Success Stories

45% per year savings for national multi-site company

Our client was a multi-site company headquartered in the South with offices all over the US. They used one carrier for most of their offices and wanted to reduce telecom costs. Their vendors did not give them a clear picture of what services they were being charged for – and the bills were confusing. They did not have time to figure out exactly what they were paying for, let alone identify every billing error and unused service. They also didn’t know what rates they should be paying.

To determine what they had, Berlin Pacific deciphered their vendor’s bills and records and inventoried all of their services. Our client received from us a complete list of everything they were paying for and how much it really cost, without us visiting all their offices. They then received a comparison of their costs versus what they actually needed to buy along with the quoted market prices for those services. This showed them how much they could save by using other vendors and eliminating unused services. We provided a detailed plan showing the steps they would need to take to leave their existing vendor and save 50% or more per year.

When the incumbent voice and data vendor realized our client was serious about leaving, they offered steep discounts across the board. Because our client had the complete inventory we created for them, they knew more about what they had than the vendor did. We were able to discover mistakes in the vendor’s proposal. The vendor did not realize the extent of the discounts they were already offering and had forgotten about an entire office. We also knew which services were on the proposal that our client no longer needed. We fixed the proposal to correct the vendor’s errors and eliminated services the client was no longer using. We substantially increased the vendor’s proposed monthly savings for our client.

In this case, our client was able to save 45% per year without changing vendors (including the vendor’s forgotten services.) This was a six-figure savings.

Changing vendors is manageable, but there would have been little benefit in this case. Our client was able to save 45% while remaining with the same vendor.

Our client gained additional benefits:

Reduced costs by 25% per year without changing service

Our New York City client depends on stable telecom systems to interact with domestic and international suppliers. Our client made it clear they did not want to change vendors.

After creating an inventory of all the client’s services, we compared their costs to the lowest market rates. We discovered that many services were much more expensive than services from comparable providers. We also determined that our client was not aware of promotional plans and cheaper configurations that their vendors offered but had no incentive to inform their client about. Using this knowledge of available plans and competitive rates, we negotiated with the vendor for better rate plans for our client. We were able to create savings of 25% per year for our client.

Our client’s other wins included:

This allowed our client to save 25% without having to change service.

Found, fought for, and received $16,000 credit for two years of billing errors

Our client didn’t have a clear understanding of what they were buying from their primary vendor. While they received bills, they didn’t know exactly what they were being charged for. They used Berlin Pacific’s expertise in telecom billing to get a complete picture of what they were paying for.

While inventorying this client’s services, Berlin Pacific discovered that their phone company had moved phone numbers to T1 lines while also removing the phone numbers from the old lines.

The phone company had not canceled the now useless number-less lines and had charged the client for two years. We were able to point out the error and have the lines removed from future bills. However, the phone company did not wish to return the $16,000 they had mis-billed for. Berlin Pacific navigated the vendor’s bureaucracy and found people able to correct the error, crediting our client $16,000.

Our client’s wins included:

Ongoing savings of $300,000 per year for national NYC company

Our client was based in New York with offices all over the country. Despite spending over $550,000 per year on telecom, they had no internal process by which to answer the following questions:

While their managers were busy running the business, no one had the time to address these questions.

Berlin Pacific’s Telecom Expense Reduction service was able to answer all these questions for the client. We created an inventory that identified all the services the client was paying for. We then found billing errors and unused services. We told the client what the best rates were. After getting approval, we fixed billing errors, terminated unused services, negotiated new contracts, and managed the implementation of services from new vendors.

Our client was able to cut annual costs from $550,000 to $250,000, saving $300,000 per year.

Our client’s wins included:

Managed a seamless transition to new voice and data vendors

Our financial services client was switching vendors and needed assistance managing the transition from one company’s T1s to another. During meetings it became clear that the vendor didn’t understand the customer’s needs.

Among other problems, the client had been getting busy signals on inbound calls. Each of the four main numbers and three subsidiary numbers had only a pre-allocated number of channels per phone line. We explained that if they ordered a line with Direct Inward Dial, the numbers could dynamically and efficiently share all 23 channels instead of limiting use by allocating the channels in advance. We then explained to the vendor what the client really wanted. The vendor’s account execs didn’t really understand what was possible, and we educated them on how make sure the line was ordered properly.

Once the lines were installed, we managed the process of disconnecting the old lines and terminating billing. When the old vendor kept billing the client, we navigated their bureaucracy and were able to terminate further charges.

In the end the customer got their new lines without service interruption or busy signals. The transition was seamless and uninterrupted.

75% decrease in annual conferencing costs (saving 25% of total spend)

Our NYC client depended on working closely with their customers. Conferencing was a huge portion of their telecom budget (roughly 33% of their annual telecom expenditures). Berlin Pacific was able to offer them a vendor that would cut their conferencing spend by 75% and provide the same level of service they were accustomed to.

Over all we were able to save them 56% of their telecom budget. Other benefits included:

Increased Network Uptime

Our enterprise client had hundreds of sites in a wide area network across the US and required high availability to run its business. With so many sites it was hard to keep track of everything that was happening. Any outage that would occur would decrease the effectiveness of the business. Our client needed a way to gain visibility into their network in order to manage it and correct problems.

To help them effectively manage the infrastructure their business depended on, we helped them design and buy an enterprise management solution for their network reporting, transparency, and audits. We also helped them test the solution before purchase, and so ensured that the implementation team knew what the customer needed.

With their new enterprise management and reporting solution, they were able to increase uptime and add additional sites.

It has been my great pleasure to have worked with Berlin Pacific for the past several months pursuant to reducing telecommunications costs for my company. Specifically, Anders Mikkelsen has done an outstanding job analyzing our communications infrastructure and subsequently making cost-savings recommendations and renegotiating contracts with a number of providers across the country. The outcome has been a substantial yearly savings in recurring voice and data charges, in addition to several large sum credits resulting from the discovery of billing errors. Anders' attention to detail and methodical approach have been most impressive. From the painstaking process of reviewing every phone line and data circuit in our inventory to the more subtle art of negotiating with nation-wide carriers, Anders has kept me informed every step of the way via easy to read, spreadsheet-based "score cards" that clearly show before and after snapshots of my communications costs.

I went into this project a bit skeptical that we would save enough money to make the effort worthwhile.
I couldn't have been more wrong. We're saving close to 50% of our yearly voice and data charges as a result of the efforts of Berlin Pacific. This project has made me a hero with our CFO. I would not hesitate to use Berlin Pacific again on similar projects or to refer them to any company looking for significant communications savings.

-M. McConnell , Director of IT, American Nursing Services

At a time when long distance rates are at an all time low, Berlin Pacific was able to think creatively to discover additional savings from our already deeply discounted carrier. He was able to produce savings on our ISDN video conferencing lines by analyzing our usage and through doggedly working through the bureaucracy at our carrier. Armed with a thorough knowledge of competitive rates, Berlin Pacific was able to renegotiate our contract and lower our monthly our Internet connectivity costs with a major tier one provider.

-J.Skopin, Dir. IT Infrastructure and Support, Mamiye Brothers

I just want to thank you for all your help dealing with Verizon. You were great. Before you took over I spend numerous hours trying to resolve the billing issues and didn’t get very far. You accomplished more over the period of two months, than I was able to over a six month period. You not only saved me money, but also aggravation and time. After initial orientation you took it over and didn’t take up my time, keeping me in the loop with updates on your progress. I’m certain that without your help we wouldn’t be able to resolve Verizon’s overcharges. Thanks again.

-A. Kazmierczuk, Pacor Inc.

Berlin Pacific has been an extremely valuable supplier to the Prime Advantage organization, not only for our Members but for internal operations as well. Through an analysis of our telecommunications expenditures, Berlin Pacific was able to reduce our existing costs by 41%. Members in our organization have realized similar savings, ranging from 35% to 50%. I highly recommend you have Anders and his organization evaluate your expenditures, whether it be telecommunications, freight, or utilities, and implement his recommendations. Managing costs is always good business practice, doing so in less aggressive economic cycles becomes even more critical, and Berlin Pacific exceeded our expectations.

-M. McDonald, Vice President, New Business Relationships, Prime Advantage

Verizon ended up helping me out! They're giving me my upgrade now, a month early, for no extra charge!  You were absolutely right about who to ask for and how to phrase it. And so, you are a genius, and a big thank you for the advice!

-E. W., City Opera New York

Thank you so much for jumping right in to fix it. It's greatly appreciated. This show in Nemacolin, PA is huge and very, very important to Acura and thus, to us. You are a treasure!

-L. M., Protravel