The Hidden Costs of Business Telecommunications

By Sylvia Rosen

 Believe it or not, your business telecommunications infrastructure can come with a lot of hidden costs. Since these are “hidden” costs, it’s unlikely that you budgeted or expected them when you first set up your system.There are two big sources of hidden costs: telecom contracts and mobile phones. However, if you are aware of these hidden costs, you will be able to take the necessary steps to eliminate them.Here’s how: 

Telecom Contracts 

By really evaluating your telecom contract and streamlining equipment, such as your small business phone system, you can eliminate hidden costs. A hidden cost isn’t necessarily a fee that your vendor is trying to sneak in there; often it includes costs such as post-installation charges. 

Furthermore, not only should you review your telecom contract so that you know what you are paying for, but you should also review it to make sure you are paying for what you actually need. In 1997, telecom billing overcharges were over 80%. And guess what? In 2010, billing overcharges were still close to 80%. Companies have been overpaying on their telecommunication costs for the past 14 years. 

Here are two steps to take to avoid overpaying:

• Figure out how many phone lines and what features your business will need BEFORE you begin to shop.
• Ask other businesses how much they paid for and what vendors they went with.

You can easily get rid of hidden costs by being prepared when it comes to setting up your telecommunications infrastructure. 

Mobile Phones

 The rise of mobile phones in the workplace can lead to a lot of hidden costs. The two biggest sources of hidden costs in mobile phones include: apps and data overage. Apps may be free or inexpensive to purchase, however, it’s their use that can eat up data plans. For example, most cell phone carriers charge by the megabyte. AT&T charges about $2 per megabyte over the maximum. 

To put that into perspective, using an app for one minute is three megabytes – or an additional $6 per minute. In addition, what costs even more money is when you don’t even have a data plan set up; this can lead to a lot of surprising charges. The best way to avoid these costs is to include a data plan in the mobile plan that you provide your employees – and let them know about it!

 Hidden telecommunication costs can negatively impact your small business. If you don’t take the time to look for them and get rid of them, then you’re just wasting money. Spend your money on the right telecom setup for your business but don’t waste your money on telecom equipment that you don’t actually need.

About the author: Sylvia is an online writer who connects with business professionals to write articles on a variety of telecom products, including office phone systems.

It has happened a lot of times, just like this. I was caught way from the office without my laptop. But, my trusty cell phone was in my pocket. Sell phone: wow, what a name for what that device has become. It has all my appointments on it, reminds of them. I keep all manner of notes on it. And, it is able to connect to the Internet from a hotspot or wifi connection.

So way from the office and my digital desktop, I just pulled into Panera Bread, paid for one of their never ending cups of java, drew it from the thermos and sat down. I few finger swipes over my phone and I was on the website checking information that I needed for my next appointment.

Who can continue to be upset, with coffee at my finger tips, pastry in the air and the world at my fingertips. I even used my Skype app to talk to someone in England, free, or chose to it, I did pay for the coffee.

]]> http://mypaneraoffice.com/2011/06/my-cell-phone-and-panera-bread-to-the-rescue/feed/ 0 http://mypaneraoffice.com/2011/05/my-friends-and-my-panera/ http://mypaneraoffice.com/2011/05/my-friends-and-my-panera/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 17:49:55 +0000 http://mypaneraoffice.com/2011/05/my-friends-and-my-panera/ Panera Bread cafe, restaurant, bakery…Oh, what do we call it.  I call it my office away from the office, office away from home.

Panera has been a meeting place for the whole range of visitors, ranging from the casual teenagers to the busy businessmen. I have seen them there.  I have had my friends sitting across from me in the flesh, too.  But, like many, I often sit there with my laptop open, smelling the fresh pastry, sipping my coffee and chatting with my friends on the screen.

Some call them “virtual friends”, but those are the ones who do not know how close we have grown once again to old school mates, for work colleagues and workshop attendees.  Then there are the scores that we have never seen, yet due to where they live, their interests, or the fact that they are friends of our friends, we have met only on this screen in front of me.

Be they Facebook or Twitter friends, or LinkedIn, ahha professional, network partners (got to be careful with the vocabulary here, they are from the workplace), I am so thankful that I can connect with them from this my office bakery over Panera Bread’s most often great, free wifi.

Panera Bread enjoys the recognition of being one of the largest dine-in, bakery chains in the United States, a leader in the field of specialty bread, and that special way they showcase their sweet wares make any morning with my friends special.

Morning is one of the best time of the day for any person to enjoy coffee and soft, amazing tasting bread at Panera Bread while finishing all your work in a jiffy without paying anything for the wifi service. It just makes the day for anyone. A cup of coffee helps to get rid of all the mental stress you might be going through at times and having it at Panera Bread in that amazing environment which just to your liking, not loud and absolutely soothing along with the best bread available makes you forget all the tension you were going through just some time ago when your office network suddenly crashed.

Panera Bread has been serving great bread and coffee to thousands of people everyday for a long time. It has now made its mark a permanent one in the minds of people with the introduction free wifi service to help people not miss any of their work or any fun even when they are at Panera Bread.

Panera Bread has not only set standards in bread making and coffee but also its service but now it has spread to new limits with mixing of free networking zones for people. It has set a benchmark in add-on services at bread and coffee houses for others to follow.

Compass Group North America’s Panera Bread has surpassed expectations of many and has emerged as one of the best casual eateries in North America. The journey that it began by expanding in 1990s has now gathered steam.  The company now operates through over 1362 cafes in 40 states and in addition to this it has fresh dough selling bakery-cafes.  This provides plenty of places to hook up to the free wifi and network with clients.

Busy people may find it hard to squeeze in some time in their daily schedule to have a proper meal or nutritious snack while working.  However, my Panera bread office is simply the most ideal way to combine office in kitchen. This mobile office attacks thousands of customers every day. The environment at any Panera Bread café is simply delicious with sweet smell of fresh bakery products always in the air.

It serves both as kitchen and office to many since Panera Bread offers free Wi-Fi connectivity in its cafes for more me and the rest of its customers.  Together with fresh hot coffee it serves a great, stable Wi-Fi connection up.  It is the perfect environment for networking.

A study reveals that in every five minutes a person tweets from Panera Office enjoying.  I am one of them, yet not every minute, of course.   People not pnly use laptops, but like me, they often sip a coffee while connecting to the world through their mobile phones.

Panera Bread outlets provide free coffee refills along with a great environment for mobile office. This just makes your experience more satisfying. This chain now operates with the largest free wireless networking in USA. The Wi-Fi allows you to connect several devices with Wi-Fi capability, however they restrict the Wi-Fi during peak time to an hour at many locations using filters.

You might never feel the work load while you are working from one such eatery that provides Wi-Fi along with a great ambience for work.

Related Posts:
Panera’s Free Refills Still Bests Starbucks New Trenta
5 Reasons to Office at Panera

Panera Bread vs. Starbucks:

• Panera’s coffee may not be quite as good as some of Starbuck’s brews, but Panera’s cups are cheaper and bottomless
• Panera’s pastry, sandwiches, soup, in fact any food they serve is far better than anything they flog at Starbucks.
• Starbucks is often a very cramped environment while Panera is much more roomy and inviting.
• Panera’s wifi is easier to use.

That is why I call it My Panera Office.  And Panera Bread’s stock is at a 52 week high.

One of the great things about officing at Panera Bread instead of Starbucks is I get free refills of coffee in a nice mug the entire time I am there, whether to just brouse the web for 15 minutes or meet with clients and do some bookwork for a few hours.  I pay for one cup and drink all I want.

Starbucks announced today that it is offering an even larger coffee than the their Venti.  The Trenta, as the new tall coffee will be called, will is 31 ounces and will sell for 50 cents more than the Venti.  And, still no free refill.

Ambiance, wifi, and free refill, top notch coffee, not to mention the great pastries, Panera Bread will still ranks number one for  the venue of my restaurant office.

Some of us office at Panera because we do not have space at home. Yet, we do have worked to do at home. Here is an article that can help you organize some office space in your kitchen.

• How To Create Functional Office Space in the Kitchen, from Curbly.
• How To Create a Kitchen Office, from Ron Hazelton’s HouseCalls
• Space Saving Hints to Create an Efficient Kitchen Office, from Building Materials 365