As we head into the holiday season, it seems the headlines touting economic doom and gloom are not slowing down.  Companies across the board are doing all they can to cut costs – in fact, I read a great piece from the Wall Street Journal’s Ben Worthen this week that touched on this exact subject.  Given this, I thought it would be a good time to talk about some technologies that can help businesses slim down spending.Some companies are focusing on the little things like double-sided printing and unscrewing every other lightbulb.  Granted, these small changes will absolutely help a business save money, but there are also
some larger changes that can be made at an IT level that will really help the balance sheet.

Video conferencing, for example, is a very practical cost saver.  Why get on a plane or drive to a customer when you can meet with them, “face to face,” from the comfort of your office?  There are a wide variety of options out there – from telepresence to desktop conferencing – so every business can find something that works for them. 

VoIP like video conferencing, is certainly not a new offering for businesses.  As many of you probably know, it’s cheaper than traditional services and offers advanced features and functionalities.  If you haven’t already made the switch to VoIP, now might be the time to consider it. 

What’s the downside?  For one, adding these technologies to your infrastructure – especially when video is involved – will burn bandwidth.  A high-speed broadband connection that provides added bandwidth (both up and downstream) is also important to ensure your employees maintain productivity.  This is, of course, Towerstream’s bread and butter – and I should also note that our wireless broadband service is also a cost saver over traditional offerings!

This is just three of the technologies businesses can implement to help cut back on spending, but there are tons of other options out there too.

What is your company doing to cut back on costs?  Feel free to share some of your own tips and experiences in the comment section.