Telecom expense management (TEM) is a multi-faceted endeavor: contracts, billing, technology and employee usage patterns all play a part.  Since telecommunications costs are typically one of the top five corporate expenses, it’s important to get a handle on each of these areas.

There are many telecom expense management companies who specialize in negotiating contracts and searching for hidden billing errors.  Some firms even offer TEM software your company can employ to maximize savings on a ongoing basis.

DAAmerica plays a vital role in telecom expense management by being the best source for directory assistance savings.  Instead of using the high-priced, inefficient 411 information service offered by your telecom provider, your company can easily switch to our cheaper, more reliable solution.

Be sure and tell whoever’s in charge of your company’s telecom expense management to follow these simple steps:

1. Find out your company’s current directory assistance rate.  You’ll probably be surprised, since the major carriers like AT&T, Verizon and SBC are standardizing their rate structure across the country at $1.50 and above.
2. Contact us here at DAAmerica and ask to review our simple, month-to-month Service Agreement, which includes pricing.  Chances are, we can your company 75% or more on directory asistance, which will certainly help in your telecom expense management efforts.
3. Evaluate our 100% live, US-operator 411 service for yourself.  We’ll assign your company an exclusive toll-free number that rings directly into our directory assistance call centers.  Using this toll-free number, you will be able to bypass (dial around) the major carrier’s high-priced directory assistance service.
4. If your comapny has an IT director or telecom manger on staff, they can easily place the toll-free number into your PBX system.  Whenever someone dials “411″ or “AC-555-1212,” the PBX will instantly route the call to the toll-free instead.  This switch is completely invisible to the user.
5. Our monthly invoice will show your company’s directory assistance usage by location, the total amount saved for the month, as well as an annual projection of savings for the entire year.

Our low-cost, high-quality directory assistance dovetails perfectly into your overall telecom expense management strategy.  Contact us today for more imformation.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while getting listings for the best pizza places in the USA. Today, we’re going to Cleveland, OH and Patino’s Pizza.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while finding listings for the best pizza places in America. Today, Lakeville, MN and Linwood Pizza.

A telecom audit is one of the best forms of utility auditing.  It can lead to many money-saving revelations: rates in need of adjustment, oversights in billing, expired contracts or service agreements, even phone lines that should have been disconnected years ago.

After deciding to conduct a telecom audit, the first question is always, “Do I perform the audit myself, or do I hire a telecom auditing firm to do it for me?”  In the vast majority of cases, the answer should be the latter — even if you have a telecom manger, IT director or CIO who is already familiar with your telecom accounts and contracts.  A fresh set of eyes reviewing your telecom statements can often find even more mistakes and ways to trim the fat from your monthly telecom budget.

There are many reputable telecom auditing companies from which to choose.  You’ll also be pleased to find that the rate structure they charge for their auditing services are often tied directly to the money they save your company.  In other words, they only get paid once they find errors, discrepancies or other ways to reduce your company’s monthly telecom expenses.

One area some telecom auditing firms overlook as a source for savings is directory assistance.  Instead of using the high-priced, inefficient 411 information service offered by your telecom provider, your company can easily switch to a cheaper, more reliable solution.

Be sure and tell whoever is conducting your telecom audit to follow these simple steps:

1. Find out what you are currently paying for directory assistance.  It’s probably more than you think, since the major carriers like AT&T, Verizon and SBC are standardizing their rate structure at $1.50 and above.
2. Get in touch with us here at DAAmerica and ask for a copy of our Service Agreement, which includes pricing.  We can easily reduce the rate you’re paying for directory assistance by 75%, which will go a long way in making sure your telecom audit pays dividends for years to come.
3. After evaluating our live, USA-operator service for yourself, we’ll assign your company an exclusive toll-free number that rings directly into our directory assistance call centers.  This is how you’ll be able to bypass (dial around) your telecom provider’s more expensive 411 service.
4. Your telecom manager or IT director can easily insert the toll-free number into your PBX system.  Whenever someone dials “411″ or “AC-555-1212,” the PBX will know to route the call to the toll-free instead.  This process is instantaneous and totally transparent to the user.
5. We’ll create a customized invoice that shows your directory assistance usage by location, the total amount you’ve saved for the month, as well as an annual savings projection.

Making low-cost, high-quality directory assistance a money-saving part of your telecom auditing process is easy.  For more information, please contact us today.

Reducing directory assistance rates is an effective method of telecom cost control.

Telecom cost control usually involves multiple strategies: using software to manage telecom bills, working with a telecom or utility auditing firm to identify and eliminate tariff errors and overcharges, and performing an in-depth review of your company’s telecom contracts.

One method of telecom cost control that’s often overlooked is to bypass the high-priced directory assistance offered by the major carriers, replacing it with a cost-effective alternative. Here are the 5 simple steps to implementing low-cost 411 information into your long-term telecom cost control gameplan:

1. Find out what you are currently paying for directory assistance.  It’s probably more than you think, since the major carriers like AT&T, Verizon and SBC are standardizing their rate structure at $1.50 and above.
2. Get in touch with us here at DAAmerica and ask for a copy of our Service Agreement, which includes pricing.  We can easily reduce the rate you’re paying for directory assistance by 75%, which will go a long way in making sure your telecom cost control efforts are a success.
3. After evaluating our live, USA-operator service for yourself, we’ll assign your company an exclusive toll-free number that rings directly into our directory assistance call centers.  This is how you’ll be able to bypass (dial around) your telecom provider’s more expensive 411 service.
4. Your telecom manager or IT director can easily insert the toll-free number into your PBX system.  Whenever someone dials “411″ or “AC-555-1212,” the PBX will know to route the call to the toll-free instead.  This process is instantaneous and totally transparent to the user.
5. We’ll create a customized invoice that shows your directory assistance usage by location, the total amount you’ve saved for the month, as well as an annual savings projection.

That’s how easy it is to make low-cost, high-quality directory assistance a part of your overall telecom cost control strategy.  For more information, please contact us today.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while finding listings for the best pizza places in America. Today, Tucson, AZ and Brooklyn Pizza Company.

I love being able to swipe my card at the gas pump without having to go inside. Does that make me anti-social? Probably. The convenience factor alone is enough, but I’ve always viewed not having to interact with another human as an added bonus. Does that make me anti-social? Definitely.

Is this who you trust to find your directory assistance listings?

The rush to move to a totally-automated directory assistance model by all the major telecom providers continues, despite the pleas and objections from an often-ignored little group known as their customers. Automation is the future, say the big telecoms. True…but the future is further away than you think.

In terms of engineering and workflow, the human element is usually the bottleneck. Eliminate it, and I can efficiently use the ATM or cruise through the self-check at the grocery store without ever having to leave the bubble of my own little world (and I like it there, too). In directory assistance, it’s the automation that grinds productivity to a halt faster than a guy daring to whip out cash in a Visa commercial. Why is DA automation not ready for prime time? Two words: known values.

The self-check at the grocery store works because the scanner has a limited, definable list of all the items I could possibly buy (except cherry tomatoes, for some reason). Plus, the bar-code system insures uniformity going in. The gas pump only has to deal with specific credit card types and dispense three products at most. Even an automated voicemail system has a relatively small pool of names from which to choose when routing a call.

When a person dials “411,” the variables on both sides of the equation are simply too great. Accents, speech patterns, line conditions; the list of pitfalls on the font-end are impossible to anticipate. Once those hurdles are overcome, the shear volume of the database (almost 200 million listings) dooms the computer to a best-guess scenario, with odds of success normally reserved for playing the lottery.

That’s precisely why directory assistance automation stinks and will continue to stink for the foreseeable future. There are just too many variations on the input and way too many choices of output. Try feeding a few pesos, pounds and drachmas into your ATM and watch the system break down immediately.

Only the human ear can untangle the mish-mash of variables contained within the human voice. Only the human brain can reason its way through a maze of millions of choices without getting bogged down in endless loops and if-then statements.

It’s 2008 and I still don’t have the flying car Popular Mechanics promised me in the ’70s. Will I ever? Probably…eventually. Will fully-automated ever become a viable directory assistance alternative? Probably…eventually. But for now — and for years to come — there’s simply no substitute for live.

Your co-workers will definitely thank you for it. Just don’t expect a hand-written note.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while finding listings for the best pizza places in America. Today, Chicago, IL and Gino’s East.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while finding listings for the best pizza places in America. Today, Buffalo, NY and Bocce Club Pizza.

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Testing our 100% live, USA-operator 411 directory assistance service, while finding listings for the best pizza places in America. Today, Toledo, OH and The Original Gino’s Pizza.