Telecom Expense Management Experts at Your Service: The SpyGlass Group

“We work behind the scenes to reduce your telecom bills.”

Telecommunications and business functions must be balanced and supervised side by side. We cannot deny the fact that even the smallest of errors can end up costing a lot to a company. This is the reason most companies look for an efficient telecom billing system to improve everyday business operations.

Moulding these challenges into its mission, SpyGlass was founded at the end of 2001 to help fiscal executives navigate through the complexities of telecommunication billing for a single purpose: to save companies money. For over 15 years, the company continued to execute that strategy and has grown to be nationwide and also provide services in Canada. As SpyGlass evolved and grew as a business, it didn’t lose that focus, but also realized that the professional development of its people and the culture that it has created are equally, if not more, important than what it does for the clients. SpyGlass recruits from colleges and promotes from within which creates an environment for its people to thrive and grow both personally and professionally.

The company is the largest independent telecom audit firm in the country with over 6000 clients and 145 employees. Its staff of sales, analytical and implementation people is among the brightest in the industry.

The Consultancy Services
SpyGlass’ primary service is a niche consulting engagement centered on cost reduction in telecommunications via a thorough bill audit. By nature, telecommunications billing is difficult to understand and often full of mistakes, unused services and overcharges. Most CFOs and finance executives rely on internal IT staff to approve telecom billing for payment since they are the staff that usually procures the services as well. It takes a very unique skill set, however, to dissect the billing and determine if it’s correct or not. Often, that bill gets approved and paid without much scrutiny. SpyGlass consulting service generates detailed inventories of services, usage reports and clear recommendations on concrete ways to reduce costs and then performs all the implementation activity at the clients’ direction. All of this is done on a success basis meaning there are only applicable SpyGlass fees for savings actually realized.

The Differentiating factor
SpyGlass is completely vendor-independent. Other firms operating in the space position themselves as independent consultants but actually have telecom carrier relationships behind the scenes and actually get paid by the carriers for directing business their way. In doing so, these firms are not truly independent and are not operating in the best interests of their clients.

The Road Ahead
SpyGlass currently focuses exclusively on the telecommunications line of the P&L which typically includes local and long distance phone service, Internet and data connections and wireless billing. SpyGlass will be adding a suite of complementary services in other areas in the coming years.

 The happy clients
“SpyGlass is a prime example of time well invested. In our case, we recovered significant dollars from carrier billing errors we had not detected. You also shed light on some unnecessary services which will save us money going forward.”
– Dean DePiero, Mayor, City of Parma, OH

“SpyGlass delivered on their promise to remedy the challenges associated with communications billing, and they drastically reduced the amount that we will spend over the coming years.”
– Gary Zrimec, CEO – North Ohio Heart Center

Meet the Master Duo

Brad Clark, Co-Founder: Brad is the co-founder and co-president of SpyGlass and responsible for the operations side of the business overseeing the Audit and Analysis and Implementation Project Management (IPM) teams. He brings 22 years of telecom sales and operational experience to SpyGlass. Throughout his career, he’s been involved in many aspects of telecommunication and IT services including billing, provisioning, deployment, sales, sales management and marketing.

Prior to founding SpyGlass, Brad was vice president of developer accounts for LightSource Telecom, a startup venture providing fiber optic telecom and internet services to new housing developments across the country. His primary role was negotiating long-term contracts with CEOs of land developers and builders nationwide so LightSource could be the exclusive provider of telecom services in these developments. Brad graduated from Ohio University in 1993 with a BSC in Communications Systems Management and a minor in Business Administration.

Ed DeAngelo, Co-Founder: Ed co-founded SpyGlass in 2002 to advise organizations in their quest to become more financially viable. Ed has a passion for consultative sales and is responsible for the growth and management of SpyGlass’ sales team. Ed brings experience in both business development and senior management consulting to the firm. Prior to co-founding SpyGlass, Ed was a member of the Business Affairs and Development group for the media company AOL Time Warner and its affiliate company CompuServe.

Ed also served as a lawyer in the transactional corporate law group at Baker Hostetler LLP, a multi-national law firm. Ed advised and represented business owners and public and private companies in various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, private equity transactions, real estate acquisitions and general corporate matters. Ed graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law with his Juris Doctorate in 1995 and from Ohio University with Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting and MIS in 1992.

“Telecom billing mistakes are the worst, but we provide solutions to help you fix them.”