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In my last blog, entitled " The Benefits of On-Demand Telecom Expense Management Software," you were left with the thought that, not only are there benefits, but also potential disadvantages of on-demand telecom expense management software. This blog will outline those drawbacks and how you can mitigate them.  Lack of security, disaster recovery and data ownership issues can be detrimental for businesses acquiring Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions of any kind. When selecting a SaaS telecom expense management provider, companies should insist on strong security protocols, disaster recovery infrastructure and ensure that the SaaS agreement includes a provision that states that the data remains the property of their organization. The data center that houses the hosted solution should be state-of-the-art, fully secure and SAS70 compliant. This will protect the confidentiality and integrity of your data and make sure that it is always accessible when you need it. Finally! There is a cost-effective solution to address the unanswered need in the mid-market for TEM solutions. SaaS technology providers allow for the processes, tools and training to gain greater control over business telecom expenses, and at a fraction of the cost of traditional telecom expense management solutions. During the due diligence process, mid-market companies need to make sure that the SaaS application is secure, fully protected and that the end user maintains ownership of the data. If all checks out, the answer is quite obvious to the question: "To SaaS or Not To SaaS?!" This is the last of my blog series on the topic of TEM SaaS Solutions. To read more about this topic, register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled " Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR register to watch the streaming telecom expense management webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
In my last blog entitled "To SaaS or Not To SaaS...??," I provided just a few of the advantages of utilizing on-demand telecom expense management software. Those outlined were just the tip of the iceberg. Here are a few others.
 Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, can be easy-to-learn and simple-to-use, while still possessing robust capabilities. Through online training and client support teams, the user can expand their use of the tool as their knowledge increases. Upgrades are installed automatically as they are rolled out, usually at no additional charge. SaaS telecom expense management solutions can scale up or down with the users’ volume requirements. And SaaS TEM technologies come at a much lower price point than more traditional TEM solutions. Thus SaaS is a low-cost way to access the low hanging fruit of expense reduction without the infrastructure, IT support, and high learning curve required with on-premise software.
There is also the issue of deployment time. According to recent analyst research, it can take anywhere from 8 – 10 months to implement traditional telecom expense management applications. This can be dramatically reduced to days or weeks with SaaS because of the ease of deploying a web-based solution vs. on-premise or outsourced options. Custom reporting can be easily configured and installed at any time, as the product is delivered online. In addition, SaaS tools can capture and analyze usage and fixed costs from billing and produce exceptions reports, outlining potential errors and other savings opportunities. Clearview, Valicom's self-service telecom expense management software, offers these benefits and many more!
While there are many benefits, there are some potential drawbacks of telecom expense management software-as-a-service. To learn about these disadvantages and how you can mitigate them, register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR register to watch the streaming telecom expense management webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
Wireless Expense Management Reporting Many medium to large organizations utilize a variety of mobile management software and wireless inventory solutions whether purchased or created internally. Specifically on the Wireless side, we see many of those companies strive to provide the managers and directors with the ability to see wireless information of the employees under their leadership, using their expense management tools. This information ranges from summary detail (employees wireless plans, usage, features, device, costs associated) to actual calling detail. This detail proves important so managers can see user spend variance, approved voice and data plans and features, see call detail as needed, validate the users that are hitting their wireless budget, and ultimately reduce telecom expenses. To get this data, it's necessary to receive the appropriate electronic reporting monthly from your wireless vendors. The major hurdle with this is that all vendor electronic reporting formats are different. This is where the expertise of the Telecom Expense Management company like Valicom can assist. We have the ability and proven expertise to take those different electronic reports from any vendor and filter them into one customized format that can be uploaded into your management system, thus allowing you to utilize this visibility for users with all of your wireless vendors. Wireless data visibility is a great way better manage your wireless expenses, and provide a clear picture of what is hitting your wireless bottom line.
 To be or not to be? That is the question... What Shakespeare was contemplating with this famous quote from Hamlet, was "Is it better to live or to die?" Can this same philosophy be contemplated with the use of software-as-a-solution, or "SaaS" technology? Well, while it is not a matter of life or death, mid-market companies have experienced numerous benefits to utilizing SaaS solutions to automate various functions within their organizations. Along with a rapid growth in cloud computing over the past few years, there are several areas where SaaS has been widely adopted by mid-market corporations seeking low costs, better management and deeper visibility into their expenses. These areas include sales automation or CRM (Salesforce.com), web conferencing (Webex.com), web development and blogging (Wordpress) as well as other general applications, like the GoogleDocs suite. SaaS is quite new to the world of managing telecom expenses, with little awareness of its availability to the mid-market, and few telecom expense management suppliers offering it. The utilization of SaaS telecom expense management technology can be beneficial to mid-market businesses for several reasons. SaaS eliminates the hardware, security and professional management issues and costs of running software in-house, so it’s faster to deploy, cheaper to maintain, and easier to upgrade. Using an on-demand telecom management tool, along with training on best practices, eliminates dependence on telecom providers or TEM service firms. Companies do not need to hire an expert as their internal staff becomes the expert. To read more about the benefits of utilizing telecom expense management software as a service SaaS for your organization, register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled " Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR register to watch the streaming telecom expense management webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic. Till next time! :o)
There are several models used by mid-market companies for telecom expense management. These models include manual processes performed internally, outsourced services, homegrown applications, on-demand software-as-a-solution (SaaS) solutions and on-premise vendor solutions.  Manual processing includes the use of spreadsheets and other labor-intensive processes to manage telecom expenses. Outsourced services involve a 3rd party that performs all or part of the end-to-end processing of telecom bills including processing and paying the invoices, auditing and analysis for savings opportunities, management of assets such as lines, circuits and devices, and providing deliverables and reports for informational purposes. Homegrown applications include the development of an internal database to assist organizations in managing their expenses. SaaS involves providing self-serve, web-based software and back-office services that enable corporate business analysts to perform telecom expense management in-house, implementing savings opportunities themselves. On-premise solutions involve licensed software that is loaded on a server at the customer’s premises for the purposes of managing telecom costs. So, what are the common approaches to managing telecom expenses today? To find out more, check out this link to my earlier blog on this topic entitled "Mid-Market Companies' Current Approach to Managing Telecom Expenses" or download Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Telecom Expense For Mid-Market Companies?" or register to stream a webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
In an earlier blog dated July 20, 2010 entitled "What are Mid-Sized Organizations Doing About Controlling Telecom Expenses?," we left you with the question: "What are the keys to telecom expense management (TEM) program success for small to mid-size businesses (SMBs)?"  Well, according to the AOTMP report entitled "The Value of TEM to the SMB," the following are the keys to TEM success for SMBs: * "Focusing on program activities presenting the greatest opportunity for savings" * "Implementing TEM tools, such as TEM technology and supporting program initiatives.” These tools and technologies include licensed software, hosted solutions and SaaS options. * “Securing program support from skilled resources, which may include internal staff, consultants and/or third party subject matter experts, to drive program initiatives.” This report further drives home the significant economic benefit of implementing a TEM program for SMBs. AOTMP states that “SMBs with a TEM program save 22% more than companies who do not.” The majority of middle market companies spend anywhere from $150k to $5M in annual telecom expenses. 22% savings on these expenses would equate to $33,000 - $1,100,000 in annual savings for these companies. Now wouldn't you like to add those savings to YOUR bottom line?!! To read more about this topic, click on this link to register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR go to this link to register to watch the stream of the webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic. Enjoy!
The market for Telecom Expense Management software is getting crowded. Not much more than five years ago, our challenge was mostly centered around educating organization that Telecom Expense Management companies existed and that there is an entire industry whose goal is to reduce business costs, perform telecom audits and provide telecom cost management software. Now, the word is out and the challenge has shifted to differentiating one expense management solution from another.
 The good news here is that the consumer has choices and is in a position to be a little picky. When it comes to this pickiness, the savvy buyer is wise to make sure that any telecom expense management software solution can serve as an audit workbench as well as an information repository. This is to say that any TEM software is going to give you reports, trending, and a way to organize your expenses at a glance. What can differentiate a select few from the many are additional tools to give you the power to perform telecom auditing, expense analysis, and other activities to reduce business costs.
Even if you use a third party telecom expense management firm to help you today, who knows what the future holds? Today you may outsource certain functions that tomorrow you may want to take in house. All things being equal, a true workbench that provides customizable audit screens, issue tracking and resolution, and tools for optimizing telecom expenses, in addition to access to information, could save a lot of time and money in the long haul. Let the telecom expense management workbench be your key to hammering the fat out of your telecom expenses. –SAM
www.valicomcorp.com
In recent times, the old problem of “too many Chiefs and no Indians” has become a rare problem indeed. While eliminating Chiefs sounds great to the San Diego Chargers, Chiefs are now greatly outnumbered and not enough of us in the world of Telecom Expense Management are hailing to the Chiefs still standing. We’re talking about Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, or even non-chiefs who still need expense analysis capabilities that don’t drag them into telecom auditing details. These Chiefs want snap-shot views for macro-level telecom cost management, reducing telecom expenses, and generally getting a handle on telecom expense control.
Enter the management dashboard, a feature which should be an effective part of any telecom cost management software. A proper dashboard will keep live telecom trending information that is current and accurate. It provides a quick and easy-to-understand view of telecom expenses and how best efforts to reduce telecom expenses are actually working. Most of all, the dashboard should be readily available and easy to access with telecom expense trending information being available when and where needed.
With a proper dashboard, telecom expense management can be attacked from both a detail level as well as a management and any expense management solution will address this. Find the right Telecom Expense Management company and you too will find paradise by the dashboard light. –SAM
www.valicomcorp.com
 Since the break-up of the Bell companies in the early 80s, there have been many new complex telecom technologies, services and plans and a variety of telecom providers that have entered the telecom space. With these complexities, come opportunities as well as threats for telecom users. One of the threats that has come with divestiture has been inaccurate billing, usually caused by the use of legacy billing systems designed to handle a basic, simple mix of circuits and services, and utilizing codes that were developed by the Bell companies around those services.
As more complex, negotiated rates and services have come about with more competition, there is a propensity for errors in data entry of contracted rates and for legacy billing systems to apply the inappropriate charge, most in favor of the telecom supplier. To make matters worse, in the past 20 years, there have been numerous mergers and acquisitions among telecom vendors requiring the merging of disparate billing systems. This has dramatically exacerbated the problem.
Telecom users in North America spend a significant amount of money on telecom services and equipment. Telecom services are defined as “fixed”(also known as “wired” or “wireline”) including local, long distance/800, conference calling, wide area network (WAN) and internet; and “wireless” including cellular, blackberries, PDAs, smart phones and pagers. According to Forrester, “typically 3% to 6% of an enterprise’s gross revenues are spent on telecom services with 72% of the average North American enterprise telecom services’ budget spent on landline and 28% on wireless services.”
These companies are challenged with the management of carrier billing that is complex and fraught with errors. Forrester estimates that “billing errors average 5% to 12% of ongoing telecom services budgets.” In addition, during the past 20 years of auditing telecom invoices, Valicom has found that over 35% of invoices have some type of error, discrepancy or overcharge in them. Based on this, it is prudent to err on the side of caution when auditing your telecom invoices.
To learn more about the best approaches to performing telecom audits and expense management functions for your organization, read Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR go this link to download a streaming vido of the webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
A  ccording to Healthcare IT News - physician adoption of smartphones is experiencing exponential growth, as reported in " Point of Care Communications for Physicians," a new study from Spyglass Consulting Group. The report reveals 94 percent of physicians are using smartphones... This represents a 60 percent increase from 2006, based on Spyglass' findings in a similar study published that year. They are migrating to the new wireless devices to help them manage their data flow, connect with colleagues and improve patient care. It also allows them to better allocate their time, as they no longer have to check various avenues of communication - voice mails, email, SMS messages, text, etc - but can have it all delivered in one place. This means less opportunity for critical patient data too fall through the cracks, generating better, more efficient care.
For us, the possible recipient of this improved physician performance, this is great news. But for the IT and finance departments at your local healthcare clinic or hospital, it means one more line item in the budget to manage. And a pile of wireless devices and data plans to juggle. All of which costs money, often more money than it should... This is where efficient telecom expense control, wireless device management, and employee wireless policy solutions become critical. Implementing a telecom expense management (TEM) software platform to organize and audit those telecom costs can save up to 30% of annual wireless telecom budgets, freeing that money up to pay for other things. Like healthcare! Read the full article here. And feel free to download a copy of our Wireless Policy Template or check out a demo of our TEM software platform Clearview.
OK, excluding the wide array of jerky products, what’s the coolest thing about the 7-11? Easy: it’s ALWAYS open.
In all the hubbub over Telecom Expense Management, one subject that gets lost is the topic of openness. In other words, does your telecom management solution truly support the way YOU do business?
Asking a TEM software vendor to perform modifications is fine and, sure, sometimes a few tweaks are needed in order to ensure you can reach your strategic cost reduction goals and get the telecom expense analysis completed accurately and expeditiously. Still, there’s something to be said for understanding what your telecom expense management software was really engineered to do. Some specifics in this regard include:
- Does your telecom expense management system handle only carrier expenses or can it also house peripheral items like phone system leases, hardware specs, and other areas that should logically be grouped with telecom carrier expenses?
- Is your system equipped to handle your current account coding structure and expense allocation strategy?
- Is it flexible enough to adapt easily if your business environment changes?
- If you outsource telecom management functions, can your provider adapt to changing needs for telecom expense reporting and trending?
- Can your telecom software mimic the workflow your company uses to process telecom invoices and related data?
These are all key questions to consider in evaluating telecom expense management solutions and, again, openness is the key to the lockless door at the 7-11. -SAM
www.valicomcorp.com
A recent issue of The Economist, the venerable British business publication, discussed the advancing threats from cyberwarfare. As if IT people don't have enough to worry about, it had some interesting statistics about infected computers out there on the international grid. Even here at home, with our higher security standards, millions of US machines are infected with something, creating mass sleeper botnets. Botnets that nasties from overseas can use to unleash chaos on our power grids, financial databases and just about anything we rely on that's delivered via the internet. Here's an interesting image that shows the distribution of infected machines. (see the whole earth map image in the article, I just included US & Europe)
 As the article says "The internet was designed for convenience and reliability, not security. Yet in wiring together the globe, it has merged the garden and the wilderness. No passport is required in cyberspace. And although police are constrained by national borders, criminals roam free... Enemy states are no longer on the other side of the ocean, but just behind the firewall. The ill-intentioned can mask their identity and location, impersonate others and con their way into the buildings that hold the digitised wealth of the electronic age: money, personal data and intellectual property."Most of this digital mayhem is wrought through malware. Lots and lots of malware. Something you need to keep OFF your employees computers, wireless and mobile devices, part of which means having a good wireless policy and a mobile management plan in place. Malware can infect a smartphone almost as easily as a dekstop PC. Here's an alarming graph of the growth of malware...  The article goes on to discuss how different governments, the US included, are amassing an army of cyberhackers to both defend our national IT infrastructure - and attack, should the need arise. I think it's an interesting discussion, because we all know that one of IT's main concerns has always been security. (and if it's not, it should be) And I feel that the services we deliver play a part in that. By implementing strong telecom expense control, it frees up IT resources for other areas, like security and business continuity. A solid telecom inventory management solution also helps keep track of everything you have, so you can identify unused or underused machines and phones, removing them from your hardware pool before they become a problem. And if you're not really sure whether you have a "tight ship" or not, maybe you need to reach out for some help. A telecom audit can usually identify 30% savings or more in your annual telecom budget. Renegotiate some contracts, get a good handle on your inventory, and then you'll really know what you have to secure. To read the rest of the Economist article, click here.
With the explosive growth of cloud computing, as we've discussed before in Cloud computing to grow at 5 times rate of traditional IT, there is also growing concern about the business practices of vendors offering such services.
Gartner recently released a list of what they feel are the "Seven Rights and Responsibilities for Cloud Computing Services". Items that cloud computing customers and vendors should agree upon. In my eye, they are sound, smart guidelines. Having worked with the financial industry for years, and being a stickler for security and good business continuity practices myself, I just see common sense here.
But it's a good list to put to any telecom expense management provider you may be working with. If your main focus is saving money through telecom expense analysis and tasks like mobile managment, you shouldn't have to spend time worrying about the security of your telecom asset and contract data. You want to ensure the solution you choose is housed in a tightly controlled, secure environment, and that you maintain ownership of your own data. Valicom understands all this, and addresses it in our security policies.
But if you want to run this by any other vendors you use, here is the list.
- The right to retain ownership, use and control one's own data
- The right to service-level agreements that address liabilities, remediation and business outcomes
- The right to notification and choice about changes that affect the service consumers' business processes
- The right to understand the technical limitations or requirements of the service up front
- The right to understand the legal requirements of jurisdictions in which the provider operates
- The right to know what security processes the provider follows
- The responsibility to understand and adhere to software license requirements
To read the full article, with details on the Seven Rights, visit the Gartner Newsroom.
In an earlier blog dated July 9, 2010 entitled " Top Pressures For Controlling Telecom Costs", we left you with the question: "What are mid-sized organizations doing about controlling telecom expenses?" Well here is the answer: Not enough. Most mid-sized organizations have not deployed either internal or external telecom expense management (TEM) programs, usually because they do not have the trained staff to do it. Also, according to AOTMP , "there is a common perception of greater effort and cost than financial gain" causing "small and medium size businesses (SMB) to shy away from implementing a TEM program." So there is a disconnect between need and solution. In trying to drive home the point, AOTMP further reports that, "the keys to a productive and financially beneficial TEM program are establishing an inventory of telecom services, features, configurations, charges and service providers,and maintaining invoice accuracy. Technology assists in unifying a TEM program. This AOTMP research also reported the following top telecom priorities for SMBs.  So, what really are the TEM program keys to success for SMBs? You can find out by clicking on this link to register for Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR go to this link to register to watch the stream of the webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
Have you ever wondered what the most common mid-market approach is to managing telecom expenses today?
During a recent AberdeenGroup telecom expense management webinar sponsored by Valicom on the topic of SaaS TEM Solutions for the mid-market, there was an informal poll conducted with 75 mid-market attendees around the question “ What is your current approach to managing telecom expenses?” The results of the responses are shown in the graph below:
This poll indicated that the majority of attendees used an internal manual processing approach to telecom expense management. Contingency audits comprised the majority of outsourced services available to mid-market companies, and other telecom expense management solutions are virtually non-existent for medium-sized businesses.
Greater telecom expense complexities drive larger organizations to deploy homegrown applications and on-premise software; however they tend to be too complex and costly for mid-market companies. According to Hyoun Park, Research Analyst, Telecom and Unified Communications at AberdeenGroup: "AberdeenGroup research shows a large need with middle market organizations for on-demand telecom expense management solutions. This TEM technology brings the control and cost efficiencies of large enterprise expense management to mid-market corporations who have historically lacked the internal resources and expense volume to realize benefits."
To find out more about the benefits of TEM software SaaS solutions for the mid-market, click on this link to Valicom's whitepaper entitled "Can TEM SaaS Solutions Lower Telecom Expenses For Mid-Market Companies?" OR go to this link to download a streaming video of the webinar sponsored by Valicom about this topic.
At the risk of losing my man-card, I must admit that I know nothing about cars. I can’t recite models and I can’t change my oil. For me, turning on the air condition and radio represents a major mechanical coup. It is with this complete lack of automotive authority that I express my surprise at what I saw at a recent custom auto show I attended.  You see, I don’t really understand how putting in after market features like leather wraps on steering wheels and hanging dice fuzzy enough to make Elvis jealous are considered “custom” unless the eventual owner of the car is allowed to choose these features. In the world of telecom expense management, this same rule should apply. If you’re paying for telecom cost management software or any other expense management services, there are certain things that should be customized especially for you. For example, if you outsource telecom functions, such as telecom invoice payment, your TEM provider should provide your with payment feeds in the format your AP system is expecting. You should also have the ability to get telecom stats that are summarized in a report that has the format and data of your choosing. Insist that your software has workflow capabilities that match the way you do business. In short, demand a solution customized to your environment. Insisting on customization helps you in another way too – by drastically pairing down the list of telecom expense management companies with whom you’re willing to do business. There are simply not many of us out there who have taken telecom cost management and made it customer-centric. Call us and let us put the “custom” back in “customer”. -SAM
Kick the Tires, Honk the Horn, won't cost you a thing....
 We know that you'd never buy a car without checking it out, looking under the hood and taking a test drive. And while Valicom, with our twenty year history and record client satisfaction scores, isn't exactly "Honest Al" over at the local car lot, we'd still like to offer you the same courtesy. In February, we led the TEM industry by releasing our third-generation telecom audit platform Clearview as a Software-as-a-Solution (Saas), giving small to mid-sized businesses a new tool to reduce telecom expenses. It can also be used by telecom expense reduction analysts or telecom consultants to help them deliver results. Now we've made it even easier to try out Clearview by launching a short online demo, so you can see just what you're missing. And Clearview is designed to do just that - give you a " clear view" of your telecom spend. Delivered securely online, it allows you to review your telecom invoices for errors, see wireless expenses - like mobiles phones and data plans, organize all your telecom assets in one place, track changes, additions or deletions, and in general make order from chaos. And in doing so, you'll save TIME and MONEY, which is really the whole point. So if you'd like to take a test drive of Clearview, just head on over to our website and we'll give you the keys....
Last week, Valicom sponsored a webinar entitled " Can SaaS Solutions Lower Your Telecom, Network and Mobility Expense?" During this event, research was presented by The AberdeenGroup comparing mid-market vs. "best practice" companies needs and their adoption and implementation of SaaS Telecom Expense Management solutions.  One of the questions that came up by one of the attendees during the Q&A session was "How long does it take to implement Clearview (Valicom's telecom cost management software)?" The answer is contained in an earlier blog post at this link: http://blog.valicomcorp.com/blog/valicom/0/0/valicom-approach-enables-dramatically-reduced-tem-technology-implementation-timesEnjoy!
" Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein As we discussed in Part One of “Living in the Past”, businesses should strive to keep an eye out for new tools and technology that can make their jobs easier. And I don’t mean easier as in “I get to leave for the golf course half an hour early”, I mean easier like “We saved 30% of our telecom spend over last year, because now we can actually SEE what we’re doing”. Most likely that Excel spreadsheet you’ve been using to manage your telecom expenses and wireless inventory isn’t doing anything more for you now than it was five years ago. Albert would tell you that it’s time to move on… So you ask me, “If I ditch my spreadsheet, how am I supposed to keep track of all this stuff?”. Remember hearing about SalesForce.com, this great tool that is delivered via the web, and accessible from anywhere? Well, guess what. Just recently, that technology has been creeping into telecom expense management too. Via hosted solutions, or software-as-a-service, you can upgrade from spreadsheets to a fully functional, easy-to-learn TEM platform that allows you to view telecom inventory, track telecom invoices, manage telecom vendor relationships, get a handle on order change management and optimize your wireless spend… The options are as deep as you want to go. Imagine having a customizable dashboard that can display widgets showing exactly the data YOU want to see. You can even pull them out to use when you have to present to your managers or company board, or if you’re a consultant, to your client. Gain efficiency by keeping all your data in one place, and gain flexibility through users with various levels of access, so they only see what they need to see. Streamlining like this can save a ton of time, and as we all know ( Without Einstein even having to tell us!) Time = Money. And that’s really the only equation you need to know. 
Want to learn more about telecom expense management software-as-a-solution? Try a short demo of Clearview. With Clearview – you can see to the bottom of your telecom expenses.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended an Accelerate Madison event entitled "Cloud Computing 101." One of the speakers, Todd Loeppke of Savvis, Inc., a global IT utility services provider, did a nice job of outlining the various different cloud delivery models, cloud advantages, challenges for clients, top cloud applications and cloud service providers.
 The top cloud applications included collaboration apps, web apps, data backup, business apps, personal apps, storage on demand, IT management, server on-demand, analytics, appdev and technical apps. What might drive organizations to the cloud? According to Savvis' research, the following were the top 3 reasons:
1). The ability to scale up and down resources to manage demand: 36%
2). Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for infrastructure: 33%
3). Improved reliability: 25%
The cloud delivery models that were outlined included Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and any combination of these models. The top SaaS applications were web-conferencing and CRM. Once again, there was no mention of telecom expense management, as a SaaS application.
Based on Valicom's market research and the interest we are receiving from small, middle market and larger clients, there is a significant need for on-demand, self-service telecom expense management solutions.
Additionally, best practices training and education in conjunction with access to a telecom expense management SaaS application can significantly impact client's cost efficiencies and hard dollar telecom savings results.
Clearview, Valicom's telecom cost management software, is a SaaS TEM application that answers this marketplace demand. It is a middle ground for those who are not looking to outsource telecom expense management and have a need to enable internal analysts by automating their TEM processes to maximize telecom expense control. To check out how Clearview can benefit your organization, go to www.valicomcorp.com and view our free demo. It will be worth a few minutes of your time, I promise!
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