Supreme Court Decision May Affect Telcos

7/9/2018

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that has important implications for telecommunications service providers by paving the way for states to collect sales or use taxes from sellers with no physical presence in the taxing state. The court declared constitutional a South Dakota law requiring out-of-state sellers to remit sales taxes on sales to South Dakota residents if the sellers exceed certain revenue or transaction thresholds.

In South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the Supreme Court overturned its 1967 decision in National Bellas Hess, Incorporated v. Illinois, and its 1992 decision in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota, which had generally prohibited states from collecting sales or use taxes on sales of tangible personal property from sellers with no physical presence within the state.

The Wayfair decision does not say that out-of-state businesses must immediately pay sales or use taxes to all states with such taxes, it indicates that a lack of physical presence in a state will no longer prevent the state from requiring out-of-state businesses to remit sales and use taxes. While the decision does not necessarily mean that all telecommunications service providers now have substantial nexus with all states, these companies should re-evaluate their tax collection and payment obligations on a state-by-state basis.

Connect with your Simplified agent to find out more about how this will affect your business.

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Ensure Savings with Telecom Audits

7/8/2018

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Your business may be overspending on telecommunications costs. According to Gartner Research, billing errors could represent as much as 14 percent of telecom spend. Telecom consulting firms have reported that billing errors were discovered in 81 percent of their client base – in multiple cases exceeding 20 percent of invoice. Yet 85 percent of companies do not audit their telecom bills, but simply pay them in full.

In order to shed light on your business’ telecom expenses – and reduce costs – ensure that anyone handling your telco accounts has Key Performance Indictors (KPIs) that match growth strategies. In addition, regularly review needs and usage in International calling costs, handset/hardware costs, and data consumption and charges.
Conduct an internal audit to review historical pricing and review the presence of unused products/lines that are incurring charges. Audits can uncover things like:

Billing errors such as incorrect call rates and overcharges
Being locked into an outdated plan because of contacts
Misuse of hardware
Unused services for which you are still paying

On an ongoing basis, consider current products and which will be the best fit and which will reduce costs and maintain or improve operational efficiencies. You won’t be able to realize telecom cost reductions by being complacent, but Simplified can help by performing a full audit to identify problems as well as opportunities.

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Protecting Your Small Business From Cyber Attack

6/10/2018

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While about half of small businesses in the U.S. experience a cyber-attack, a whopping 87 percent of business owners think they’re not at risk. A data breach can be devastating; half of small businesses who experience one are shuttered within six months.

The good news is there are some easy things you can do to protect yourself from hackers who can not only steal money and customer data, but also employee details and vendor information.

Train employees on your cybersecurity policy and what you expect them to do. This should include procedures for keeping employee, vendor, and customer information safe, as well as protocols on what to do in case there is a breach. Employees should also create strong, unique passwords for each account and every desktop and mobile device they use. Encourage the use of two-step authentication as well.
Regularly update computers to ensure operating systems and web browsers are up to date and running any new versions of software, including security software. Any software stored on computers should also be updated.
Regularly backup computers so that if information is stolen, there’s another copy available. For example, vendor information on your desktop should also have a copy stored in the cloud. All important information should include encryption and password protection.
Limiting access is an important key to data security. Only employees should have access to company computers and accounts, and they shouldn’t share passwords.
Secure your WiFi so only employees can access it. If you want an open WiFi for customers to use, set up a separate network so that guests don’t have the same WiFi access as employees.

It’s imperative to build a strong cyber security plan. By using data breach basics, you can help protect your business from cyber-attacks.

Contact a Simplified Agent today to learn how we can help protect your business

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