Running a business is by no means an easy feat. It takes drive, commitment, and a proactive approach.

While you may be on top of the daily operations of your business ensuring that clients are happy and that work delivery is on track, there’s likely one big factor you may be missing out on that’s eating away at your bottom line.

Your corporate cellphone bill.

A seemingly small element that many businesses overlook, but something that, if kept abreast of, can save your company big bucks.

As an example, it has been found that companies are paying 40% more than they should be on their cellphones bills.

Imagine what your business could do with all that extra money every month.

It may seem daunting to figure out where to start saving on your company’s cellphone bill but there are steps you can take to start saving today.

In a new, free, eBook that has just been released, cellphone spend management company Tariffic outlines seven key factors to consider when it comes to cutting your corporate cellphone bill, along with practical examples on what action you should be taking to firmly get on top of your company’s cellphone spend.

We’ve listed a few examples of these factors to consider below:

1. Make sure employees aren’t abusing the system

Your employees are your greatest asset, but they can also be a contributing factor to that incredibly high cellphone bill you receive at the end of the month.

If you, like many other companies, provide your employees with a cellphone contract, there’s the possibility of them racking up extremely high cellphone bills every single month and expecting you to settle the bill.

The reality is that it is so difficult to get a handle on what is really going on with your cellphone bill that you just land up, begrudgingly, paying every month.

Who are your employees calling? Who are they allowed to be calling? When are they making their calls? Are they using too much data? Are they sending premium-rated SMSs or making premium-rated calls?

These are just some of the questions that you should answer to determine if your employees are abusing the system.

2. Review your extra costs

Are your employees signing up for Third Party Services on their company phones?

These services often appear on the company’s bill as Content Charges and start to add up rather quickly.

This happens when employees sign up for services such as horoscope SMSs, daily weather reports, or even pornography.

At times employees don’t realise there are re-occurring charges for these services- or that you’ll be paying for them.

Other times, employees are very happy to be subscribing to these services, as long as they’re not paying for them and not getting caught.

A charge of R1.50 for a daily “horoscope SMS” can add up pretty quickly, especially when its spread across many employees, and so it’s best to nip this in the bud and cancel all Third Party Services as soon as you can.

3. Check for dormant contracts

Is your desk drawer full of phones and SIM cards that employees gave you on their last day of work?

It’s very possible that you’re still paying every month for these contracts, even though none of them are being used.

Tariffic has found that companies are often spending tens of thousands of Rands on contracts that aren’t even being used.

This is especially the case for 3G data-dongles that are returned and forgotten about.

It’s usually worth paying an early-termination fee for these contracts and cancelling them with immediate effect.

4. Beware the infamous Out-Of-Bundle shark

Out-of-Bundle data spend is probably the #1 culprit of high cellphone bills.

Data rates can easily be over 1,000% higher when you use up the data allocation of your contract and go Out-of-Bundle.

And the problem is that employees will often not tell you when they’ve gone Out-of –bundle!

A review of your cellphone bills and adding of the right data bundles can save you a fortune of money every month.

There’s much, much more!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of taking control of your company’s cellphone contracts spend each month.

Being proactive and aware of the above are but small steps that will make a big difference on your company spend, and ultimately, your bottom line.

You can download this free e-book here – https://www.tariffic.com/for_my_business.

This article was published in partnership with Tariffic.