Nermine Shaker

Principal Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
nshaker@abilita.com

Whether a business has only ten employees making a few long distance calls a day, or is a burgeoning enterprise with hundreds of employees conducting thousands of calls and data transfers every hour, it is important for that business to carefully manage their telecommunication costs.

Telecom Expense Management or TEM involves the constant monitoring of telecom expenses that accrue monthly.  The goal of TEM is to ensure that invoices match agreed upon contract rates and tariffs, and to optimize the services offered by the telecom provider with the needs of the individual business.  Effective TEM is an essential accounting task that must be conducted by companies and firms working in virtually all industries.

Billing errors lead businesses to overpay for the services rendered by the telecom provider.  These errors can waste money on services that were neither asked for nor used and will significantly eat into profit margins over time.  Billing errors can range from honest mistakes made by the telecom provider, to more insidious and deceptive practices that rely on a business's preoccupation with other matters to sneak changes into the billing terms.

Here are some errors that have been known to occur.

Simple Human or Computer Miscalculations

A common error is one in which either a computer or human miscalculation leads to an incorrect total on a billing invoice. The miscalculation may only affect the amount charged for a single telephone call, or it might be one that substantially alters all the monthly charges.  These miscalculations can be fixed by bringing them to the attention of the telecom provider.

Duplicate Bills

Large telecom providers are susceptible to the same issues that negatively affect any other bureaucracy. With multiple agents handling the same account, confusion and mistakes are likely to eventually occur.  If an account is not properly flagged as being billed, or communication between employees is poor, duplicate bills can accidentally be sent to clients.  And unless your company is vigilant in detecting duplicate billing, you might be overpaying.  Once again, this error can be fixed by bringing it to the attention of the provider.

Incorrect Contracted Rates

The agreed upon terms between the business client and the telecom provider may not always be honored.  Due to miscommunication between the client and provider or sloppy account management, the rate assigned to the business may differ from the contracted deal that was negotiated when the telecom services were first acquired.  This error - especially if the difference is relatively minor - can continue unbeknownst to the client for months at a time.  Keen and meticulous oversight of billing statements is needed to spot this error.

Unnecessary Surcharges

Surcharges on services that should be included in the contracted plan are sometimes added to an account without the client's knowledge.  Surcharges related to limits on data transfer, available phone lines or long distance use could be tacked onto the monthly bill.  These additional fees unreasonably inflate communication costs, and unfairly penalize the client for using services to which he should already be entitled.  Knowing what’s in your contract is important here and keeping on guard for any additional fees.

Cramming, Slamming and Modem Hijacking

The most unethical of billing errors is the intentional altering of the agreed upon terms between the client and provider. 'Cramming', as it is commonly called, involves additional fees that are unrelated to any actual use or services. The provider will select and choose additional 'phantom' services and amend them to the original contract. They may be labeled as a 'Membership Fee' or 'ISP Service Fee', but are in fact nothing more than boldfaced attempts to slyly bilk more money from clients. Occasionally the terms of the original contract are ambiguous and reserve the provider's right to increase or otherwise manipulate future rates and options. A client must take charge and directly confront telecom providers that engage in this practice. They should ask their provider why they were charged those specific fees and attempt to have them removed.

“Slamming” is the practice of switching a telephone customer’s long-distance service provider to another carrier without the customer’s permission.   In recent years, this practice has lessened because customers now have to go through a series of verifications to change their long distance service.

“Modem hijacking” is a variation on cramming.  It occurs when software, usually delivered through a pop-up ad, is downloaded onto a business computer over the Internet.  It then uses dialing software to reroute the computer modem to dial long-distance numbers.  The fees charged for this can be ridiculously high.

Unreimbursed Refunds or Credits

Another error involves a late or absent refund or discount from a telecom provider. This occurs when billing errors have been brought to the attention of the provider, but the expected refund is not given. A special rate or discount reserved for business clients may likewise not be actualized. These delays and errors can be frustrating, increasing the animosity between client and provider.

The wide range of errors that can effect your bottom line, and the subsequent monitoring that preventing them entails, is a time and resource drain that is sometimes best managed by professionals. They have the industry experience to know both the needs and demands that business clients have. Though it is possible for some small clients to adequately manage their telecom expenses, for most the task is demanding. Effective TEM should not be relegated to beleaguered employees already busy with other daily obligations. Using experienced experts provides the peace of mind to focus on the more important task of successfully managing your business.

About the author:

Nermine Shaker has a M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Golden Gate University with more than twenty years of experience in planning, implementing, managing and consulting on telecommunications projects.  Ms. Shaker has generated millions of dollars worth of savings for her clients.  She is a Principal Consultant at Abilita. 

Nermine can be reached at (310) 793-0711 or nshaker@abilita.com

Nermine Shaker

Principal Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
nshaker@abilita.com

Everyone has to negotiate at one stage or another in his or her life. These negotiations could be in the form of promotions, sales calls, and more for individuals, while for companies it could be in the form of contracts, business deals and cost management. The thumb rules of most negotiations remain the same although the situation, process and result may be different.

Negotiation: Basic Techniques

1. This is the most important aspect of any negotiation – Never go unprepared to any negotiation. Understand the subject, your benefits and losses and how the outcome will affect you or the organization.

2. Understand what the other party may tend to ask or believe in, to have the edge over the decision. Get as much information as possible on their stance on the subject, what they are looking for and also what they are expecting from you in the offer. Understand the rationale behind their negotiation to get a better insight into their negotiation tactics.

3. Know the least you may need to settle for without incurring losses. You can also treat this as a yardstick to build up your negotiation tactics.

4. Show an openness, flexibility and willingness to talk about the negotiation.

5. Calmness and patience should be your armor while negotiating. If you sense that you are losing control of the situation or yourself, take a break. Decisions made in anger almost always are wrong.

6. Be as clear as possible with your terms and conditions.

7. If you have the slightest doubt that someone is bluffing, insist on their providing the proof to support their claims.

8. Stressing on the common goals is a good way of keeping the negotiations workable.

9. Listen attentively to understand better.

10. Concentrate on one particular issue at a time.

11. Do not consider negotiations as a win or lose proposition or that to win you have to take advantage of the other party. Remember negotiations are the basis of a long and hopefully fruitful relationship. Carrying over the animosity by cheating or taking advantage of each other will lead you nowhere.

12. If the offer seems even remotely acceptable to you, finalize the deal immediately. Do not give the other party a chance to ponder over things.

Contract Negotiations

Contract negotiation is an intrinsic part of any business and is applied to almost every aspect. This is especially true with telecom, since telecom expense management is vital to control business expenses. Communication is the basis and essence of good business relationship and thus communication expenses is one of the top five expenditures incurred in running a business. This is why the bottom line of any successful business venture lies in good communication controlled by telecom expense management.

Unfortunately, small and medium businesses do not consider contract negotiation on this issue, as they are short on human resources in this field. Normally, various people such as the office manager or the engineer or the IT personnel and sometimes even the HR department handle the communications department. As most of them are skilled professionals only in their fields, their knowledge and experience in terms of telecom contract negotiation is quite limited. Thus the need to acquire or operate through a telecom network is never considered.

By adopting and implementing telecom contract negotiation, discipline and control techniques, on an average a company can save 10 to 30 percent of their annual telecom expense. In fact, most successful businesses use their experience and negotiation skills to haggle over the telecom contract price. But a professional in telecom expense management carries certain requisites to the table that a non-telecom professional may not have. People experienced in telecom contract negotiation know that the rate is not the only devil; in fact much more lies in the terms and conditions of the contract. Further, a telecom consultant or auditor dealing regularly in contracts would know the telecom rates trap better.

The best way to know your telecom network requirement is to perform a thorough circuit and services inventory of local and distant data and wireless devices that you have and whether it is being fully utilized. Break down your telecom expenses to the minutest detail and understand the trend and need for modifying, changing or stopping any service utilized.  

Also consider the refunds and benefits (and loss) from reducing services. Such a telecom audit will help uncover the truths of funds not recovered on invoice errors, lower certain ongoing expenses and reveal techniques to improve or optimize existing telecom network. Getting this done from experienced telecom auditors will reap you richer benefits.  

The next task is to eliminate unused phone lines. On an average a company with a 100 employee workforce has plenty of phone lines and some of them may remain unused over a period of time while the company is still paying the minimum payable for the service, which itself would run into hundreds of dollars annually. Negotiating a workable deal with the telephone company is the solution for this problem.

About the author:

Nermine Shaker has a M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Golden Gate University with more than twenty years of experience in planning, implementing, managing and consulting on telecommunications projects. Ms. Shaker has generated millions of dollars worth of savings for her clients. She is a Principal Consultant at Abilita. 

Nermine can be reached at (310) 793-0711 or nshaker@abilita.com

Nermine Shaker

Principal Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
nshaker@abilita.com

Telecom spending can be a very large part of a company’s operating costs. Companies are always looking to keep their costs under control and telecom spending is one of the more difficult areas to manage.

Even with the increase in value and flexibility from new technology, companies have also seen an increase in their telecom costs. Mobile phones, remote network access and broadband solutions have simplified our workspaces, but have complicated the telecom accounting procedures.

Although you can’t just forgo your telecom services to cut your budget, you can curb and control them. Here are a few ways to tame your telecom budget.

Assess Your Inventory

What do you have? What do you use? Sometimes you don’t use what you have. Take an inventory of all your lines, services, hardware, mobile devices, and contracts. As you do this you may find that employees have left but you are still paying for their cell phones, or departments have closed and you are still paying for their phone lines.  

Wireless devices can be a huge drain on your company pocketbook. Sometimes employees are given mobile devices that the company pays for and sometimes they use their own and are reimbursed. Organizing and setting up a company policy for wireless devices takes time but can save you money in the end.  

Audit Your Bills

Check your contracts and see if the pricing in the contract matches the pricing on your bill. If not, you’ll need to apply for a credit for those overcharges. If you were promised a refund or rebate in your contract, make sure you received those. If you’ve done a complete inventory, matching bills to the inventory is a great way to identify problems.

Assess Your Usage

Now that you know what inventory you have and that you are paying correctly for that inventory, you need to look at your services with an eye to how your company is using them. Is your company growing or downsizing? Don’t just cut back to cut back. Look at the value the services provide to your company.

Employee personal usage of business telecom services should be addressed as well. If you provide perks like home broadband, business mobile devices and WiFi access, boundaries should be addressed with employees in a telecom company policy. Managers must take responsibility to enforce whatever controls the company puts in place.

If your business has multiple locations or if many of your employees work from home, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) might be a cheaper option. VoIP can connect offices and remote workers and could offer big savings. 

Renegotiate Your Contracts

After you have reviewed your contracts and current usage, it might be time to renegotiate your contracts. If it’s been a while, you might be able to get a better deal. Or, after looking at what you have, you may decide to consolidate or cancel some services. Carriers would like to have all of your business, so in consolidating with one, you may get a higher discount. Shop around to make sure you are getting the best deal. Sometimes, it may be better for your business to use flat rates and per-user or per-month services. This will give you a predictable monthly payment. 

If it is possible, you many want to consider adding a “business downturn” clause when you renegotiate your contracts. This clause will allow you to renegotiate your contract if there is a downturn in your business, such as having to close one of your multiple offices. 

Automate your telecom bill paying process

Many businesses use multiple carriers for all of their telecom services. These carriers each send a separate invoice and sometimes they charge extra for sending a paper invoice. Automating your telecom billing and payments can save you money, both in internal processing costs and in staffing resources.

When you automate your billing, you can still have the opportunity to review all your charges. You will have access a variety of reports that can break down the charges by service, circuit, department, location, or carrier.

Consider Hiring A Telecom Management Company

For smaller companies, the business owner is often in charge of telecom spending. As the size of the business increases, telecom responsibility moves from one person to a group or a department. 

A telecom management company can help assess your spending and inventory, provide automated billing and can negotiate contracts for you. Since they are familiar with all the telecom carriers, they will be especially helpful in finding you a good rate and negotiating the contract. They can even apply for refunds on your behalf for services that were incorrectly billed.

Dealing with one telecom management person is always preferable than having to deal with 10 different service providers. And, when you work with a management professional, they will always be looking out for other ways to save money in your telecom spending, something you can’t always do.  

It’s tough to tame your telecom spending. It takes time and effort. These days, cost cutting is a must and we are all trying to do more with less money. Getting organized, especially in the telecom area of your business will help you to see where you can cut costs and make sound telecom business decisions.

About the author:

Nermine Shaker has a M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Golden Gate University with more than twenty years of experience in planning, implementing, managing and consulting on telecommunications projects. Ms. Shaker has generated millions of dollars worth of savings for her clients. She is a Principal Consultant at Abilita. 

Nermine can be reached at (310) 793-0711 or nshaker@abilita.com

Nermine Shaker
Principal Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
nshaker@abilita.com

Telecom Expense Management (TEM) is a term used to define an approach to managing all telecommunication service expenses such as voice, data and wireless with a combination of software tools and manual auditing. In managing all these services and related processes, its goal is to minimize costs and maximize process efficiency.

For a small company, it can be as simple as checking over your phone bill every month to make sure you aren’t billed for services you don’t want. For larger companies, it is a more formal program to optimize spending on telecom services. Most of the attention goes to bill auditing and getting refunds for billing errors, but an effective TEM program can do more than that.

A Little History

The cost of voice and data communications is dropping. One casualty of this price plummet is that you no longer have experienced account teams who know your account and are your single point of contact. The new breed of account representatives there to serve you is inexperienced with your telecom needs and is more sales-oriented than needs-oriented.

For many businesses the overall telecommunications expense is growing. Workers are more mobile and the amount of communications between companies and their employees, including the huge volume of information they exchange, has been growing as well. Email, Internet, PDAs, ecommerce and our increasing tele-commuting workforce all lead to an increased demand for instant and continuous exchange of information using many kinds of telecom devices. The increased complexity of devices and services and the lack of transparency in carrier charging models have led to confusion and a need for a way to manage and control telecom costs.

In today’s business landscape, many companies are downsizing support staff, carriers are providing less support, and communication in general is becoming larger and more complex. Out of all this confusion, Telecommunications Expense Management was born. TEM provides a structured and professional way to manage the telecom spending of a company, no matter how large or small. This management can be in the form of software used by a manager or an outside telecom expert.

What Are the Problems?

There are quite a few. These include but are not limited to:

1) Using multiple carriers for different services that use different invoice formats. This makes it difficult to match and allocate costs effectively;

2) Not having a complete inventory of the company’s assets including wireless devices, headsets, hardware, computer networks, etc.;

3) Difficulty in being able to apportion telecommunications costs to divisions, teams or departments with any accuracy;

4) Not having the company resources to manually audit each invoice. Between 7-12% of bills are in error. For large companies, this is a substantial amount of money they could be losing every month; and

5) Not understanding costs. You can’t control the cost of something when you don’t understand how it’s billed or what you’re getting for your money.

What are the Benefits

Managing telecom services is complex and requires constant attention. A qualified telecom expert can not only perform systematic audits but can also alert the company to new cost-saving options. Software programs can allow companies to eliminate waste and optimize resources.

Both software and outside experts can help you to: reduce time through systematized processes; reduce costs through error identification; reduce risks through better reporting options; and increase control and thereby accountability.

Software will help the Telecom Manager’s knowledge and understanding of the products, services and costs for his company’s telecom spending. An outside expert can handle disputes with carriers and get price quotes for new services. They can also restructure your agreements and contracts with current providers and find less expensive providers.

A solid TEM platform will provide a centralized solution for inventory control and procurement, contract compliance, budget and spending tracking, and invoice processing. Proactive systems can alert you to policy breaches and contract compliances.

Large companies are the prime candidates for Telecom Expense Management. However, small and mid-size companies that need to organize and monitor their telecom spending would benefit as well.

For most small to mid-size companies telecom spending is the responsibility of an IT person, an office manager, an accountant or a combination of all three. For these types of organizations, the benefit of a TEM solution is based on labor saving efficiencies through automation. This benefits both telecom and financial sides of the company by providing a way for them both to monitor, control and report on company telecom.

Considering the importance of telecommunications in the operation of your daily business, Telecom Expense Management is a critical business strategy. Your company needs to not only track its spending, but also to maximize its telecom resources. TEM lets you make informed decisions rather than educated guesses.

About the author:

Nermine Shaker has a M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Golden Gate University with more than twenty years of experience in planning, implementing, managing and consulting on telecommunications projects. Ms. Shaker has generated millions of dollars worth of savings for her clients. She is a Principal Consultant at Abilita.

Nermine can be reached at (310) 793-0711 or nshaker@abilita.com

Ben Porter
Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
bporter@abilita.com

Managing Telecommunications Costs with TEM
by Ben Porter
Abilita

Not too many years ago, managing telecommunications for an organization consisted of selecting a local carrier and a long distance company. You may even be old enough to remember when there wasn't even a choice between the two. But in today's world, organizations are inundated by new technologies and new offerings. There are DSLs and T-1s; the Internet, intranets, and extranets; Voice Over Internet (VoIP) and wireless voice and wireless data; and lots of "packets" and "bandwidth." It seems like every month there is a new acronym to learn, whether it's "SIP" or "WI-FI" or "MPLS". It can be confusing and even intimidating.

Yet with all these choices, most organizations desire the same things - capability with ease of use. Employees want to pick up a phone, not a software manual. Management wants to operate with greater efficiency within a reasonable cost.

Telecom expense management provides valuable oversight.
Over the last decade there has been rapid growth in a new industry that helps organizations manage these various communications issues. It is called Telecom Expense Management or TEM. Fortune 500 companies have long benefited from the savings that this third-party telecommunications expertise can yield, but now TEM is available to almost any size business-and it can be a boon to those organizations that take advantage of the opportunity.

TEM comes in a variety of flavors, but in its purest form it is a management service that monitors all communications expenses and related physical inventories. It provides order management and makes sure the right costs are being paid for the right services. The benefits are noty only savings in money and time, but also a more efficient allocation of internal resources. Organizations can use a TEM service to free themselves from telecom administration while still maintaining control of their telecommunications services.

Step One: Spot the mistakes.
Between 50 and 90 percent of the communications bills that organizations pay are incorrect. (Estimates vary depending on which study is cited.) Some of these errors end up in the customer's favor, but most do not. Therefore, the first step in the process is to determine if there are any potential recoveries that can be identified. A well researched audit by a telecom expert can often uncover a significant monetary return, and on occasion, recoveries can go back years. In my own experience, I have frequently witnessed clients recovering more than 20 percent of their annual telecom expenditure in one recovery.

The errors that cause these incorrect bills can be from a variety of causes. Sometimes they begin with a simple miscalculation. Other times the rates that are invoiced are not consistent with the rates that have been contracted. Still other times, rates and fees can spontaneously change but are not detected.

Many companies are also the victims of "slamming," the controversial marketing practice of attaching useless services to an organization's telecom bills. Almost all errors however, share one common trait. Once made, they tend to repeat with each bill and, unfortunately, many are not recoverable. (That's a subject for another article.)

Needless to say, the communications companies do not invest many resources into correcting these errors. After all, they have no obligation and no incentive to perform internal audits on behalf of their customers. Instead, it is left up to the customer to get its own money refunded.

Complex fees and rates call for a detailed review.
The next step in implementing complete TEM is to reduce current expenditures - otherwise known as an "optimization"- with the goal of getting the best telecommunications rates and packages available.

A thorough analysis involves performing a line-by-line breakdown of communications usage and then comparing those expenses with optimum industry standards. Ideally, under a complete TEM package, this detailed breakdown should be performed on a monthly basis. Of course, for the uninitiated, this can be very time consuming. Most IT, HR, or accounting departments would probably find performing a monthly telecom analysis a cumbersome task. For this reason, it is usually not a practical use of limited resources.

Internal audits are made even more complicated by an ever-changing communications industry. It is not simply a matter of keeping up with changing technology. There are a multitude of evolving telecom businesses and offerings. As an example, a certain provider can become more aggressive in a particular market and start lowering prices or setting up incentive programs for new clients. But, if the new programs also apply to the entire user base, do you think the provider will call current clients just to lower their bills? As a practical matter, only someone who follows the industry closely, a telecom expert, would know about the savings opportunity.

Unfortunately, many organizations are forced to evaluate their bills by "trending." This means, they pay their telecom bills with only a cursory examination as long as the bill is, for example, within 10 percent of the perceived norm. However, if an error has been overlooked in the past, it can get "trended into the norm." One of my associates has a client that was paying for a number of office lines three years after they had been disconnected. Apparently, it was overlooked right from the beginning.

Changing needs can mean increased costs or cost savings.
Typically, an organization's needs evolve over time. We all know that an unanticipated spike in cell phone usage can easily cost hundreds of dollars more than it should, and thousands more if the packages are not promptly adjusted. However, more subtle changes can be just as costly over time. A steady, barely noticeable growth of just a few percentage points in long distance usage can result in significant missed opportunities. At the end of a medium growth year, a customer could easily be missing out on 15 to 20 percent savings or more by not addressing changing calling patterns as they occur.

One of Abilita's clients purchased a great long distance plan. The interstate rates were highly competitive and it worked well for them. But over the course of two years, they began to do more and more business in the northern part of the state. This was great for the company, but an audit revealed that their interlata rate (the long distance rate within the state) package was not the best. By accepting a slightly higher long distance package, they actually saved 23 percent on their total long distance bill.

Heading off the big problems.
Many organizations still view the management of "the phone bill" as a secondary task, reserved for an entry-level employee with no specific training. Perhaps at one time this was a workable practice. Today's organizations however, are much too dependent on a variety of communications. It is not just a phone bill anymore and poor management can result in significant and unnecessary expenses as well as lost productivity.
Utilizing a TEM service that provides regular analysis can help address problems as they occur, or prevent them entirely. TEM can immediately and significantly impact the bottom line, with savings often appearing in the first quarter of implementation. Because TEM can also free-up internal resources, it provides the opportunity to bring extraordinary value to any size organization.

Ben Porter is a Consultant at Abilita Telecom Consultants.
Ben can be reached at (310) 463-8400 or bporter@abilita.com.

Abilita is a full service telecom consulting firm helping clients across North America achieve greater cost efficiencies and improved performance for all of their telecommunications needs - voice, data and wireless.

Doug Meades
Managing Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
dmeades@abilita.com

"When the economy is good, saving money is important;
when the economy is bad, it's imperative."

It’s true, saving money is important for any organization and for many small businesses, telecom cost reduction is often an untapped source of revenue. With the evolution of telecom technology and constant changes within the industry the opportunity for small business to do some ‘belt tightening’ in this area has never been better and the rewards have never been greater. Consider this:

• On average, 7–12% of total telecom invoices are in error (Aberdeen Group)
• 57 % of businesses do not compare their telecom contracts to industry benchmarks for best pricing (Aberdeen Group)
• Late payment penalties equal 2% of overall telecom spend (Aberdeen Group)
• On average, firms save 18% when they improve their invoice processing practice yet 80% of all telecom bills are not audited (Avotus)
  

What do your telecom services have in common with your car or your health? Regular maintenance has been proven to reduce the overall cost of ownership and extends the life and value of the automobile. Regular check-ups with your doctor translate into a better quality of life. The same principles apply to management of your telecom services and corresponding expense. Here are some things you can be doing to manage your telecom expenses:

1. Check Rates
   Billing systems for major telecom providers are often legacy systems that were never designed to accommodate today’s billing requirements, so it isn’t surprising that billing errors occur. Check invoices against telecom contracts and request credits for any billing discrepancies you find.
   
2. Do an Inventory
   Make sure you know what each line is being used for and what features are being used on these lines. Match this inventory against the ‘ER’ (equipment report) from your vendor. Any line or feature that cannot be identified is a red flag and a potential candidate for cancellation.
   
3. Data & Internet Services
   Understand the utilization of your data and internet services. You don’t want to be over subscribed for service and you don’t want to be paying a premium for ‘over usage’ charges applied for exceeding the limits of your subscribed service.
   
4. Cellular Services
   Review cell phone invoices to ensure the usage pattern and cell plans line up (minutes used, long distance & roaming charges etc). Pay particular attention to charges for data as this is the fastest growing segment of the cellular market. These costs can spin out of control easily as new features and applications are introduced. Also check to see that the features you are paying for are being used.
   

Implementing a cost reduction strategy for telecom is an ongoing task. It is important on an ongoing basis to monitor, track and measure costs, savings and changes. Your efforts will be rewarded with the dividends of cost savings and the knowledge that you are on top of telecom expenses.

Doug Meades is Managing Consultant at Abilita Telecom Consultants.
Doug can be reached at (519) 432-1556 or dmeades@abilita.com.

Abilita is a full service telecom consulting firm helping clients across North America achieve greater cost efficiencies and improved performance for all of their telecommunications needs - voice, data and wireless.