Businesses Are Overspending on Wireless, Email, Messaging, Yankee Contends

Yankee Group (News - Alert) researchers argue that CIOs and corporate IT departments of what it refers to as "small- and medium-sized businesses," but more likely viewed as mid-sized organizations by most people who actually service services to SMBs, can save more than 50 to 80 percent on costs related to company wireless, email and messaging functions.


Extrapolating from its own internal experience, Yankee Group CTO Jeffrey Breen and Vice President Steve Hilton uncovered more than $150,000 of annual savings opportunities.

 

If that represents half of current spending, then we are talking about firms with $300,000 of annual spending, a level that would strike most retailers as uncharacteristic of a small business.

 

Moving from traditional Lotus or Microsoft (News - Alert) premises-based email application to a cloud-based messaging solution will save a staggering 83 percent (about $64,000) in the first year, they claim. Over a three-year period, the savings amounts to 88 percent and can total more than $200,000.

 

Enterprises also should replace individual-liable mobile plans with corporate-liable substitutes, a 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, they maintain.

 

“According to the Yankee Group survey data, nearly half of mid-sized U.S. businesses with100 to 499 employees reimburse employees individually, adding cost and creating an auditing nightmare,” says Breen. “Switching to corporate-liable plans not only gives you an opportunity to standardize on devices and features, but also can save you money.”