Overview:

IT spending is generally up for 2008 and 2009 in terms of overall dollars
devoted to this area. But a growing number of organizations are decreasing their
IT spends or anticipating flat budgets moving into next year.

At the same time, communications budgets are not seeing hard times, with
many companies expecting increases in these budgets. This means that moving
into 2009, a greater percentage of IT spending will go toward communications
services costs.

This volume examines general trends in IT and communications spending.
Additionally, we review how different sizes of companies and different vertical
markets plan to spend their IT and communications dollars.

As the U.S. economy slows, it is key for companies to optimize every dollar
spent both in IT overall and within communications. Given the communications
budget is becoming a larger part of the overall IT budget, it’s imperative to stretch
a nickel into a dime. For example, managed services are one way companies can
leverage their communications spends because those services can help offload the
IT and network staffs.

In order to get the biggest bang for the buck, companies must devote time
and resources to effective carrier contract negotiations and procurement. In this
volume, we provide detailed recommendations on how to get the best deal from
the carriers. We also analyze what companies are doing today and where they fall
short.

Clients - Read this Benchmark: ACS - Negotiation and Pricing

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