For financial controllers, it’s back to the trenches. With up to one fifth of all Irish companies expected to face collapse next year, there has never been a greater urgency for cost cutting in business.
The good news is that your telecoms bill can be easily reduced, without compromising your firm’s ability to do business. Here are three specific ways in which it can be done.
1. Mobile phone ‘gateways’
Vodafone, O2, Meteor and 3 all offer free calls to numbers on the same network. Yet landline calls to mobile numbers are still very expensive. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if there was some contraption that could make the network think that your landline call was a mobile call, therefore eliminating the charge?
There is, and it is the telephone operators’ worst kept secret. It is called a GSM ’gateway’. It is a simple telecoms box – for as little as €300 – that switches outgoing landline calls into mobile calls. You can have one for calls to each mobile operator: your only ongoing cost is the mobile operator tariff (as little as €20 per month).
A basic single-Sim gateway costs from €300 including connecting it into the company’s telephone exchange (PBX) and it can be fitted in under an hour without any disruption according to John TNO Ltd.
2 . Making proper use of IP telephony
Internet protocol (IP) telephone systems are the flavour of the month, and there is good reason for this. Of all the cost-cutting measures that are possible, IP offers the greatest potential savings.
Imagine if 90 per cent of all your company’s telephone calls – local, mobile and international – were free. How much would your company save?
With a plan and a bit of investment, it’s more than possible. It’s done by setting up phones, computers, software and telephone exchanges to route all outgoing calls through a company’s broadband connection.
To get the most out IP, you’ll need an IP telephony contract. Companies such as Dublin-based Telephone Networks set up IP telephone systems and softphones for small firms.
“I’m on Blueface at home,” said John Lyons of TNO, a Dublin-based IT consultancy.” I can take my laptop anywhere and use my Blueface account. It’s €150 per year for unlimited calls to Irish and British landlines. I used to run up bills of up to €400 every two months.” While Blueface is often cited, any IT consultancy or service firm can perform this task.
“The focus of a business is both the cost of telephone lines and the per-minute charges,” said John Lyons of TNO Ltd, the Dublin based technology firm.
“Reducing the number of lines is a huge saving. A lot of our clients would have four or five telephone lines, whereas when they move to IP over broadband, they move to one line. To have an individual number is very expensive with a PBX and an Eircom connection.
You’re looking at a minimum of €1,000 for a fairly basic PBX.” Set up correctly using ‘gateways’, an IP system can produce huge savings in a very short time.
3. Axeing little-used phone lines
For companies of a certain age, there may be multiple phone, ISDN and fax lines that are not in use but are still being paid for.
“Redundant phone lines are amazingly common,” said Lyons.” I was recently working for one medium-sized business in the west of Ireland and found 16 assorted analogue and ISDN lines that they were paying rent for but hadn’t used in over a year. That amounted to €3,200 a year just going down the drain.”
In fairness to Irish IT and financial executives, redundant lines are not always obvious. Many disused lines are hidden in parts of the business that are not thoroughly re viewed, such as alarm monitoring services or emergency lines in lifts.
“Look at invoices for lines on which there is no activity,” said Lyons.” But always check carefully before disconnecting.”