Global Law Firm – Case Study – Firm
How Tellennium captured $300,000 in incorrect and overcharged billings for the firm
The Situation
For law firms, efficient communication is absolutely critical. For one of the largest firms in the world, with nearly 1,000 lawyers spread across 50 integrated practice areas and six different countries, simply managing the various telecom platforms that enable these communications is a daunting task.
The firm’s goal, just as it is with the work they do for their clients, is accuracy and efficiency – in this case, regarding the management of all of the telecom bills from all of the various providers providing services to all of the firm’s offices and staff members.
Why is accuracy important? According to Gartner Group, 12 to 20% of telecom charges are incorrect, with 85% of the errors in the service provider’s favor. For a top 10 firm, this means telecom billing errors could cost them $300,000 per year or more.
As for efficiency, keeping all of the telecom-related invoices (coming in from all of the different service providers to all of the firms’ offices) organized and paid is a time consuming task. There are wireline data, voice, and video providers, wireless providers, and telecom and networking equipment installation and maintenance providers – just to name a few. And, there is also the never-ending task of negotiating and renegotiating telecom contracts as they come up for renewal, to make sure the firm is getting the best rates possible. Doing all of this work costs the firm (and all other companies of a similar size and scope) precious time and money, too.
And yet, even the best run companies don’t know that such a high potential for telecom billing accuracy and efficiency improvements exist. “We thought our telecom billing and contract situations were fine,” said the firm’s Manager of Telecommunications. “Invoices were paid out of each office, not centrally out of Corporate.”
For a large law firm (or any other large company) with a national or international reach, decentralized telecommunications management can be very costly, in terms of both missed errors and distributed management of expenses. There needs to be the right process, backed by the right systems, to pull in all of these invoices and centralize the management of such a large and critical budget category as telecom.
For that, these law professionals at turned to the Integrated Telecom Management® professionals at Tellennium.
We have had a great experience with Tellennium, I would encourage anyone to have them at least take a look at their invoices.
– Jeff, Manager of Telecommunications, Global Law Firm
The project included:
- Consolidation of the firm’s telecommunications billing, usage, inventory, services and contract negotiations
- Managing, reviewing and paying all the firm’s invoices
- Obtaining significant credits for the firm from local telecom vendors for incorrect and overcharged billing.
The Solution
Using its “Tellennium’s Integrated Management System” (MoT®), Tellennium now manages the firm’s telecommunications billing, usage, inventory, services, and contract negotiations on the firm’s behalf. According to the Manager of Telecommunications, this has already resulted in time and money savings.
“Sending all of our invoices to Tellennium, and allowing them to review and pay them, saves time and, possibly, personnel,” he stated. “I feel much safer having them review our invoices so that we know they’re correct.”
And Tellennium’s knowledge of telecommunications pricing, tariffs, and contract negotiations saved the firm money in other ways.
“We obtained significant credits from our local telecom vendors for incorrect and overcharged billing,” he said. “Also, Tellennium discovered that one vendor had changed its pricing in the middle of a contract. They then worked with that vendor to obtain a credit for us.”
The Results
A big part of the Telecom Manager’s job is now much easier thanks to TIMS, most notably the ability to review all invoices. “They’re all in one place,” he said. “They also send me a CD with images of all the invoices for each month. That is very handy.”
Easy-to-review and continuously managed and audited invoices, plus vigilant usage and contract monitoring and negotiating, equals cost and time savings. That’s the value Tellennium provides to its clients: helping them manage their telecommunications providers, so they can get back to the business of serving their own clients and customers.
“We have had a great experience with Tellennium,” he claimed. In the past two years, Tellennium has captured over $300,000 in credits alone for the firm. “I would encourage anyone to have them at least take a look at their invoices.”