Overcoming Telecom Challenges During Business Growth | Tips & Strategies

Is your business growing and is your telecom a mess? This is a pain point for many businesses, especially when they grow via acquisition. It's not uncommon for telecom services to get lost in the shuffle amidst personnel and operational changes. In this blog, we'll discuss some of the challenges, specifically telecom billing migration and service downtime due to non-payment. We’ll also cover the importance of conducting a review of existing telecom services and capturing the details in a complete inventory.

One of the most significant issues that companies face when growing through acquisition is telecom billing migration. This can be a complicated and time-consuming process, as companies must sort through a variety of different providers, services, and billing methods. Here are some of the most important things to consider when dealing with telecom billing migration:

• Who is the provider?

The first step you should take is to determine who is providing the telecom services. Is it the actual Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or is it a Managed Service Provider (MSP) providing ISP aggregation service? This will help you understand the relationship between your business and the provider as well as the pricing structure. 

• What type of services?

The next step is to review the existing telecom services. It's important to know what services are currently in use so you can plan for any necessary upgrades or changes. It’s also important to know what services are still billing that are no longer needed and should be canceled. 

• How are the services billed - paper / electronic?

Another critical consideration is how the services are currently being billed. Is it done via paper or electronic invoices? If electronic, is there an email notification when the bill becomes available online? Who has access to the provider portals and do those contacts need to be updated? Understanding how billing is currently being handled can help you make the necessary changes to your accounts to prevent issues. 

• Where are telecom bills sent?

Knowing where bills are being sent is crucial for ensuring they are received and paid on time. If not, late fees will apply and if bills go unpaid for several months, the provider will shut down the service. It's important to have a clear understanding of this in case provider “bill to” addresses need to be updated and access to provider portals needs to be updated.

Let’s dig deeper into this last bullet because service interruptions can significantly harm your business. When you acquire a new business, it's critical to ensure that all services are paid and up-to-date. Failure to do so can result in late fees and service interruptions, which can be costly and disruptive. To avoid service interruptions, it's important to:

• Gather and review service provider invoices for all existing services.
• Make any necessary updates to provider “bill to” addresses and/or online access. 
• Keep track of provider payment due dates and ensure bills are paid on time.
• Establish clear lines of communication with service providers to ensure any issues are addressed quickly.

Telecom Inventory

After the acquisition is complete, it's important to conduct an analysis of the existing connectivity to understand what services are currently in use and if they fit the needs of the business. This will help you determine if there are changes that could be made to (1) optimize performance and (2) save money. 

• Is it good enough - is there a better option?

This includes identifying any areas where service may be lacking. Are there outdated services like MPLS or DSL in the mix? Is there an opportunity to upgrade bandwidth and reduce cost by moving to broadband? How about failover, is there a solution in place?

• After you know what you have - do you need to make a change?

Once you know what services you have, it's important to determine if any changes need to be made. This includes identifying if better options are available and if you have the necessary connectivity in place to prevent downtime, such as failover cellular. 

S2S communications is an established, Gartner-recognized MSP that handles all of this for you.  Serving as a single point of contact for your telecom services, S2S brings clarity to your inventory, provides recommendations for enhancements, and makes sure you never pay more than you should. With S2S as your MSP, ISP late fees and service interruptions due to non-payment will NEVER occur. Let us know how we can help!