 "'Anywhere IT' Environment Helps Cut Communication Costs")
Yankee Group has demonstrated that CIOs and corporate IT departments of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can save more than 50 to 80 percent on costs related to corporate wireless, e-mail and messaging by moving to an ‘Anywhere IT’ environment.
Using Yankee Group as a model SMB, CTO Jeffrey Breen and vice president Steve Hilton uncovered more than $150,000 of annual savings opportunities. The new series of reports, ‘CIO’s Guide to Cost Cutting’ advise that SMBs:
-- Move to the cloud: Moving from traditional Lotus or Microsoft premises-based e-mail application to a cloud-based messaging solution will save a staggering 83 percent (about $64,000) in the first year. During a three-year period, the savings amounts to 88 percent and can total more than $200,000.
-- Stop reimbursing individual-liable cell phone bills: With corporate wireless phone plans, SMBs stand to save $96,000, or 47 percent in the first year by replacing unwieldy individual-liable plans with a single new corporate liable plan.
As defined in the January 2009 ‘Introducing Anywhere IT’ report, Anywhere IT is information technology that allows any user to work from any location, over any device, with the best possible experience that the device and network allow. Anywhere IT moves complexity into the cloud and expands IT into non-traditional areas, driving growth of the information communications and technology marketplace from $2.2 trillion worldwide today to $4 trillion in just seven years.
Hilton reinforced that moving to an ‘Anywhere IT’ environment means getting more, not less, for users. “Features and functionality only increased with the new cloud-based e-mail and messaging solution compared to the legacy premises-based solution,” Hilton said. “You can maintain BlackBerry access to e-mail and add support for other devices, including Apple’s iPhone and phones running Java, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian and others.”
And companies that already embrace Anywhere can reap the benefits of Yankee Group’s findings. “According to the Yankee Group survey data, nearly half of mid-sized US businesses [100 to 499 on staff] reimburse employees individually, adding cost and creating an auditing nightmare,” said Breen. “Switching to corporate-liable plans not only gives you an opportunity to standardise on devices and features, but also can save you money.”