based in Winfield, IL, which includes Central DuPage Hospital, several outpatient treatment centers, an imaging center, medical offices, and senior living, home health, and hospice services. They have about 1,000 phone and data lines, which service dozens of locations. Traditionally, the provider would receive more than 150 phone bills a month from its local phone carrier.

After weighing its options, Central DuPage Health Systems switched its integrated communications provider to CIMCO Communications. They now receive a single, customized bill on-line. The web-based feature allows billing to be organized by location, cost center, and department, which saves time and the administrative expense of analyzing and distributing monthly service and use charges to each of its outlets. The new billing format also helped the system discover that it was paying for about 10 lines that were actually serving other businesses and that nearly 50 lines within its offices were not being used at all. As a result of the elimination of the errant and unused lines, Central DuPage Health Systems estimates a monthly savings of $20,000 to $25,000.

What Can You Do?
The following actions can help promote cost-effective telecommunications management and are all available through CIMCO:

• Request one bill that combines local, long distance, and Internet service. Consolidation can help decrease the time and money associated with billing management and reduces the potential for distractions.
• Choose a billing format that delineates switched, dedicated, 800, calling-card, data, Internet, and teleconferencing services. Identifying use trends in this manner is important for monitoring your line inventory and understanding how you use the lines.
• Research customized billing features that can simplify billing for offsite locations. Examples include branch reporting, cost-center reporting, and custom-line descriptions.
• Make use of technology that provides you with the ability to search and sort your invoice by line detail, geographic area, cost center, department, and office facility.

Although reviewing communication services may not seem like the most appealing task, potential for improving billing operations and discovering cost savings can be substantial. Companies that periodically review these services position themselves for long-term cost-efficiency.