A couple of readers have suggested that I write about Comcast services/features that help make their businesses more productive. It’s a theme almost anyone in business can relate to. We’re all challenged to do more with less. Often, we have to save money by piling lots of small efficiencies together – use less color ink, shop for cheaper flights, and take clients to cheaper restaurants. These are worthy efforts, but I prefer hunting down those one or two big ticket items that create large, systemic benefits for a long time.
Yankee Group just finished a research study (that’s a link to the PDF) for us. We asked them to compare the cost of a small business operating its own email server vs. the cost of using the Hosted Microsoft Communications Services that are included with Comcast Business Class Internet.
I found the results to be striking and (honestly) far more compelling that I would have guessed.
First, some full disclosure: we paid Yankee Group to do the study. We wanted a third party assessment to ensure the analysis wasn’t clouded by our own enthusiasm. Yankee did a nice job of being impartial (despite who was footing the bill), balanced, and detail oriented. Obviously, you’ll need to reach your own conclusions.
Here’s the punch line: Yankee estimates that a 25 person firm can save $11,500 during the first year by using Business Class Internet with Hosted Microsoft Communications rather than operating their own email server. Smaller firms would see savings roughly proportional to their smaller size.
Even if you assumed Yankee was off by 50%, that’s still a single item where a small business can save over $5000…and likely get faster Internet, better collaboration tools, and improve mobile messaging to go along with it.
You can find the full report at http://business.comcast.com/learn/business-tips-insights.aspx.
As ever, I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts & perspectives on the study and your own experiences. For existing customers who haven’t activated your Hosted Microsoft Communication Services please go to https://businessclass.comcast.net to get started.