
You've just received your first invoice. Be it for wireline, wireless, IP, data, long distance, or any invoice (telecom related or not)....it's finally arrived. Your next step is to pay it, right? Fairly simple process. It looks correct then it must be correct. You pause, and then the thought crosses your mind. Should you take the time to read and understand your charges. Your phone is ringing, and a colleague just walked in to discuss a potential problem. You still have to get ready for your meeting. So, you take one last look at the bill and put it through for your company's internal payment process. You tell yourself that you will go back and look at it in more detail later today! NOT likely. A good majority of us have the best intentions, but life and time just simply gets away from us.
A little story to share. A year or so back, I had negotiated a long distance rate for a customer. The contract was signed and I advised the customer to monitor their first invoice to ensure that the correct rate had been applied.
3 months later after several reminders to the customer to check their invoice, it was discovered that the rate had not been applied after all. I worked with the vendor to obtain a credit and ensure that the rate was finally added for the customer. Needless to say, I now pull variance reports for this customer and have further developed the trust that we initially shared.
Some companies do not have the in-house expertise to take the time to ensure that their invoices are correct. There are a lot of ebilling tools available today that can help with invoice management. Some are free of charge; others are more in-depth managed services. All are great tools at your disposal.
In my opinion, any and all are worth the effort to help you reduce your costs and reap immediate benefits!