Shrinking budgets drive CIO's to look for alternatives
According to the Wall Street Journal CIO's are becoming greatly concerned about the state of the present economy, so much so that they are reallocating their 2009 budgets to reduce staffing, pull non-essential projects and minimize existing any expenses possible. These budget cuts have the potential to bottleneck any current projects and freeze any future initiatives that could drive the company's bottom line.
In a time when budgets are tightening and credit for large capital purchases is getting difficult to obtain, CIO's will have to make difficult decision to forgo certain projects or continue to move forward through alternatives such as Hosted IT Services. A hosted model has many distinct advantages in a stable economy, but can truly be a life saver in a trouble one.
Until the economy stabilizes, many businesses will face challenging times. LightEdge is committed to working with your company to find the solutions that you need to drive your business through this crisis in ways that fit into your budget. Contact LightEdge for more information on the Hosted IT Services we have available and how they could help to support your IT department. |
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Article Survey Summary
61% of CIOs are re-evaluating their 2009 budgets
25% of CIOs surveyed say that they’ve introduced a hiring freeze
49% of CIOs are cutting amounts spent on consultants
>>Read the article |
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Advantages of Hosted Business IT
- Minimal Upfront Costs
Getting credit for large projects will be more difficult through these economic times. LightEdge is well funded and has access to the capital necessary to built custom dedicated server and storage platforms for you business and then offer it to your business on a monthly service fee model.
- Predictable Monthly Costs
Traditional IT initiatives require periodic upgrades, maintenance and eventually a cyclical replacement program. Hosted Services are consistent each month and allow managers to budget more effectively.
- Requires Minimal IT Staffing
LightEdge monitors and manages the environment for you, so your current staff can oversee more projects than if they controlled them in-house.
877.771.3343 or info@lightedge.com
Address Change for LightEdge Corporate Headquarters
LightEdge is moving offices to the new Davis Brown Tower in downtown Des Moines. Effective immediately, all remittances and invoices should be sent to our new address. Please update your records to the following:
LightEdge Solutions, Inc.
215 10th Street, Suite 1220
Des Moines, IA 50309
| LightEdge Launches New Hosted Microsoft Exchange 2007 Platform |
Are you still relying on POP3 e-mail or a legacy version of Microsoft Exchange on an aging in-house platform? LightEdge has completely rebuilt our Exchange platform and upgraded to Exchange 2007 to offer our customers a simple and flexible alternative to running your own Exchange environment. Hosted Exchange through LightEdge is the easiest way to get more out of your communications:
- Simple Setup - use our automated sign-up tool and online administrative portal to set up your account within a business day
- Mobility - get true Anytime/Anywhere access with Outlook Web Access or BlackBerry/ActiveSync Integration
- Cost Effective - only pay for the seats that you need, there's no upfront or maintenance charges
- Proven Tool - Enterprises rely on Exchange because it provides the tools that are important to your business in a unified, easy to use package.
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BlackBerry Mobility Service |
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Once you get your Hosted Exchange account set up, take the next step and access your mailbox from your BlackBerry device. Synchronization with a BlackBerry device is secure and automated through push technology from our BlackBerry Enterprise Server. For workers on the go, this is a real game-changer for staying connected and getting things done while working remotely.
Contact LightEdge at 877-771-3343 for more information and a proposal for your business needs.
>>Learn about BlackBerry Mobility Service |
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| Voice and Web Conferencing - 2 Week Free Trial |
| With busy schedules and mobile workers it's often difficult to get everyone in a room together for internal meetings or customer calls. LightEdge offers a unique service that allows you to use voice and web conferencing as much or as little as you need with no upfront costs and no monthly minimums. Simply use it when you need it and pay for what you use. |
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- Free 2-Week Trial
- Only 6.9 cents per minute
- No upfront costs
- No monthly minimum
- No Risk - cancel at any time
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Contact LightEdge for information on how usage-based conferencing can impact your business.
877-771-3343 |
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2 week trial is limited to companies that are not currently subscribed to LightEdge Voice and Web Conferencing. Trial allows one (1) chairperson from the company to utilize services for a period of 2 weeks with no charges. After the 2 week trial period, charges of 6.9¢ per minute, per participant for voice conferencing and 15¢ per minute, per participant for web conferencing will apply. Additional users can be signed up through the My.LightEdge.com portal after the trial has ended.
Voice-over-IP Platform Upgrade - October 28th
On October 28th, LightEdge will launch a major voice initiative with a completely new and redesigned platform. The new platform has been rebuilt from the ground up with new redundant hardware and the latest version of softswitch software.
The result of the upgrade is the inherent reliability and scalability of a new hardware environment and a substantial software upgrade with additional stability and functionality. Several new features will be available at the launch with many others coming out in stages as they are tested by our voice engineers.
New Hosted PBX Features available at launch
- Call Forward Not Reachable - This is an essential business continuity feature for automating call forwarding in a crisis situation. If the platform can't connect with your office because of a line cut, power loss or other outage the call will automatically be rerouted to a predetermined alternate phone number.
- Busy Lamp Field - Displays a call state indicator on your handset for users that you are monitoring. For example, if you manage several people you can visually see when they are on a call and when they are free.
- Diversion Inhibitor - Can be used in conjunction with Sequential or Simultaneous Ring to ensure that call goes to voice mail after the appropriate number of rings rather than continuing to ring an alternate phone.
Current Hosted PBX customers will receive additional information during October regarding changes to the online portals related to the upgrade.
Additional Product Launches to Create "LightEdge Connected Office"
Later this year, LightEdge will be offering two new products that integrate with our Hosted Exchange 2007 environment to create a complete hosted communications and collaboration suite of products called the LightEdge Connected Office. These products are designed for the fast-paced company that needs to communicate more effectively, share resources and multi-task.
Hosted Microsoft Communicator
Instead of allowing employees to use personal Instant Messaging accounts for corporate communications, you can equip them with a secure, encrypted environment with LightEdge Hosted Communicator.
Presence - With a quick glance of the Communicator application you can tell who is available, who is busy and who is currently logged out of the system.
- Instant Messaging - Often times you just need to ask a colleague a quick question and don't want to get bogged down with a call or a meeting. Communicator allows you to get your answer quickly and save everyone precious time.
- Multiple Party Messaging - Add multiple parties to the same conversation to get all the viewpoints necessary to make and confirm decisions
Call 877.771.3343 or info@lightedge.com to learn more
Hosted Microsoft SharePoint
Hosted SharePoint allows you to quickly create rich document and information sharing portals for your business without the need for any outside programming.
Document Management -secure central repository for all share documents in the office with functionality for check-in, check-out, version history and alerts when items are modified.
- Corporate Intranet - complete with
announcements, Blog, discussion groups and RSS feeds.
- Project Management - Run your department more effectively with a shared hub of information including assigned tasks and status reporting.
Call 877.771.3343 or info@lightedge.com to learn more
