expense

Verizon Unveils Vendor-Agnostic Managed Mobility

Verizon would love to be the sole provider of mobile communications services for every customer around the world. But, realizing that won’t ever happen it is going for the next best thing- managing mobile communications for customers regardless of the mobile carrier(s) they are using.

The concept is not ground-breaking in and of itself. Other technology service providers such as BT and IBM, as well as competing mobile carriers like AT&T already have similar offerings to help customers manage mobility throughout the enterprise and around the world.

Verizon is bringing a little something extra by including mobile security tools from Sybase and mobile expense management tools from Quickcomm Software Solutions. The resulting suite of services consists of five modules which can be mixed and matched to suit customer needs: inventory and expense management; logistics; mobile device management; mobile security and application management.

As the number one mobile service carrier in the United States, Verizon has a decent foundation to build on. We’ll see if the Verizon name combined with a different mix of tools is a recipe for success.

Cutting Costs With UC

Companies love meetings. There are so many meetings it is often amazing that anything ever gets done. There are meetings to plan the initial meeting, progress meetings, milestone meetings, budget meetings, etc., etc. It is insane. What is more insane though is how frequently companies fly everyone to one location to meet in person. On top of the impact to productivity of constantly meeting to begin with, the company incurs expenses for airfare or vehicle mileage, hotel lodging, meals, and other miscellaneous travel expenses. Depending on how many people are attending, it is possible that a single meeting- and its associated travel and lodging expenses- could pay for the lion’s share of a unified communications implementation. Part of the beauty and value of UC is that it helps parties scattered around the globe communicate more effectively. This includes real-time meetings and can represent a significant time and money savings for the company, especially given the current price of fuel.