As your organisation seeks to achieve both immediate cost savings and better long-term value from ICT investment, the partner and technology choices you make next will be critical. At eircom, we use our solution expertise, return-on-investment models and best in class technology partnerships to help guide an organisation's selection and implementation of technologies, that deliver on the cost management agenda.

We recommend the following three solution areas as offering the best potential to deliver short-term savings and longer-term value:

Reduce costs and extend productivity with visual communications

Many organisations today have an IP network with the bandwidth, quality of service (QoS) capabilities and organisational reach to effectively deliver video applications. But few organisations are fully aware of the cost-saving potential and relative ease of deployment of visual communications (VC) solutions. With our partners, eircom has already helped Irish organisations leverage VC to cut travel costs by up to 30% per annum, as well as accelerate project delivery timelines by allowing dispersed teams to collaborate more frequently and more effectively. VC also improves the extension of other cost-reduction initiatives like homeworking. VC technology spans a wide range, from video by mobile phone or webcam to life-sized virtual office solutions. The better the visual experience, the greater the benefit, but solutions are available for any budget

For large organisations with multiple offices we offer Telepresence, in collaboration with our partner Tandberg. Telepresence is a life-sized videoconferencing experience which closely approximates a face-to-face meeting, and allows even the most sensitive negotiations and collaborations to be conducted effectively at a distance. Organisations can also significantly reduce travel expenditure by creating rooms that together constitute a single, global office - by stepping inside, anyone can be present virtually, in any other building 
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Deploy your ICT resources to best effect with on-demand eircom managed services

ICT budget reduction constrains an organisation both operationally and strategically. When ICT staff becomes overstretched, the risk emerges that they neither effectively support internal users, nor devote resources to helping the business deliver on their business objectives like cost-reduction, customer retention and expansion into new markets. eircom's on-demand managed ICT services offer quick and effective solution. With on-demand managed services, our customers have the flexibility to more usefully deploy their own ICT resources where they are most needed, while outsourcing important but routine ICT activities like network monitoring, application and operating system management, ICT security and voice services, to our team of certified experts. By leveraging eircom's extensive investment in world-class data management facilities, including our €100 million managed services datacentre in Clonshaugh, our customers access the infrastructure, flexibility and expertise they need to address business needs, without upfront commitment to significant budget.

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Improve customer retention and growth by updating your customer contact model

There are a number of ways eircom can help an organisation improve its management of inbound and outbound customer contact cost effectively. In partnership with our industry leading technology partners, eircom works with Irish organisations to leverage technologies like enhanced voice recognition (EVR), text messaging and the web:

• EVR: eircom-designed solutions incorporating EVR and speech technology have reduced costs and improved productivity for organisations by removing a significant portion of inbound calls to intelligent, speech driven menus which enjoy high customer acceptance. 
  
• Text: direct marketing campaigns incorporating text as an alternative to traditional "white mail" offer exceptional efficiencies, with a text costing as little as a €0.10 compared to €1.20 for a comparable posted communication, and the added benefit of accountability through SMS delivery reports. The financial services sales cycle can also be accelerated by augmenting traditional communications with notifications permissible by text, including customer reminders and updates.
• Online channel: online trade is the fastest growing area of consumer spending, with 30% growth across Europe in 2008, compared to the negative trend in total global consumer spend. With our industry partners, eircom helps customers maximise online trade by delivering a web presence designed to attract maximum visitor numbers and convert into online purchases. We also deliver consistent user experiences across an organisation's customer facing functions to provide integrated, seamless customers service.

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In a reduced cost-environment, ICT investment must be carefully focused, incorporating only those technologies capable of driving efficiencies both in the immediate term and into the future.  eircom's focus on service innovation and delivery can add immense value to any cost management agenda, while also putting in place a framework for your future growth.

To understand more on how to leverage eircom and partner solutions to address your cost-management objectives, don't hesitate to contact your account manager