The emergence of video conferencing platforms like Zoom has revolutionized conference calling. They allow us to talk face-to-face with people in real-time, even if they’re located on the other side of the world. However, during times of increased frequency, costs can quickly mount up.
This is especially true if you’re responsible for an organization with a vast and widely dispersed workforce. Under such circumstances, making thousands of conference calls per week, the corresponding increase in conferencing costs will put additional strain on your Telecom Expense Management (TEM) budget.
We’ve noticed this ourselves over the past couple of weeks, so we thought it would be helpful if we shared our personal experiences. In particular, we want to highlight the ways working from home increases conferencing costs, along with the steps you can take to curtail them.
Why is Conference Calling Still So Popular?
For the most part, this can be attributed to two things: widespread self-isolation in response to a global crisis (of the kind we’re currently experiencing with COVID-19) and an increase in demand for remote working.
Self-isolation
Situations where a significant percentage of the global population is forced to isolate themselves are extremely rare.
Nevertheless, for organizations aiming to maintain a semblance of normality during periods of crisis, while also limiting the impact it has on day-to-day operations, it’s important to ensure the channels of communication between teams and their clients remain open.
The result is that many of us will naturally rely on teleconferencing to see us through, simply because it’s so much quicker and easier than trying to coordinate work over email or chat.
Working from Home
Over the longer term, the gradual increase in remote working opportunities will ensure teleconferencing continues to thrive.
Facilitated by the proliferation of high-speed internet, the number of remote workers in the US has grown from 3.9 to 4.7 million in the last five years alone. To put it another way, 3.4% of the population already have the option to work from home as part of their job. And that percentage is only going to increase as we look for other ways to improve our work/life balance.
Conferencing Expenses
Like everything related to TEM, the costs associated with conferencing can be difficult to understand. This is particularly true in situations where events force a sudden surge in conference calls throughout your organization.
That being said, the single biggest contributing factor to teleconferencing expenses is usage.
Higher Usage = Higher Costs
In the world of conference calling, higher usage usually means higher costs. An organization that makes 10,000 calls per week will be landed with a much larger bill at the end of the month than a company whose weekly conference calls can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Payment structures vary wildly. A standard ‘reservationless’ conferencing service charges customers per-minute, per participant. Typically, this will be somewhere in the region of 2-10 cents per minute, depending on the provider.
Unlimited reservationless plans are also available. These charge a flat monthly rate (which can vary from anywhere between $10 for a basic plan to $40+ for something more robust). The advantage of an unlimited plan is that you won’t be charged by the minute; vital if you have a large workforce. Nor will you be restricted for meeting length or call frequency. However, the number of attendees may be limited to as few as half a dozen on the most basic plans.
The alternative to a reservationless service is one that’s ‘operator-assisted’.
Services that fall within this category provide a dedicated operator to help you schedule and run your calls. Operator-assisted packages tend to charge on a per-minute basis, much like standard reservationless plans, albeit at a higher rate.
Additional fees may also be charged for optional services like call recording. For those at the enterprise level, these features are indispensable.
As you can see from this brief summary, periods of high call frequency can be extremely costly. This is true no matter what type of plan you’re on but is more keenly felt by large organizations that conduct international, long-distance calls on a regular basis.
Cut Your Remote Working Costs
Fortunately, there are several effective measures that can help you reduce your conferencing spend – beyond simply opting for a free conferencing service that, while suitable for modest-sized businesses, will have limited application at the enterprise level.
Understand Your SLA
A service level agreement (SLA) is a crucial part of your telecommunications infrastructure. It defines the level of service you, the customer, can expect from your provider (usually outlined in the request for proposal), as well as the metrics by which that service is measured against your businesses’ key performance indicators. In addition, it delineates the penalties the provider will face for failing to deliver upon their promises.
As this implies, the purpose of the SLA is to ensure that both customer and provider understand exactly what’s expected of them for the duration of the contract. Bearing that in mind, the first question you should ask yourself when selecting a conferencing service is “does the associated SLA cover sudden increases in usage?”
To prevent overspending, you need to know the usage limits of your contract and the features that are included in the deal in terms of number of participants, call length, and frequency. You need to know what you’re paying for and how it adds value to your organization.
However, the quality of billing information differs wildly between vendors and visibility is a common issue. Not only does this make it harder to understand the parameters of your SLA, it puts you on the backfoot when it comes to negotiating favourable terms when your contract is up for renewal.
For most large organizations, the obvious solution to this problem is to outsource telecom expense management to a dedicated provider. They can help you process invoices, understand your SLAs, and negotiate better deals on your service contracts.
Eliminate Toll-free Numbers
A more direct measure to reduce costs associated with your conferencing service is to eliminate the toll-free number.
Your conferencing bridge gives you a set of dial-in phone numbers (the numbers attached to the invite that allow attendees to join the meeting) when you set up your call. The problem is that these are usually 1-800 numbers which, while free for guests, costs the host money.
During periods of prolonged remote working or higher than average usage, these costs can quickly mount up and have a serious impact on your telecoms budget.
Removing 1-800 numbers from conference calls doesn’t mean transferring the costs back onto attendees, either. The majority of personal or work cell phone contracts provide users with free long-distance voice minutes. By using them instead of a toll-free number, neither party foots the bill.
Share the Load
Before committing resources to a conferencing service, a good first step is to consider your organizational needs. Ask yourself how many calls you expect to make each month; how many guests you need to accommodate; what you expect the typical length of your calls to be. Accurately answering these questions will help you locate the most suitable provider.
To gain a deeper understanding of your requirements and the different assets and services that comprise your telecom estate – of which conferencing is but a small part – it can pay to entrust your telecom expense management to a dedicated TEM provider.
A good TEM partner will manage everything from provisioning to invoice payments, helping you eliminate billing errors and reduce costs. In a world where remote working is a common feature of the professional landscape, increasing the complexity of your communications infrastructure, this will prove vital.
Topics: TEM
