The traveling salesman used to be a job position that people took on with vim and vigor, proud and happy to travel the country and the world to get the job done, no matter what it took. However, today, people don’t have the time or money to travel a lot, and companies are looking to save money wherever they can. Instead of losing business and not having traveling employees that can go to clients and seek out sales for the company, they choose to utilize technology, which can provide all of the same benefits of traveling to other businesses or clients, without the hassles or expenses.

No more tracking mileage, waiting on flights, and sleeping in stale hotel rooms. Some companies will still use these traveling employees from time to time, but more often than not, they stay home and utilize web conferencing software such as the ever popular GoToMeeting to connect with clients around the country and around the world. Through technology, a company in New York can connect with a customer or a partner in China just by turning on the computer and setting up webcam programs. You can have entire meetings and conferences online or one-on-one conversations that offer that personal touch without actually being there.

It’s convenient and affordable to use software like this to work with clients and partners in business. Instead of spending a lot of money on travel and losing valuable time due to layovers, time changes, and travel time, you can now do everything in real-time, without actually having to travel anywhere farther than your computer at the office. You can even work from home with these great conferencing tools, which is another way that companies are cutting costs without actually cutting back their staff. Whether your position used to … Read More

Traditional models of outsourcing have required a high level of trust on behalf of the customer. Using cloud technology is reducing that risk at the same time as allowing significant savings. To date much of the discussion about cloud computing has been around the replacement of in-house infrastructure and software with cloud-based alternatives. The real power in cloud technology will be realised when entire non-core business processes are sent to the cloud, taking advantage of the technology and virtual teams. Cloud outsourcing flips the trust in favour of the client and facilitates access to expertise at a lower cost.

Non-core business functions often include accounting, payroll, human resources and the IT department itself. The investment by businesses in the infrastructure, software and people to run these functions is a significant drain on profitability. For many businesses the barrier to outsourcing these functions is the fear of losing control of these important functions. In contrast, the barrier for outsourcing companies to allow greater client control is the cost of allowing clients to access systems and business processes. The breakthrough is cloud technology, particularly software as a service, that provides inexpensive system access via the internet.

Taking payroll as an example, the traditional model requires a customer to sign up to using the business process, software and staff of the outsource provider. The customer may then sometimes access certain data from the system. The system is always the property of the outsource company as is the way of working. In this model clients have difficult questions to resolve. What if theirs is a unique business need not suited to the outsource companies systems? If they terminate how would they get their data back? What investment will they then need to make in a new system or a new outsource provider?… Read More