With gasoline prices regularly exceeding $3 per gallon, purchasing a new car without considering fuel efficiency can cost a lot of money in the long run. The costs for traveling the internet superhighway are also very significant. A review of your internet circuit provider contract every three years can result in lower costs and/or faster internet access speeds.

In the past several years the top tier carriers have made significant improvements to their network infrastructure in the Phoenix metro area. As a result, the cost of internet bandwidth has never been lower. Telecom agreements are most commonly structured with a 36-month initial term after which they typically go month-to-month. Sometimes, carriers may have the dreaded “evergreen” clause that automatically renews (often for additional 36-month terms). These types of agreements are bad news, they are “ever green dollar bills” for the carrier, and a raw deal for you. Do not sign such a deal and if you are in a deal, send them notice that you are cancelling at the end of the term and are willing to go month-to-month. Carriers may often offer a modest reduction in rates to extend the term another 36 months. You often need to change carriers to get more aggressive pricing.

When your voice/data circuit is up for renewal, it makes sense to look at quotes from multiple carriers. The price each carrier will be able to offer depends largely on how close their facilities are to your office and how close those facilities are to being fully subscribed. If a carrier already has fiber facilities in your building, they should typically (but not always) be both the most reliable and the lowest cost provider for your circuit.

Cost savings are not the only impetus for a circuit review. Perhaps your firm would benefit by increasing the amount of internet bandwidth to allow faster internet browsing and file downloads or to provide for video conferencing capability. You may be able to double available bandwidth for little or no additional cost. For firms where even a temporary internet outage is very costly, a failover circuit from a different carrier is a sensible option.

It’s ideal to review your options 90 days before your contract expires, but if your agreement is already in a month-to-month status this is a great time to act as well. If you decide to switch carriers, they will usually require four to six weeks’ notice to changeover. I highly recommend working with an independent consultant that can help to ensure you are comparing apples to apples on circuit options, and to ensure that the cutover goes smoothly. Our company partners with an excellent provider that reviews the various options from the top carriers and consistently delivers the best options and prices on circuits. We automatically work with our partner to review and present the best possible circuit alternatives for our clients when carrier contracts are nearing their expiration date.

Also, if your phone system is over five years old, I would recommend evaluating replacement options, especially if the firm is planning a move in the near future. VoIP (voice over IP) phone systems have become mainstream and offer a great deal more functionality than older digital and analog phone systems. Competition in the VoIP marketplace has improved both pricing and reliability. You may very well find that your circuit renewal savings alone can pay for the new phone system! Additionally, there are some vendors that bundle all of the hardware, circuits, service, and financing into one monthly bill. We frequently find that clients using a telecommunications bundle are paying quite a bit more than they should be.

A typical law firm depends heavily upon their phone system. Too often this system is taken for granted and only looked at when the firm is moving offices. Almost every time we complete a phone system upgrade, our clients remark that they wish someone had talked them into upgrading the system sooner.

With the right new system, it is very easy to work from home or a remote office as though you were at your desk. This is especially helpful when moving people to new locations in phases rather than all at once.  There will be no need to pay for expensive conference bridges, because your phone system will include that capability. You’ll find yourself simply clicking on contacts in Outlook or other applications like Prolaw to automatically dial your phone for you. You may record any call with a single mouse click if you need it. As their phone system and computer integrate better, our clients tell us that they are more efficient and communicate better with clients and with staff.

Our clients are continually surprised how the right new phone system has improved their productivity in ways they didn’t expect.