Telecom Audit Business Is Booming – What to Know Before You Jump In

“Onboarding” customers’ expense data. Enterprises never have their telecom expense data ready to be audited. Not only is the data often hard to find, it usually exists in the form of telecom carrier invoices. And, these come in different formats and media (e.g., PDF, web-based, EDI, paper). Thus, when a consultant starts a new telecom audit, it usually requires a laborious process of finding, formatting, consolidating and organizing this data.

Finding money-saving recommendations quickly. Once the data is available, you need auditing tools that can perform a standard set of data analysis routines. An example would be the ability to automatically flag duplicative services, or charges for services that are no longer in use. If you rely on spreadsheets and manual analysis, you’re essentially recreating the wheel each time you perform an audit, and you can never grow your services cost-effective.

Reporting and dashboard capabilities. Key is having the ability to easily share data with enterprise customers. Once the onboarding of customer data is done, reporting and dashboard capabilities let channel partners share data with their enterprise customers. Providing this type of cost visibility can become a value-added service to customers and set the stage for regular “expense check-ups.” Acquiring these capabilities requires some upfront investment. Good news – there are excellent SaaS telecom lifecycle management solutions  available. They provide the functionality needed to support a telecom audit business offering. With the right solution, they can reduce the revenue collection cycle by at least 25% to 40%.

From vendor to “trusted adviser.”. We all want to become our customer’s trusted adviser – someone they go to solve important issues. What better way to make that transition by providing actionable data and visibility into their telecom expenses? Imagine the opportunities created to offer recommendations on migrating to new services or offer advice on network transformation initiatives? With a strong back-office foundation, the possibilities are endless.