Living in the Past: Part 1 – Stone Age tools for Stone Age results

“You can’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and expect to be in business tomorrow” 
– Unknown

Most of us have probably heard this sensible business advice, but are you taking it to heart in your current work processes?  Maybe not…

We all know that it’s a lot easier to use tried and true tactics, going down the same path every day, rather than tackling anything different.  Heaven forbid – you might have to learn something new!  But the price you pay for stagnation can be huge.  New techniques arise, best practices evolve over time, fresh technology comes out….  Your competitors are probably on board.  The 25-year old guy in the corner cube who wants your office is probably on board.  You better get on board too, or the boat is going to leave without you.

So what kind of neat shiny new things am I talking about?  Well, I’ll give you an example.  A HUGE example.   Granted, this doesn’t have much to do with telecom expense management or telecom invoice auditing, but we get to that in Part Two.   This one tool helps to illustrate how the software-as-a-service technology is changing the face of business.  Something you can use to automate workflows, and reduce costs for your business.   But, this example is at work in your sales department…

Ever heard of SalesForce.com?  If you’re in IT or a CFO, I forgive you if you haven’t.  But, if you work in sales or customer service, you’re in trouble if you don’t know.  It’s only the fastest growing, most heavily adopted, and slickest customer relationship management tool out there.  Best part?  It’s web-based.  Delivered online, real-time with a password, it means you can access your data from anywhere, anytime – even at 3 am when your flight out of O’Hare is cancelled for the third time.  At a convention in Singapore?  No problem.  One click, and all your customer data is at your fingertips.   On vacation in Costa Rica?  Just log in and there are all the campaign stats for that email you sent out last Tuesday.

Sure beats that crummy old rolodex sitting on your desk, doesn’t it?

And with this new technology comes an avalanche of new best practices, tactics, ideas, collaborative plug-ins allowing access to third-party data and services, and so much more. Probably something you’d want to know about, and be using to save your business money, before Jimmy-in-the-Cube figures it out and you end up working for him.

So, now that you get a taste of the type of tools available, stay tuned for Part Two to see how it can be applied to your telecom expense reduction tasks.   Whether you’re an IT staff managing wireless expenses, a CFO looking for business cost reduction options, or a telecom consultant wanting a way to increase your capabilities while saving time and money, we’ve got a new toy for you…

Want a sneak peek?  Get a demo of Clearview today.