An Inside Look at Inventory Analytics

We’ve all been there. We signed up with a new phone or internet carrier, we double- and triple-checked the price, then one day we discover our bill has gone up because of creeping charges and hidden fees.

If it’s happening at home, you can bet it’s happening at your business, too. Carriers can hide term dates and add-on fees, making it hard for even the most diligent accounting teams to get an accurate grasp on monthly costs. That’s why we developed our signature Inventory Analytics process to give you a transparent window into your entire telecommunications environment, showing you what you have, what you need — and what the technology really costs.

In an industry that is known for obscurity, this free and comprehensive line-by-line report of every cost and fee in your environment can seem like an anomaly, which is why we’re answering some of the most frequently asked questions about our Inventory Analytics tool.

First, what exactly is an Inventory Analytics report?

Our no-cost, no-obligation Inventory Analytics process consists of two components: (1) a top-to-bottom snapshot of your current telecom environment and (2) a proposed ecosystem of new, improved, or sustained solutions.

To build your snapshot, our internal team pores over invoices for every voice, cloud, security, and connectivity solution in your environment. We don’t just stop at the page, either. TierOne proactively contacts service providers directly to uncover the extraneous fees, obscured term dates, unused products and outdated terms that factor into your bills.

Meanwhile, our collaborative strategy process takes place. As the inventory audit unfolds in the background, our team is working alongside you to establish what an ideal future telecom ecosystem does for you. Together, we identify your business’s unique needs and goals, noting pain points and special compliance or regulatory limitations along the way. From there, we leverage our access to over 200 carriers in our supplier ecosystem to find the best solutions and pricing to meet your needs.

My accounting team is already swamped. How are they supposed to gather all of this information, too?

The good news is that they don’t have to! All your team has to do is pull invoices for your telecom services — for most companies, that entails mainly phone and internet bills — and send them our way. No need for your staff to become IT experts, either. We can work directly with your accounting department to identify the voice-, cloud-, data-, or connectivity-related invoices we need, saving them the trouble of digging through files and unearthing portions of data they’re unfamiliar with.

Wouldn’t I save more money by working directly with carriers instead of going through another party like TierOne?

This is a great question, and it’s where using an agnostic partner like TierOne really works to your advantage. First, to answer your question, not typically. Direct sales reps cost carriers money in the form of benefits and training. Solution providers like TierOne save carriers those overhead costs, meaning we can secure lower prices than reps who are hustling to meet company-set quotas. Additionally our status as an agnostic partner means we leverage the competitive environment of our vast carrier portfolio to secure even lower prices from leading providers.

Even our clients have commented on the refreshing difference between the old model and our disruptive process: “TierOne has been a breath of fresh air in a market that typically can confuse consumers and business owners into selecting poor solutions that end with terrible service experiences,” says Whitney White, Business Process Designer with Paperwise Inc.

Without a third-party solution provider, you still have to shop around to find solutions that fit your needs, goals, and budget. And if your time is money, you’re wasting a lot of both. By outsourcing the search process to TierOne, you’re free to keep doing what you do best while we handle the research and negotiations. “It’s been far easier to work with the team at TierOne than with any ISP directly,” says Valerie Root, Store Systems & Project Manager with Hamra Enterprises. “I now have more time to direct toward other projects and the needs of the enterprise.”

Based on goals set during the collaborative strategy phase, TierOne typically presents you with three to five leading bids, setting up demos of solutions that interest you most. Our team of industry experts offers unbiased and impartial feedback on the nuances of each solution, insight you wouldn’t get by working with Direct Reps only.

At what point do we pay TierOne? Are your fees baked into the prices you present?

When we say that our Inventory Analytics is free, we mean truly, completely free. Our reports have no strings attached. We will meet with you for free, develop your ideal telecom ecosystem for free, assess your invoices for free, and deliver proposed solutions for free. We are compensated by the carriers, so you never have to pay TierOne a dime.

This allows us to offer additional services like lifecycle support and project management for free, too. And if you’re still wondering why we are giving away our secrets (and prices) for free, it’s because we fully believe in the value we can bring to your organization by giving you complete visibility into your ecosystem through our Inventory Analytics tool.

How do I know if my company is at the right stage to conduct an Inventory Analytics report?

Fortunately, there’s never a bad time to evaluate your solutions and their costs. Whether you haven’t checked your prices in years or if you’re in the midst of budget planning, an Inventory Analytics report can bring clarity to your infrastructure spending.

“I’ve worked in IT for 30-plus years, and I’ve learned that you need to have the right business partners to keep checking and pursuing the best technology for the best price,” says Nathan Barnes, Chief Administrative Officer at Integrity Home Care + Hospice. After conducting an Inventory Analytics report with TierOne, Barnes was able to save the company 51% in monthly costs.

Most businesses that conduct an Inventory Analytics report with TierOne see about 30% in monthly savings with our proposed solutions. Even if you don’t move forward with TierOne’s suggested environment, you’re still getting a transparent window into your telecom ecosystem at absolutely no cost (and with no effort from you or your team!).

“If you can get a better, faster, cheaper solution that allows you to enable the business to do what it needs to do, you owe it to the company and the people you support to do an Inventory Analytics study and at least evaluate the ROI,” Barnes says.

Your savings are out there. What are you waiting for? Start your report today.