When it comes to choosing telecom solutions for your business, the options can be daunting. It’s likely you’ll go through a few dozen meetings before selecting your carrier partner, and even more as your company’s needs grow. An independent telecom services agent works with you, doing the legwork, and helping you select the best option for your company.

There are dozens of reasons to work with a carrier services agent instead of engaging with a carrier directly. In a previous blog post we listed five; five more reasons are below:

1. Your long-term success matters. There’s not a lot of motivation for a carrier to perform or to stay in touch once you’ve signed a contract. Independent carrier services agents make the money on commissions, earning a small percentage of the monthly telecom bill. Their goal is to build a book of business of happy customers that don’t have to repeatedly find a new representative, giving the agent plenty of motivation to assist you in addressing and solving any service issues you may have.
2. Monthly savings and billing clarity. There’s a reason Research and Markets predicts that the telecom billing and revenue management market will be worth $25.27 billion by 2025—customers may often be paying for things they don’t want or need. This “fluff” could be costing companies thousands of dollars. Independent telecom agents regularly uncover significant fluff on bills during the auditing process. By reducing these extra services, you could have funds to use in other parts of your business. Additionally, over time, your billing structure can become complex as you make changes to your telecom infrastructure. A carrier services agent can help you stay on top of it.
3. Knowledge of incentives and promotions. Because carrier services agents work with multiple carriers and multiple customers, they have visibility into numerous incentives and promotions carriers may be offering. In contrast, when you work with a direct carrier agent, you only have access to deals and promotions from that specific carrier. These incentives can add up to significant cost savings.
4. Equal pricing. Despite all the industry knowledge and experience they offer, agents do not charge extra; the exact same standard pricing is used in both the agent and direct sales channels. For large projects, special pricing is available to both agent and direct channels at the same rates. It’s a model that helps both the customer and agent win.
5. Tech savvy. Moving successfully to newer technologies can save a company money and increase productivity. Independent carrier services agents need to understand multiple carriers’ offerings and have attended their trainings, and thus will typically be better versed than direct representatives in technologies such as Unified Communications, MPLS, cloud solutions, and call center applications. No carrier can be the master of all technologies and all niches. Put simply, independent agents are in a better position to help you make decisions about the telecom solutions that support your IT needs.

Gain back valuable time and resources to focus on driving innovation in your business. Learn more about how to simplify your telecom services.

When you are weighing using a carrier services agent against a direct carrier representative, perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that instead of simply “dealing with” your team, the carrier services agent becomes part of your team. This agent is personally invested in seeing you succeed, so he or she will take the time to understand your business needs, rather than simply trying to close deals.

• carrier services, 
• telecom