Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Winter 2012)
A recent Select Telecom customer was interested in purchasing a new state-of-the-art ShoreTel IP phone system but was concerned about the cost. Even with lease terms enabling her to distribute the cost over time, it was going to be a stretch to afford the new system, so she was considering a band-aid fix to tide over her old system instead. Select Telecom stepped in with a better solution, one that enabled the customer to buy her new system without any increase to her existing monthly expenses.
How did we do it? With a free services audit that found hundreds of dollars of savings in recurring monthly charges – savings that the customer was able to apply towards the lease payments on her new system! In this particular case, Select Telecom found that the customer could save almost $500 per month by switching to different service providers with lower rates. The customer made the switch and used that extra $500/month to cover the full cost of the lease on a new ShoreTel system.
There could be hundreds of dollars in savings hiding in your monthly bills as well. As Select Telecom President Mike Durante explains, “What we’ve found over the years is that a lot of people don’t look closely at their bills. They haven’t shopped prices since they initially purchased the service, and the carriers are taking advantage of that. Sometimes you’ll get auto-renewed into a new contract that’s more than double your original price and you won’t even realize it.”
Select Telecom offers a free annual audit to all customers to provide you with additional options that could save you money every month. The process is simple and painless, and there’s no obligation to make a change until you’re ready. A Select Telecom representative will sit down with you and go over recent copies of all your monthly invoices – telephone bill, internet, data circuits, audio and video conferencing, etc. – while also discussing your current telecom service needs and your projected needs for the future. After evaluating your current services against those offered by other providers, Select Telecom will make a recommendation of the right combination of carriers to meet your business’s needs at the best cost.
Mike Durante estimates that the audit is successful in finding savings about 90% of the time. “In some cases, the customer already has the best deal they could have, but it’s rare. Even if we can’t lower your overall costs, we can usually at least get you more bandwidth at the same price.”
The audit is also an opportune time to discuss setting up a failover plan. If voice and data service is critical for your business 24/7, Select Telecom can provide you with a data box that bonds together up to 6 different services, so that if, say, your cable internet fails, you can switch automatically to DSL or a wireless card and never miss a beat. Another added benefit is that unlike most other failover systems – where the secondary service sits idle until it’s needed – the data box merges together the bandwidth of all of your services so that you’ll always get the maximize bandwidth possible from all the services you’re paying for. In some cases, you might even be able to entirely replace a costly MPLS circuit with the data box – for a large company with multiple offices, that could be a savings of over $20,000 per month.
Don’t let voice and data services drain a hole in your pocket any longer. Contact Select Telecom to setup a free audit today and make sure you’re getting the most out of your monthly recurring service dollars.