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| March 2010 |
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Out Front With Advocate Networks The Return of Capital Expenditures - Good News for All of Us By Tim Wise, While the last 18 months (also known as the Great Recession) have been extremely challenging for all of us, we are beginning to see the early stages of growth and reinvestment in enterprises. Specifically, over the past four months, we have seen a surge in demand for assistance from our clients and the broader market in infrastructure planning for data centers, telephony and contact center platforms. All of these initiatives demand significant capital expenditures exceeding a minimum of $1 million with some over $30 million. This demand should be encouraging all of us in terms of overall business confidence and future economic growth. Beginning in January 2008, we saw these infrastructure projects pause or reduce in size, then permanently halt around September 15, 2008, corresponding with the Lehman failure. On that date, it was like every CFO instructed every CIO to stop spending money - especially on capital expenditures - and to cut operating expenses quickly. Now, with the economy on more solid footing and the realities of deferred capital investment on business growth, our clients are beginning to plan for those upgrades and reinvestments. Regarding data center projects, our clients are now out of power and time is running out. Historically, many enterprises considered continued investments in internally owned data centers. Today's clients, however, lean towards external data center providers. The dynamics driving this trend are twofold: First, enterprises want to preserve capital for core investments - ones that typically generate revenue (versus a support function). Second, the power, infrastructure demand and management complexity required to maintain a high-availability data center is ever increasing (Tier 3 or 4 rating according to Uptime Institute). The deferral of telephony and call center platforms investments are also now causing enterprises to be faced with significant end-of-life risks. The end-of-life risks are being accelerated as now many systems have gone 10-plus years without major investment. Another factor is the continued consolidation (or elimination) of many telephony and call center platform manufacturers. Enterprises are now on notice by many manufacturers that have "hard" end-of-life dates occurring in the next two to three years, while others are just speculative (i.e. the Nortel platforms). While these systems may still perform relatively well today, the impending end-of-life risk and the increased productivity functionality of newer IP-based systems are motivating enterprises to begin planning for future systems and platforms. While these interpretations are limited to Advocate Networks' observations within the market, Cisco's recent quarterly earnings announcement appeared to validate a rebound in IT infrastructure investment. If these observations are true, then the outcome should be good for all in terms of rebounding business confidence and economic growth. To learn more about infrastructure planning for your communications and data center needs, please contact Tim Wise at |
 In This Issue
The Contract Time Bomb By Rob Stewart, Managing Consultant, Advocate Networks, LLC How well do you know your telecom carrier contracts? Here is a test: 1. Do you have fully executed copies on file?
If you cannot answer all of these, you are not alone - telecom contracts are long and complex. If you cannot answer any of these, you really have a problem. Advocate Networks and PRGX Form Strategic Alliance Advocate Networks, LLC and PRGX Global, Inc. entered into a strategic alliance to expand the recovery audit capabilities they can deliver to their clients. PRGX is the world's leader in recovery auditing and a pioneer in a new category of services called "profit discovery," the combination of audit, analytics and advisory services to improve client financial performance. MS Exchange is Ripe for Outsourcing By Nick Grecco, CIO-in-Residence, For many CIOs, outsourcing is a way of life. For others, it is avoided at all costs. The decision to outsource is highly dependent on your particular situation; but for an organization with limited internal IT resources, outsourcing can have significant cost and management benefits. To reduce costs and potentially improve service levels, investigate and selectively outsource those components of your operation that don't involve your core business, like email. While email is the backbone for all corporate communications, a carefully selected MS Exchange Managed Service Provider (MSP) will allow your company to focus on areas of operation which either cannot easily be replaced or need to be closely managed. Gartner research shows that 20 percent of companies will use hosted email of some sort by 2012. Customer Spotlight: Augusta Sportswear
Through the efforts of Advocate Networks, we reduced our annual telecommunications costs by more than 20 percent for each of the next three years and, at the same time, improved our flexibility by reducing our total financial commitment. In addition, we eliminated billing issues by combining our subsidiaries under one collective unit. While the overall level of savings is impressive, we appreciate that our investment in Advocate's services will be recovered in less than four months. This is in line with your initial projections. I could not be happier with the outcome of our engagement, and I hope that the partnership between Augusta Sportswear and Advocate Networks will continue in the future. Sincerely, Wade Vann
Advocate Networks Announcing New Sales Team Members Advocate Networks welcomes two new team members, Keith Strong and Paul Salamanca, to its expanding sales force. Effective March 1, 2010, Keith and Paul joined us as regional vice presidents of sales, for the Southwest and Northeast markets, respectively. Ongoing Community Service: Children's Christmas Parade
Look For Us! TAG Georgia Technology Summit CTAM's Cable & Telecommunications Industry Fundraiser: SkiTAM VHA Georgia Trustee Institute ATP Golf Tournament The World of IT Financial Management
Referrals are always appreciated (and rewarded)! Please contact Marina Harmon at marina.harmon@advocatenetworks.com or call (678) 987-5915 for information about our referral program. To learn how Advocate Networks can reduce your communications expenses, please contact Scott Fogle at (678) 987-5990 or scott.fogle@advocatenetworks.com. |
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On behalf of Augusta Sportswear Group, I would like to thank you for your assistance in the recent negotiations of our wireline and wireless services. Your industry experience and market knowledge were essential to our success and allowed our associates to concentrate efforts in other areas knowing that our telecommunication sourcing was in good hands.
Members of the Advocate Networks team gathered early the morning of December 5, 2009 to volunteer for the 29th annual Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Christmas Parade. For the second consecutive year, Advocate Networks gave back to the community and kicked off the holiday season by participating in the parade's Wheels Committee, making sure groups in the parade were lined up and properly organized.