5 easy ways to find hidden money and cut business expenses
It’s that time of the year again! Festive lights all around, children sitting on Santa’s lap, the air’s a bit chillier… ah yes, BUDGET PLANNING SEASON! As is the case with many business expenses, voice and messaging costs can quickly add up if you don’t have the right combination of products, services and providers working for your business. As you prepare for the year ahead, we’ve got a few tips to help you make the most out of your money.
1. Get out your magnifying glass
Are there any big ticket items that stand out from the pack? Flag those items – it may be time to revisit those partnerships to ensure you’re getting the right ROI for your money. Common examples of slowly growing money monsters include things like travel expenses and printing costs. In communications-focused businesses like ours, monthly text messages are a common culprit of excess spend that can go undetected.
2. “It’s not you…. it’s me”
As your business grows, you may outgrow certain vendors who are a better fit for smaller start-ups. Make sure you’re working with a price and support package that can scale with you, and if things don’t make sense, it may be time for a break up. A good sign you may need to make a change is if your cost savings from your vendors don’t produce the same percentage of ROI year over year.
3. Take some advice from your chiropractor
The more vertical alignment and integration, the better. Many of the major companies today are taking uncommon business practices in-house to save money and administrative hassle.Take Amazon as an example – they’ve brought much of their shipping in-house, instead of outsourcing to FedEx or UPS. We, at Bandwidth, have taken some of these ideas to heart as well by combining our voice and messaging APIs with our own network — giving us flexibility, cost, and quality control that would be impossible without both crucial pieces of the product.
4. Just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s the best
A big name is just that — a name. If you’re paying a pretty penny, make sure the product and services can hold their own behind the branding. When in doubt, there’s nothing wrong with opening a few trial accounts just to see how your experience compares against the rest of the market.
5. Is your forecast cloudy?
If it’s not, it should be! Cloud-based businesses are at the forefront of our future — helping you saving money on equipment costs and administration and get to market faster than ever. If you haven’t yet looked into how SaaS providers, APIs, or next-gen technology can fit into your business plan, now is the time.
6. Bonus (Shameless Plug Edition): Give Bandwidth a try for voice and messaging services
When calling and texting are key components of your user experience, Bandwidth can save you a pretty penny compared to other voice and messaging API providers (sometimes as much as 60%). Not only that, going direct-to-carrier means you have additional support and quality control that just isn’t possible elsewhere.