A finance director at a 90-person accounting firm asked me to review their telecom invoices before budget season. She expected to find maybe £500 in savings. We found £12,000 per year.
Here is the line-by-line breakdown — and how to find the same waste in your own bills.
The Audit
I requested 6 months of invoices from their two telecom providers. Total monthly spend: £4,200.
| Line Item | Monthly | Annual | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 PRI circuits (46 channels) | £1,420 | £17,040 | WASTE — peak usage: 12 concurrent calls |
| Maintenance contract | £380 | £4,560 | OVERPAYING — 3x market rate |
| Call recording (90 users) | £540 | £6,480 | SHOULD BE FREE — included with modern VoIP |
| Voicemail (90 users) | £270 | £3,240 | SHOULD BE FREE |
| Auto-attendant | £65 | £780 | SHOULD BE FREE |
| Conference bridge | £95 | £1,140 | SHOULD BE FREE |
| Long distance | £280 | £3,360 | SHOULD BE FREE — unlimited with VoIP |
| IT contractor (phones) | £350 | £4,200 | REDUCIBLE — cloud VoIP needs 80% less admin |
| Total | £3,400 | £40,800 |
What We Changed
| Item | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Phone system | PRI + PBX | Cloud VoIP |
| Monthly cost | £4,200 | £2,160 |
| Features extra | £970/month | £0 (all included) |
| IT admin | 12 hrs/month | 2 hrs/month |
New monthly cost: 90 users × £24/user = £2,160. Everything included.
Monthly savings: £4,200 - £2,160 = £2,040
Annual savings: £24,480
But we only claimed £12,000 because the remaining savings depended on cancelling the PRI early termination — which cost £8,400. Net year-one savings after ETF: £16,080. Year two onwards: £24,480.
How to Audit Your Own Bill in 15 Minutes
Step 1 (3 minutes): Get your last phone invoice. Find the total.
Step 2 (3 minutes): Count phone users. Divide total by users = per-user cost.
| Per-User Cost | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Under £20 | You are already on VoIP or a great deal |
| £20-35 | Room for optimisation |
| £35-50 | Significantly overpaying |
| Over £50 | Urgently need to switch |
Step 3 (3 minutes): Look for line items that should be free:
- Call recording
- Voicemail
- Auto-attendant
- Conference calling
- Long distance
- Mobile app
If ANY of these appear as separate charges, you are on an outdated plan.
Step 4 (3 minutes): Count your phone lines/channels. Compare to your peak concurrent calls (ask your IT team or check your PBX CDR). If you have more than 1.5× your peak, you are paying for ghost lines.
Step 5 (3 minutes): Get a comparison quote. DialPhone offers free bill analysis — email your invoices and get a detailed savings report within 48 hours. No obligation, no sales pressure.
The average company saves 40-70% when they run this audit. The £12,000 we found was actually conservative — most companies waste more.
