Invoice Consolidation / Cost
Reduction - Enterprise businesses with locations throughout
the United States, multiple invoices, and multiple carriers
give us the ability to improve telecommunications expense management
by consolidating telecom expenses into one invoice that provides
sophisticated, customized management reporting tools. Crystal's partnerships
allow us to consolidate hundreds of invoices with numerous invoice
formats and invoice cycles from multiple carriers into one with a
consistent format and cycle date. We impact our clients' bottom line
by saving hard dollars and by reducing the soft costs associated
with the time and resources spent managing telecommunications expenditures.
Invoice Processing & Payment -
Many businesses struggle with invoice validation and on-time
payments. Crystal has the in-house accounting and telecom expertise
to review invoices, validate charges, make on-time payments, and recover
incorrect charges. Services range from a simple invoice validation
and payment system to a comprehensive telecommunications expense management
platform.
Telecom Expense Management
(TEM), Invoice Automation, and Call Accounting - TEM allows
your business to automate the administrative functions associated
with managing data, voice, and wireless services. Invoice management,
inventory management, contract management, order management,
usage management, and asset tracking can be outsourced or managed
in-house. Clients
are able to consolidate multiple billing formats such as paper,
EDI, and CD invoices into a manageable tool for AP / GL systems.
In addition, TEM provides invoice audit, validation, allocation,
optimization, recovery, and payment applications. Crystal partners
with best-in-class TEM and Call Accounting companies to deliver
customized information management solutions to our clients.
Discovery / Inventory -
Crystal builds telecommunications profiles on a per invoice per
site basis that include all information from the invoice, Customer
Service Record, our direct communication with the carrier, and carrier
contract information. Wireline, wireless, and equipment profiles provide
a complete inventory of services and associated costs, broken down
into granular detail. Ongoing administration of the inventory can be
the responsibility of the client or outsourced to Crystal.
Expense Validation & Error
Recovery Services - Companies are consistently challenged
from an Accounts Payable and IT perspective to effectively
identify telecom inventory and to manage costs. Accounting
is tasked with making sure that bills are paid on time. If
the invoices are consistent with those from the prior month,
they are usually assumed to be correct, and they are paid. The Telecom
or Information Technology Department is typically responsible
for ordering, implementing, and managing services; however, in many
cases, they don't have access to invoices to confirm that charges
are consistent with the contracted rates. The lack of cohesion between
departments, combined with telecom invoices that are confusing and
/ or incorrect, results in a significantly inflated telecom expenditure.
Crystal provides a team of professionals who have
a cross-section of accounting and telecom expertise to assist
companies in driving unnecessary costs out of the business. The team
is experienced in identifying inventory and associated costs, and in
evaluating the impact of changes in technology, vendors, price plans,
and network configurations. We project manage the implementation of
all approved changes, prove savings via written documentation, and
share with the client a description of our work, along with the methodology
used to achieve our results.
Contract Compliance - Invoices
for telecommunications services are often inaccurate. Too often,
businesses invest time, money, and resources into contract
negotiations, only to find that what they have negotiated is
not reflected on the invoice. Our compliance audit services
provide the expertise and resources necessary to perform a detailed
analysis of carrier invoices and contracts. An inventory of services
with associated usages and fixed costs is compared to the contracted
rates and discounts. Clients
can use this information to manage the carrier into compliance
or to outsource.
