OB10-The Institute of Financial Operations Study Finds More Companies Expediting Collections through e-Invoicing and Early Pay Discounts

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) May 10, 2012

The third annual Accounts Receivable (AR) Survey from OB10 (http://www.ob10.com), the e-Invoicing network, and The Institute of Financial Operations, the globally recognized authority on best practices in financial operations, finds that more companies are accelerating their collections processes through e-Invoicing and are taking discounts for early payment. The survey gauges the views of accounts receivable and credit professionals in the areas of collections, invoicing, payment processes, and the economy.

The 147 participants included AR and credit professionals, CEOs, presidents, and CFOs from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in North America and the UK. The results indicate that e-Invoicing continues to grow as a reliable invoice submission method, as 29% of respondents use it versus 26% last year. This is also the first year that respondents use of e-Invoicing has surpassed that of EDI.

Regardless of the invoicing submission method used, 85% of respondents believe electronic invoicing expedites the collections process. Additionally, early pay discounts are growing as a cash-management option, with two-thirds indicating that they have accepted discount terms offered by their customers.

When asked about the results of their collections efforts, 50% were only somewhat satisfied, suggesting that there is an opportunity to find and implement an ideal solution or combination of solutions to improve collections. More respondents said that they were calling late-paying customers to chase payment. This method has increased in popularity over the last three years from 55% in 2010 to 61% in 2012.

While this years survey shows good growth for invoice automation, more can be done to streamline the procure-to-pay process, said Luke McKeever, CEO for OB10. Increased adoption will improve organizations satisfaction in their collection efforts and eliminate the need to call customers to chase late payments. We can then expect to see more organizations take advantage of early pay discounts.

This years AR survey shows how OB10 and The Institute of Financial Operations continue to have an acute understanding of what organizations find important in the procure-to-pay process, said Jo E. LaBorde, Executive Director of The Institute of Financial Operations. We are equipped to monitor trends and offer solutions designed to help improve their financial operations.

This years AR survey introduces the Invoice, Payment and Cash Flow (IPC) Barometer, which asks for respondents opinions on how effective they are in invoicing, customer payment efficiency, and cash-flow management and generates an overall score. Organizations will soon be able to gauge their own IPC Barometer result on the OB10 website and learn how to improve it.

To read the full 2012 OB10-Institute of Financial Operations Accounts Receivable Survey, download the white paper from the OB10 website or The Institute of Financial Operations website.

The white paper can also be accessed here:

OB10: http://bit.ly/OB10arsurvey

The Institute of Financial Operations: http://bit.ly/IFOSurvey

OB10-The Institute of Financial Operations Study Finds More Companies Expediting Collections through e-Invoicing and Early Pay Discounts

Government Agencies Seek Tech Solutions That Promote Efficiency, Reduce Costs, New CompTIA Study Finds

Downers Grove, IL (PRWEB) May 17, 2011

Challenged by tight budgets, bureaucratic hurdles and a dramatic rise in cybersecurity attacks, government agencies are looking for technology solutions that help them become more efficient while at the same time reducing costs, according to new research released today by CompTIA, the non-profit association for the information technology (IT) industry.

CompTIAs Second Annual Government IT Purchase Plans study finds that the top influencer driving government IT purchase plans over the next 12 months is a desire to become more efficient and reduce long-term costs. It was identified as an influential or very influential factor in purchase decisions by 60 percent of the government IT decision makers or influencers surveyed.

A significant number of respondents, 54 percent, said the need to comply with a mandate or regulation is a driving factor in IT spending. Other top purchase influencers include responding to the needs of citizens and staff (53 percent); and the need to modernize aging systems (47 percent), especially systems that are vulnerable to security threats due to dated technology.

Though budget challenges and the burden of bureaucracy can slow the pace of change, government technology spending will continue, particularly on solutions that help to ease the challenges of resources and security, said Amy Carrado, director, market research, CompTIA.

But with money to spend increasingly precious, agencies are likely to demand greater returns on their investments and require vendors to clearly prove the effectiveness of their solutions.

Nearly four in ten (39 percent) of federal, state and local government IT decision makers and influencers identified new data backup and recovery solutions as a priority over the next 12 months. Security applications were cited by 37 percent of respondents, followed by virtualization solutions (30 percent) and content management solutions (24 percent). Options such as unified communications and cloud computing (18 percent each) ranked slightly lower on the list.

This may be a signal that government users need further education from their IT providers on how cloud computing and unified communications can effectively address their objectives of greater operational efficiencies, Carrado said.

Among specific products on government shopping lists, desktop PCs (51 percent) and laptop PCs (48 percent) hold the top two spots, according to the CompTIA study. Local government agencies are especially bullish on purchases of new PCs, including tablet PCs.

Other purchase priorities for the next 12 months include servers (37 percent), printers (33 percent), operating systems (32 percent), productivity suites and software (28 percent), network infrastructure (27 percent) and smart phones (23 percent).

Agencies Plan More Training

Nearly half (44 percent) of government IT respondents at the federal, state and local levels plan to implement employee training for both IT staff and end users over the next 12 months

This suggests that even under severe budget constraints, government agencies continue to recognize the importance of a well-trained workforce that understands how to effectively use technology, Carrado said.

Among the training priorities: PC maintenance, help desk and tech support; security; disaster recovery and backup; and networking. Project management, business intelligence and data management and analysis also appear on the training priority list.

Increased interest by government agencies in training is something that technology vendors and solution providers should note, according to Carrado.

Technology providers should consider providing training sessions as a value-add when government organizations purchase a product, or offering mini-tutorials to employees at agencies where there is potential for purchases in the near future, she said.

CompTIAs Second Annual Government IT Purchase Plans study was developed from a survey of 375 federal, state and local IT buyers and influencers. The data was collected during late February 2011.The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members at http://www.comptia.org or by contacting the research department at research(at)comptia(dot)org.

About CompTIA

CompTIA is the voice of the worlds information technology (IT) industry. As a non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of IT professionals and companies, CompTIA is the recognized authority for IT education and credentials and the primary advocate for IT businesses and workers. Through its foundation, CompTIA also enables disadvantaged populations to gain the skills they need for employment in the IT industry. CompTIAs vision of the IT landscape is shaped by more than 25 years of global perspective and more than 2,000 members and 1,000 business partners. For more information, visit http://www.comptia.org or follow CompTIA on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/comptia.

Contact:

Steven Ostrowski

Director, Corporate Communications

CompTIA

630-678-8468

sostrowski(at)comptia(dot)org

###

Government Agencies Seek Tech Solutions That Promote Efficiency, Reduce Costs, New CompTIA Study Finds

Stratosphere Networks Finds Growth in Managed Services

Evanston, IL (PRWEB) April 30, 2012

Presently, there has been a rise in the number of organizations using managed services for a considerable amount of their information technology needs. Stratosphere Networks found that while the number of managed service providers per company can vary from two and head upwards to more than ten, this growing trend signifies the dependence companies have on these services.

With the recent economic climate hitting small to medium sized businesses hard, it has become increasingly difficult to regulate annual spending and keep up with current technology trends. As business owners continue to focus on the money-making aspects of their business models, many are finding that outsourcing their IT infrastructure to alleviate the strain of maintaining it themselves. After all, business owners are oftentimes inundated with day-to-day administrative responsibilities, client crises, aggressive branding campaigns and interoffice activitieswhy not take some of the stress away by putting IT systems in the hands of someone else?

Enter: The IT managed service provider.

Many businesses are seeing major benefits of using an IT managed service provider through the reduced strain on internal personnel and a solid increase in the productivity of day-to-day operations, all of which can result in a better business model. Organizations that are choosing managed service providers for some or all of their IT needs are saving money, seeing an uptick in productivity, and have peace of mind that their IT system is secure at all times.

Businesses choose to use managed service providers for a variety of reasons; reduced annual spending is one of the main causes for the increase in companies taking advantage of these managed services. Organizations choosing this strategy gain a highly talented IT department without the need to pay benefits, vacation and training, or worry about subsequent turnover. Studies have shown that about half the users who have benefited from these services save as much as 24% in their annual IT costs. Some even reduced their expenditures by 50% or more. Companies who have taken the time to use managed services have also found a higher satisfaction with their IT experiences. Performance, uptime and amenable contract terms are cited as some of the reasons why they feel favorably towards this. Individuals have also reported they feel the secure environment and flexibility was of a better caliber than what services they had previously. This peace of mind was important in many cases.

Another major reason companies are making the switch is the fact they want to reduce staff to help lower costs for the IT department. These companies also gain access to current technology that they might not otherwise know about and may be spending money wastefully on other, older software. Additionally, the increase in security that comes with the managed service providers also proves to be of high importance to these individuals as well.

Regardless if one chooses to have an internal IT staff or outsource their IT, it is important to ensure top level talent is readily available. When partnered with a qualified, reputable managed service provider, one gains an entire team of experts at a network operations center who is certified in many IT applications. These experts are always up to date with the latest technologies and practices for specific businesses and industries with a goal of helping their clients succeed.

Between successfully running internal operations and ensuring your clients are receiving optimal service, maintaining IT infrastructures can fall by the wayside. Because of this, more and more business owners are choosing to outsource their IT to managed service providers, ultimately cutting costs and obtaining peace of mind knowing that their technology is constantly maintained. Take a look at managed services by the numbers in a survey conducted by CompTIA:- 46% of organizations using managed services have cut their annual IT expenses by 25% or more-13% of those organizations have cut costs by 50% or more- 89% of current managed services users reported that they are most satisfied with performance and uptime, agreeable contract terms, a secure environment and flexibility to quickly add new services- 51% of companies are contracting with a managed service provider to free up internal IT staffs to work on revenue-generating activities- 62% of end users plan to increase their IT spend on managed services Based on the average annual salary of an in-house IT professional, using a managed service provider can save nearly 80% of yearly IT costs

The impressive increase in managed services usage is a result of the inability for a small internal IT team to constantly manage a system. Many companies find it helpful to supplement their current IT staff with managed services so that they, too, can have the round-the-clock monitoring that a managed service provider can offer. Companies who rely on a team member to maintain their IT network often find that that person is overwhelmed with their combined typical daily responsibilities and regular IT maintenance.

When working with small and medium sized companies, our goal is to ensure that they have a tailored managed service package that is specific to their business and industry, said Kevin Rubin, COO of Stratosphere Networks, a nationwide managed service provider based in Evanston, Illinois. We can either supplement the internal IT operations that a business has in place, or we can serve as a 24/7 IT department altogether. Our clients rely on us to proactively monitor their systems so that they can focus on their business initiatives.

IT managed service companies work by fixing issues as soon as they arise; in many cases even before the client has noticed. Round-the-clock alerting means that as soon as an issue arises the managed service company is aware and the problem can be resolved before it impacts your business. It also means that the issue is fixed faster, as the engineer has direct access to your systems 24 hours a day. Not only is a team readily available, but they also have the ability to remotely monitor your IT infrastructure at all times. Having the capability to control your network offsite allows for expedited service so that businesses do not suffer from any downtime during a system malfunction.

Reports show majority of customers regard good communication skills an important factor towards choosing a managed services provider. Systematic activity reports are deemed essential in this decision process for many IT departments as well. When hiring a managed service provider, one gets an entire team of experts focused on specific systems as well as regular communication.

Those looking for managed services for their IT department will want to take note of the items mentioned above. In addition to the basic services essential to companies, the IT providers have to acknowledge items such as subscriptions and flat rate payments when they are looking at the different pricing models to present to organizations in search of a managed service provider. The overall cost should be a reduction from an organizations standard operating costs to remain beneficial and competitive.

Over the next two years, studies show more companies will increase the amount of business handled through these managed services. Items that will typically be passed along in these cases will include help desk support, website hosting, firewall and antivirus protection, backup and disaster recovery and more.

Keep in mind each managed service provider may offer different IT services. It will be important that the interested individual shop around to determine which company will meet their needs in the most efficient manner possible. Also ensure that companies have the expertise that businesses will require and has a proven track record of delivering high-quality managed services.

It make

Stratosphere Networks Finds Growth in Managed Services