Ten Reasons for a Telecom and Internet Service Check-up By: Jonathan Benson

1. It has been a long time.

It is a good idea to establish a plan for your technology review on an annual basis. Perhaps it has been longer than a year since you have reviewed your telecommunications services, your local telephone service, your long distance, your internet service provider, or your cellular provider. If you are currently month to month on your terms, you may want to consider a request for proposal to see what kinds of special programs might be available to your firm if you were to contract for a two- or three-year term plan for these services.

2. Newer Technology is more affordable than ever.

As new technology is introduced in the marketplace, the price of that technology becomes more and more cost-effective. Now you can get high speed internet access from the phone company and dozens of competitors. You can look at high-speed internet options from DSL, to T-1, to cable modem and satellite wireless dishes.

3. Federal and state courts are requiring upgrades to use their applications.

Recently, the federal courts in Atlanta have been upgrading their computer systems and applications. These changes in technology used by the courts may require various upgrades to your firm’s software and hardware, or to your internet and data capacity.

4. Attorneys and other professionals are using wireless PDAs and internet devices.

Professionals are using PDAs and wireless internet devices to access their e-mail, voice mail, and even their local area network back at the office.

5. Disaster recovery / Disaster Prevention.

Ask yourself what you would do if your internet service went down, or what if your telephone service had an outage. Do you have back-up systems available so that business could continue, or would everything come to a screeching halt? Consider the pain and cost of losing access to e-mail for a day, or if your local telephone service dial-tone went dead for 8 hours after an electrical thunderstorm. Would it give you some peace of mind having an escalation list and all your service provider’s 800 numbers for customer service?

6. You can bundle your products and pay less for each of them.

Now some carriers are bundling services so you can get a package for your long distance that includes some free long distance minutes when you use the same carrier for your local telephone service. Perhaps you could get a cost-effective package that bundles internet, and local and long distance service all together from one service provider.

7. It may be time to consider multiple vendors.

Even if you are in the middle of a long-term contract for one service, it may be a good time to consider vendors that can complement the service with other product offerings. Perhaps you can find a carrier that provides expanded local calling areas, so your long distance calls are reduced.

8. It may be time to consolidate products and services to one carrier.

There can also be advantages to consolidate products and services to one service provider. If you can consolidate your invoices from 4 or 5 bills down to 1 or 2 monthly invoices, that can be a huge savings in administrative time tracking all the accounts payable. It is also simpler to track the customer service when you have fewer carriers; it eliminates the finger-pointing which sometimes goes on between vendors.

9. Voice and video over IP.

Voice and video over IP are just two applications which use the internet, and can leverage the internet to lower your travel costs and even reduce toll charges to free long distance calling. If your firm has two or more locations, you can set up a data network that may reduce the cost of your local and long distance telephone service to next to nothing.

10. New hardware and telephone equipment may increase your firm’s ability to better serve your clients.

With new options for equipment, you can make the task of setting up a new work-station for a new employee as easy as plugging in a telephone to a jack; or in a wireless Local Area Network, you can make it easier to make your workplace more portable. Perhaps someone in the firm needs to have work-from-home access. These are all considerations for improving the workplace.

Jonathan Benson is a 13-year veteran consultant in the telecommunications and internet field. He has spoken at chamber of commerce and various association meetings on these topics of interest.

Editor: Debra F. Goldman (DGoldman@GMLJ.com) (This publication is the property of the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators. Reproduction or reprint without prior permission is strictly prohibited. Click here to request reprint permission.)

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