The research, undertaken by BT, highlights that a quarter of smaller companies have more than 12 suppliers for business services, with 62 per cent having more than four suppliers for telecoms and IT alone.
Companies on average spend more than one working day per year dealing with each supplier, with seven per cent spending more than 24 days per year processing invoices, admin and making payments to their suppliers.
BT has developed a calculator, based on the research, that enables resellers to demonstrate to a small business how much time and money it spends dealing with suppliers and how much it could save each year by reducing the number.
Phil Purssey, sales director for the Indirect Channel at BT Business, said: “What many businesses don’t take into account when looking at the cost of suppliers is the time it takes to deal with each one. Having less suppliers means less processing and admin, as well as reducing the cost of actual supplies.
“Channel partners are ideally placed to address this issue – enabling businesses to consolidate their IT and communications services with one trusted provider. Resellers looking to maximise this opportunity need to demonstrate that having a reduced number of suppliers also means less integration worries. They can add enormous value to telephone, mobile, broadband and IT services, providing a focal point to quickly address opportunities and issues as they arise.”
To calculate approximately how much customers could save by reducing their number of suppliers, go to www.btbroadbandoffice.com/reducesuppliers.