The current economic crisis has forced many enterprises, especially small businesses, to reduce their overhead costs. There are many ways of doing this. Many businesses resort to cutting back on business services while others achieve it by eliminating physical workspace.
While the troublesome economy dampens many business activities, there are a few businesses that flourish in such situations. One such example of flourishing businesses is RingCentral (News - Alert), which provides multi-extension hosted phone services to businesses in an affordable manner. These services enable small businesses to manage their human resources remotely without having to spend huge amount on infrastructure at their central location.
RingCentral recently conducted a survey to study the cost-cutting initiatives adopted by different small businesses across the U.S. The study revealed that 75 percent of small businesses have been negatively impacted by the current economy. It further showed that 72 percent of small businesses participated in the survey are reducing overhead costs to work more efficiently in the current economic scenario.
One of the key findings of the survey is that many small businesses are adopting flexible business options that enable employees to work from home. By doing so, businesses save significantly on infrastructure costs. The only cost involved in such scenario is the cost of communication.
The survey showed that 50 percent of small businesses are reducing overhead costs by cutting back on business services. Among the small businesses surveyed, 23 percent are reducing costs by eliminating the cost of physical office space. Only 16 percent of the small businesses polled said they have staff centralized in one physical location.
Among the surveyed, 72 percent offer work from home office whereas 29 percent said they have staff in multiple locations across the U.S. and 18 percent identified themselves as “road warriors.”
By providing hosted phone services to businesses, RingCentral has helped many businesses to adopt a flexible business service that enables employees to work from home. As a result, RingCentral experienced significant customer growth in the past four weeks.
Commenting on the survey results, Rob Enderle, principal analyst for Enderle Group, said, “Small businesses are clearly feeling a great deal of economic pressure this year so it is no surprise they are interested in working with solutions providers who can provide them with significant cost savings during these troubling times. RingCentral exemplifies the kind of solutions provider that can help these small businesses contain costs, grow, and even help them thrive in this tough economy.”
Evolution Managed Solutions, an IT services business based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is one of RingCentral’s clients that have accepted their service as a measure to cut down overhead expenses.
“Our business has felt the impact of the tightening economy in recent months and looked to RingCentral to help us reduce overhead costs and work smarter,” said Joseph Turley, CEO of Evolution Managed Solutions, in a statement. “RingCentral cut our phone bill in half and more importantly, the service allows us to work from anywhere.”
“With the flexibility to work from anywhere, RingCentral helps small businesses move forward while projecting a professional image and effectively managing customer communications,” added Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral, in a statement.
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Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Michelle Robart