If toll-free calling is a part of your voice strategy today, you’ve probably asked yourself this question—how can we gain control and uncover cost savings in our toll-free voice business?
An online search of the topic will return various options with ‘new’ and ‘modern’ approaches to ‘take back control’ and ‘gain the true cost savings you need.’ It’s a compelling argument to “Become your own RespOrg today and cut out the middleman”—right?
So should you be your own RespOrg? Let’s look at what a Resporg is, what they do, why you might want to take the leap, and a few things to consider before you do to make sure you get the control and cost-savings that you’re after.
What is a RespOrg?
A Responsible Organization (RespOrg) is an entity that manages its own toll-free, including call routes and purchasing toll-free numbers directly from Somos, the company that manages the toll-free registry database and certifies companies and individuals to act as a RespOrg.
Who can be a RespOrg?
Before you can manage your toll-free traffic you have to be certified as a RespOrg by Somos. This can be done by any employee at your company, but does require the completion of a 7-step service establishment form and for the person in your company that will manage your toll-free to study for, take, and pass the RespOrg exam.
The benefits of being your own RespOrg
There are two main reasons why a business decides to be their own RespOrg: they want control over their toll-free and they believe they’ll realize cost savings through eliminating third-party costs by going direct to the source for their toll-free.
Taking control of your toll-free
We all like to be in control, and when it comes to your business, managing your toll-free is no different. By acting as your own RespOrg you’ll be able to purchase and provision the toll-free numbers you want without having to rely on the inventory of a third party. You’ll also be able to control the carriers in route for your toll-free calls.
Cut out the middleman and their costs
Being your own RespOrg enables you to purchase toll-free numbers directly from Somos. That means instead of relying on the inventory of another provider, you can purchase the numbers you want while eliminating any third-party fees that can inflate your costs.
Keep in mind that you can only purchase the numbers you intend to use—it’s improper to hoard inactive toll-free numbers (plus they cost you money regardless of whether you’re using them or not). To that end, only purchase the toll-free numbers you’ll be using to help cut back on the costs of maintaining an inventory you’re not using.
Take back your toll-freedom
Turn on cruise control with Bandwidth’s 5x carrier redundancy, global reach, and RespOrg capability.
Why you might not want to be your own RespOrg
So if you get to take control of your toll-free and can cut out costs, why isn’t every business their own RespOrg?
The hidden costs of being a RespOrg
While taking control and cutting costs sound great on paper, becoming a RespOrg, and acting as one, do have costs associated with them. The process of becoming a RespOrg can cost several thousand dollars, and then there’s the cost of hiring a staff to administer your toll-free, plus the monitoring software they’ll need to gain insights into what’s happening downstream to help avoid outages for your customers.
Finally there’s the cost of owning toll-free numbers. While you shouldn’t hoard numbers, you may want to purchase and pre-provision some for customer orders. That can have a real impact on your ROI, even without third-party fees since you’ll be able to purchase directly from Somos.
Why you should let Bandwidth be your RespOrg
Working with Bandwidth gives you direct access to a network provider that allows you to maintain the control you want, and help you lower your operating costs. With Bandwidth as your RespOrg you’ll gain access to a 24/7 network operations center (NOC) that proactively monitors for downstream issues that could cause outages.
That eliminates the need for your team to dedicate time and resources to monitoring network traffic. Additionally, you’ll be able to get access to our deep inventory of pre-provisioned toll-free numbers, ready to go for your customers in an instant.
All of this allows you to focus on the most important thing to you—revenue. You’ll be able to pivot your team to other revenue-generating tasks for your business, focusing on what makes your business great, and not on managing toll-free routes.
