The Importance of Networks and Immediate Actions to
Improve Your Costs
Communication networks have become a strategic and indispensable asset for business operations. Ensuring efficient operation is imperative and provides an effective foundation to support current and future business needs. However, challenges arise due to continuous technological changes and associated costs, inherited contractual terms, and an inherently complex communications industry.
In this document, we will cover key topics such as:
- The role of networks in the current crisis, their significant importance at this time, and an introduction to their operation.
- How you can save money in the short term to help sustain your business while the COVID crisis is putting pressure on your business.
Connectivity is Fundamental
One thing we have learned fairly quickly through the crisis is that the network is essential for us. What seemed to be a commodity where we simply connected in the office and eventually at home has risen to become a strategic and fundamental asset.
- Connectivity is fundamental to enable business continuity and socialization for people staying at home.
- The network is allowing us not only to connect, make voice calls, to manage everything we are doing from a business perspective, and it really is the foundation for businesses to transact business.
- It has also become a fabric of socialization, just as we are all connecting virtually, so much so that the use of collaboration solutions has skyrocketed, and most operators are recording historical usage of up to 2 or 3 times overnight.
The demand for mobile bandwidth has soared
In the situation we are going through, staying at home does not mean that business stops; on the contrary, the use of mobile devices has been the backup network for most companies and has allowed them to continue their operation.
In the midst of the bad things about the crisis, we have seen positively that mobile networks have performed very well despite the dramatic increase in usage:
- in terms of both voice and data;
- data usage increases as phones access business and collaboration applications;
- mobile phones have acted as a good quality backup or even a priority connection at home.
In this new environment of many connected devices with multiple interests competing for bandwidth at home, it has driven data usage and capacity on their mobile devices.
Commerce through Contact Centers IS THE NEW face of business
Likewise, there is a dependence between the network and the solutions to handle all these changes in business and the way of contacting customers, and this has made Contact Centers become a critical enabler along with the Network to keep business moving.
Every day more commercial transactions are moved to Contact Centers and the Internet:
- from how we buy,
- how we order,
- how we expect delivery, etc.
Likewise, Contact Centers rely on strong network connectivity to remain operational and must provide solutions to support social distancing requirements and quickly enable remote agents at home and direct connection with the applications that support the business.
Almost all traditional businesses are moving to Contact Centers.
Quick actions to take to improve your Network costs
Most companies are trying to save cash right now, as due to the COVID crisis, their revenues and ability to work productively have been affected.
Some of the actions you can think of in terms of quick cost reduction on the network side, which have shown cost reductions of up to 30%, are:
Request help from your providers
This is really an opportunity to test the relationship you have with your provider ecosystem:
- Keep open lines of communication with your providers: if your service provider hasn’t done so yet, reach out to them; leverage your account executive to ask questions; make sure you are at the top of their priority list; ensure they understand what your current business challenges and opportunities are, and that they are working proactively to help you solve the problems you have.
- Notify: Let them know that you count on them to be very responsive to your needs, but also be proactive in identifying potential problems (helping you avoid and suggest opportunities to reduce costs).
- Adjust your contract: Most service providers are willing to adjust terms such as extended payment terms, accelerated implementations, minimized minimum usage charges, access or removal of services, and application of best practices.
Flex your contracts
First, make sure to dust off your contracts and know what they contain. One of the most important things is to know what the Deliverables and Obligations of the contracts are. Probably the most relevant clause is the business recession or business continuity provisions.
- Know your contract: review service provider contracts to understand commitments, flexibility terms, and payment terms.
- Know your status on Deliverables and Obligations: request an updated compliance report from your provider and compare it with your projections.
- Confirm and document: After reviewing the contract, communicate and confirm in writing the pending issues; implement a weekly follow-up program with the provider.
- But significantly, make sure you don’t end up in a situation without a solution, that is, fewer commitments for the provider, without any penalty for you or your company.
Don’t forget to audit your contracts
Audits are not a strategic process, but a very tactical one. If you have not conducted an audit of your service contracts and have providers who are not obligated to optimize their services contractually, now is a very good time to do so, as cost reductions of between 15% and 30% have been achieved. The aspects that a Network audit can cover are:
- Billing review and optimization: if you have not reviewed your service provider’s invoices in the last 12 months, there are likely to be savings opportunities.
- Inventory validation: with the quick decisions being made around network services (installations/disconnections), an inventory review will be needed.
- Physical inspection and validation: this will allow for greater validation (and elimination) of non-operational or unused lines and circuits.
IT Experts already has success and experience in Solution and Service Selection and Cloud Migration processes. IT Experts can help you define the strategy to optimize your IT costs and formulate a Digital Transformation plan that suits your needs.
