Tame Your Telecom Spending

As Reported by National Business Association

Copyright (c) 2009 Nermine Shaker The Sygnal Group Telecom spending can be a very large part of a company’s operating costs. Companies are always looking to keep their costs under control and telecom spending is one of the more difficult areas to manage. Even with the increase in value and flexibility from new technology, companies have also seen an increase in their telecom costs. Mobile phones, remote network access and broadband solutions have simplified our workspaces, but have complicated the telecom accounting procedures. Although you can’t just forgo your telecom services to cut your budget, you can curb and control them. Here are a few ways to tame your telecom budget. Assess Your Inventory What do you have? What do you use? Sometimes you don’t use what you have. Take an inventory of all your lines, services, hardware, mobile devices, and contracts. As you do this you may find that employees have left but you are still paying for their cell phones, or departments have closed and you are still paying for their phone lines. Wireless devices can be a huge drain on your company pocketbook. Sometimes employees are given mobile devices that the company pays for and sometimes they use their own and are reimbursed. Organizing and setting up a company policy for wireless devices takes time but can save you money in the end. Audit Your Bills Check your contracts and see if the pricing in the contract matches the pricing on your bill. If not, you’ll need to apply for a credit for those overcharges. If you were promised a refund or rebate in your contract, make sure you received those. If you’ve done a complete inventory, matching bills to the inventory is a great way to identify problems. Assess Your Usage Now that you know what inventory you have and that you are paying correctly for that inventory, you need to look at your services with an eye to how your company is using them. Is your company growing or downsizing? Don’t just cut back to cut back. Look at the value the services provide to your company. Employee personal usage of business telecom services should be addressed as well. If you provide perks like home broadband, business mobile devices and WiFi access, boundaries should be addressed with employees in a telecom company policy. Managers must take responsibility to enforce whatever controls the company puts in place. If your business has multiple locations or if many of your employees work from home, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) might be a cheaper option. VoIP can connect offices and remote workers and could offer big savings. Renegotiate Your Contracts After you have reviewed your contracts and current usage, it might be time to renegotiate your contracts. If it’s been a while, you might be able to get a better deal. Or, after looking at what you have, you may decide to consolidate or cancel some services. Carriers would like to have all of your business, so in consolidating with one, you may get a higher discount. Shop around to make sure you are getting the best deal. Sometimes, it may be better for your business to use flat rates and per-user or per-month services. This will give you a predictable monthly payment. If it is possible, you many want to consider adding a “business downturn” clause when you renegotiate your contracts. This clause will allow you to renegotiate your contract if there is a downturn in your business, such as having to close one of your multiple offices. Automate Your Telecom Bill Paying Process Many businesses use multiple carriers for all of their telecom services. These carriers each send a separate invoice and sometimes they charge extra for sending a paper invoice. Automating your telecom billing and payments can save you money, both in internal processing costs and in staffing resources. When you automate your billing, you can still have the opportunity to review all your charges. You will have access a variety of reports that can break down the charges by service, circuit, department, location, or carrier. Consider Hiring A Telecom Management Company For smaller companies, the business owner is often in charge of telecom spending. As the size of the business increases, telecom responsibility moves from one person to a group or a department. A telecom management company can help assess your spending and inventory, provide automated billing and can negotiate contracts for you. Since they are familiar with all the telecom carriers, they will be especially helpful in finding you a good rate and negotiating the contract. They can even apply for refunds on your behalf for services that were incorrectly billed. Dealing with one telecom management person is always preferable than having to deal with 10 different service providers. And, when you work with a management professional, they will always be looking out for other ways to save money in your telecom spending, something you can’t always do. It’s tough to tame your telecom spending. It takes time and effort. These days, cost cutting is a must and we are all trying to do more with less money. Getting organized, especially in the telecom area of your business will help you to see where you can cut costs and make sound telecom business decisions. Our Perspective: Telecom is a very important expense for any business. It represent the companies tie to the public, where service is king.  All things being equal, your ability to respond and meet your client’s needs ranks first. It all begins with communication. How are decisions made to insure this success? In speaking with many clients, there is intial hesitancy to examine this process. The fear of disruption lingers. What if we start having problems? Everything seems to work fine now? But what is the real cost for the staus quo? You might be surprised! With recent advances in the telecom industry, savings and efficiencies can be found. We are working with a client right now that has 3 different providers in multiple locations. In reviewing their existing bills we have been able to consolidate these services to 1 provider and provide a savings of close to $50,000 per year. Where was there existing provider? Why did they not reach out and reviw these options with their client? Do not be complacient! Your ability to be successful in today’s business climate relates directly to your abilty to be competitive, control cost and continue to service your clients. Hutchinson Business Solutions has great success in this area. Contact us for a no cost review of your voice and data expenses. Email george@hbsadvantage.com

You should review your Telecom Cost

As reported in Midmarket CIO News

Tips for cutting costs on telecom spending

By Karen Guglielmo, Executive Editor 20 May 2009 | SearchCIO-Midmarket.com

Telecom spending accounts for more than half of all IT spending worldwide, according to Gartner Inc. That’s why it can be worth the time to scrutinize bills, identify areas for cost savings and shop around for new providers.

 

More IT spending resources Five key best practices for reducing telecom expenses IT spending and budgeting

So say consultants and CIOs with telecom experience, who offer the following tips for cutting telecom spending:

Assess your telecom inventory and audit your bills.

To effectively manage telecom spending, the first step is to find out exactly what you have and use, by analyzing your inventory and contracts. Take inventory on all lines and services; you may find that though your company has shut down offices or lost employees, you continue to be billed for those services.

“You always want to consider utilization,” said Michael McCauley, a Project Management Professional at TelPlus Communications Inc., a third-party telecom service provider. “You are paying for all these lines, but are you actually using them all?”

McCauley provides auditing and telecom expense management services to companies that want to outsource these tasks. He said that in working with customers and reviewing their telecom spending and bills, he finds that up to 30% of pricing reflected on bills is incorrect.

“Much of the time the discrepancy is something simple, like a contract pricing code not on the account,” McCauley said. Because of this, companies are often eligible for discounts and credits for overcharges.

At Mannatech Inc., a $333 million developer and provider of proprietary nutritional supplements, weight management products and skin-care solutions, CIO W. Jerome Oberlton conducts a quarterly audit on telecom billing and services in-house. “We actually do a match of our telecom inventory to our bills. It helps to manage costs,” he said.

Automate the telecom billing process.

Most companies use multiple carriers for their telecommunication services and thus receive multiple invoices. Automating telecom billing and payment can save companies money because most telecom carriers charge additional monthly fees for paper invoices. Automation can also lower the internal costs of processing each invoice and free up staffing resources in IT and accounting.

Who’s in charge of telecom expense management? Who manages spending on telecommunication services differs depending on the company’s need, size and budget. For instance, a global IT director is responsible for managing telecom spending at Mannatech Inc., a developer and provider of proprietary nutritional supplements, weight management products and skin care solutions. This person works for IT but also coordinates closely with the billing specialists in accounting.  David Williams, vice president of product management and marketing at Covad Communications, said he sees the same type of people in charge of telecom spending for his customers. “At smaller companies, it’s often the business owner [in charge of telecom spending],” Williams said. “As the size of the company increases, the responsibility shifts to the IT department, starting at the VP level and moving down to the director or manager level, depending on the size of company.” Other companies outsource their telecom expense management to service providers like TelPlus Communications, which offers multiple telecom expense management services. –K.G.

Automated billing still gives you the opportunity to review your charges, through either a Web portal where you can access inventory and pricing information or through monthly management reports that break down charges by service/circuit type, location, carrier, etc.

Midmarket companies can either set up their own automated telecom billing process and system, or they can partner with a service provider for it.

Consider hiring a third party to manage your spending and contracts.

Third-party telecom providers like TelPlus Communications can help assess spending, automate billing and negotiate contracts on behalf of the customer. These service providers are especially helpful in contract negotiations because they’re already familiar with the telecom carriers, their offerings and where they’re most flexible for cutting costs.

Telecom service providers give companies a “one throat to choke” option for billing, according to McCauley. “Whether you’re working with 20 or 100 telecom companies, you just have one call to make,” he said. “All of your inventory is in one place, and there’s one project manager to call. That alone is a huge time and money saver.”

Renegotiate contracts.

In this economy, it’s a buyer’s market. Customers can demand the services they want or move to another vendor. So this is the right time to closely review your telecom contracts and renegotiate if needed.

Telecom carriers want all of your business, not just a piece of it, according to McCauley. And the benefits they offer for getting all of your business are higher discounts.

For instance if you have 50% of your business with AT&T and 50% with Verizon, you can include a clause in a renegotiated contract with AT&T saying that if you give the company 90% of your business, you receive a certain rate and higher discounts. This is a win-win for both you and AT&T. The telecom carrier gets your committed business and you get better service and rates.

“We’ve even seen some cases where small-to-medium businesses cancel contracts with the Bells and absorb the cancellation penalties because the savings they get with us more than offsets the switching costs,” said David Williams, vice president of product management and marketing at Covad Communications Group Inc., a national provider of integrated voice and data communications.

Another consideration in renegotiating your contracts is the addition of a “business downturn” clause. This allows the customer to renegotiate the terms of the contract if there is a downturn in its business — such as losing a major client or closing multiple offices.

Don’t overpay for wireless — shop around and consider new converged network technologies.

Wireless is a huge area of misuse and a big area for savings.

“Wireless can be a huge money pit,” McCauley said. “Customers are often put on incorrect plans and are overpaying for services.”

We actually do a match of our telecom inventory to our bills. It helps to manage costs. W. Jerome Oberlton CIO, Mannatech Inc.

There are many ways to save with telecom wireless and data services. One is to move to other types of data networks or new technologies, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching, which can typically carry data and voice traffic at lower costs, or Session Initiation Protocol, which customers can employ to consolidate local voice, long distance and data services onto one network.

Oberlton recently renegotiated his mobile contracts. He switched vendors to gain cost savings.

“By moving from one vendor to another, we got rid of some servers on-site,” he said. “This helped get costs down and receive more volume discounts.”

Oberlton did caution others, however, to beware of penalty clauses for switching vendors, which some telecom wireless carriers are including in contracts. These clauses come with steep fees and should be addressed early in the contract negotiation process, he said.

Our Perspective:

When was the last time you took the time to review your current telecom cost and provider? We find that many companies fail to look at these cost. They know what their monthly cost are and they budget that cost for the future.

Don’t get caught up in this fallacy. There are great opportunity for savings by shopping your current cost. Our clients are finding from 15% upto 40% savings. What would this mean for your company?

Would you like to know more? Call us @ 856-857-1230 or email us and ask about our free evaluation george@hbsadvantage.com

Searching for Savings? Examine Your Telecom Network

by Lora Bentley, IT Business Edge
Aug 3, 2009 9:58:56 AM

Lora Bentley spoke with Julie Dillenbeck, marketing VP at Global Capacity, a telecommunications information and logistics company that helps businesses increase efficiency with supply chain issues for access networks globally. She points out that a lot of money can be saved by optimizing one’s telecom network and pricing.

 

Bentley: Global Capacity deals with telecom logistics. Can you explain what that involves?
Dillenbeck: The telecom market is a very complex one, with thousands of suppliers around the world, and none of them have a footprint that covers the entire world. So when people are looking at telecommunications, oftentimes they have to piece things together. So if we were to do a connection from New York in the United States to London, or Italy, or France, you’d have to figure out which of the carriers can get between the countries and then who can get to “the last mile,” so to speak. Because we’ve been collecting that information from carriers for years, we already know where their networks are and who they interconnect with.

 

Bentley: Saving money is important all the time, but I’m assuming it’s higher up the priority list in this economy. So how do you go about helping customers “optimize” their networks? What does that look like?
Dillenbeck: Well, the customer will come to us and say, “Ok, I have these networks I’ve built in these 32 countries. Tell me if there’s a better way to do it.” There are a lot of different ways to look at that.

 

The first one is to look at inventory and match it up with the invoices that come in from the different carriers. It’s similar to what telecom expense management companies do, but we take it a step further. We’ll say, “Why does your invoice say $120 when you’ve contracted for $100?” and we’ll investigate that. We also validate that they’re getting charged for the right mileage, and if they’re buying a tariff service, that they’re on the right tariff.

 

Bentley: OK, and others?
Dillenbeck: Then, there is what we call a financial grooming. Let’s say they have 100 circuits, and 50 of them are going between the same locations. At that point, we’re looking at aggregation. We can help the customer go back to the vendor and say, “We have these 50 circuits here. It makes a lot more sense to go with an OC3 instead of the T1s.” It saves money and it allows the customer to have spare capacity.

 

The last piece is physical grooming. We’ll take a look at their network and say, “This is great, but there are opportunities for aggregation, or there’s an opportunity to actually move to a new carrier and provide you savings.”

 

Bentley: So they have to physically move their networks.
Dillenbeck: Right. Obviously, not a lot of customers want to do that because they don’t want to disrupt their end users, but there are those who are anxious to do that just for the savings…. We worked with a customer who was spending $3 million to $4 million a month just because of the way they had built their networks. Now their spend is in the hundreds of thousands instead, so it’s a significant savings.

Our Perspective:

This is a great article. We find market opportunities for our clients daily.

Many companies are hesitant to look at there voice and data providers for they are afraid to cause any disruption. They wear their services like a security blanket. 

You hear them say, ” We’re with Verizon or ATT.”  Just think for a moment, what type of personal service do they offer. When is the last time you called Verizon or ATT and spoke to the same person two times in a row?

The market has evolved so much in the last few years. Personal service is important! Communication between provider and the client is essential!

We represent over 50 of the major providers in the voice and data market. This allows us to evaluate your needs. find the right providers that will provide savings and  service your needs.

Personal service is essential and can be found at Hutchinson Business Solutions.

Would you like to know more email george@hbsadvantage.com

You may visit us on the web www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com

Fed Sees Turmoil Persisting Deep Into Next Year

WASHINGTON — Federal policy makers have concluded that the turmoil plaguing the housing and financial markets is likely to spill deep into 2009, becoming one of the most significant domestic problems to confront the next president when he steps into the White House in January.

 

Ben S Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, publicly indicated on Tuesday that he believes the problems will persist into next year when he outlined a series of steps the Fed is considering in the coming months.  

 

One such step would extend low-interest lending programs to Wall Street’s largest investment banks into next year. The programs, one of which was set to expire in September, can continue only if the Fed issues a finding that there are “unusual and exigent circumstances” that justify them.

 

Mr. Bernanke also recommended that Congress grant the Fed broader authority to monitor and supervise the financial markets to assure greater stability in the future. But with time running out on this session, lawmakers are unlikely to adopt such legislation before next year.

 

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said in a speech last week in London that the problems of the housing and financial markets might last longer than originally expected.

He followed up in another speech on Tuesday by saying that the Bush administration was working to prevent as many home foreclosures as possible, but that “many of today’s unusually high number of foreclosures are not preventable.” Mr. Paulson said 1.5 million home foreclosures were started in 2007 and that an estimated 2.5 million more would take place this year.

 

Still, the markets seemed reassured that Washington officials were redoubling their efforts to resuscitate the weak housing sector, despite the downbeat comments. The Dow Jones industrial average, which has fallen sharply in recent weeks, closed up 1.4 percent, or 152 points.

 

Mr. Bernanke said that the Fed would issue next week long-awaited rules to restrict new exotic mortgages and high-cost loans for people with weak credit. Such mortgages have been a central cause of the current market problems.

 

The Federal Housing Administration will also begin an expanded effort next week to help a larger group of troubled homeowners refinance their adjustable mortgages. Under the plan, homeowners would be eligible to refinance even if they have missed up to three monthly mortgage payments over the previous 12 months.

 

Homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments because of job loss, declining wages and family illness would also be eligible, even if their rates have not increased. Homeowners are now eligible only if they were current on their mortgages before their interest rate was adjusted upward.

 

For its part, Congress is close to completing legislation on a $300 billion foreclosure-rescue plan that would help troubled borrowers refinance into more affordable loans insured by the federal government. The Senate is expected to approve a measure by next week.

 

The Fed created the lending programs to Wall Street in March as part of a broader effort to prevent financial institutions from collapsing, as Bear Stearns nearly did before it was sold under heavy pressure from the Fed and the Bush administration to JPMorgan Chase.

The lending programs to the investment banks, a broad expansion of the Fed’s historic practice of providing loans only to commercial banks that the Fed supervises, are intended to provide confidence to financial institutions that they will have enough cash to meet their daily needs. And by permitting investment banks to post collateral for Fed loans, including hard-to-sell financial instruments backed by mortgages, the programs have helped prop up the enormous and troubled market in securities sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the all-important mortgage-finance companies.

 

The two buyers of mortgages, which together held more than $1.4 trillion of mortgage-backed bonds as of the end of last year, have struggled in recent months through the wave of foreclosures and declining housing markets. On Tuesday, Fannie Mae closed up nearly 12 percent, and Freddie Mac rose 13 percent, after their regulator said he would probably not force them to raise more capital because of an accounting rule change. The shares of both government-chartered companies had tumbled on Monday amid concerns over the accounting rule and worries that the worst of the mortgage crisis was yet to come.

 

Officials said that the Federal Reserve remained concerned that the declining housing market would not reach its bottom and financial markets would not become more stable before some time next year, and that the economy would continue to suffer as a result of declining consumer confidence, a sluggish global economy and the widespread effects of the rapid jump in oil prices.

 

“The financial turmoil is ongoing, and our efforts today are concentrated on helping the financial system return to more normal functioning,” Mr. Bernanke said at a forum in Virginia on lending for low- and moderate-income households. He did not provide a forecast of how soon he expected markets would begin to turn.

 

“Although short-term funding markets remain strained, they have improved somewhat since March,” Mr. Bernanke said, reflecting both the intervention of the Fed in offering loans to Wall Street and “ongoing efforts of financial firms to repair their balance sheets and increase their liquidity.”

 

 

Officials said that the Fed privately reached the view some time ago that weakness in the housing and financial sectors would likely continue well into next year. Mr. Bernanke’s comments Tuesday were not intended to signal any change in interest-rate policy.

 

 

In his speech in London, Mr. Paulson emphasized that the financial markets have yet to adapt to the changing climate. “Working through the current turmoil will take additional time, as markets and financial institutions continue to reassess risk, and re-price securities across a number of asset classes and sectors,” Mr. Paulson said.

 

The Federal Housing Administration’s expanded program to help more troubled homeowners refinance, called F.H.A. Secure, was announced in April at a time when fewer than 2,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure had been helped by it. Housing Secretary Steven C. Preston said the expanded program would help an additional 100,000 borrowers in crisis by the end of the year. So far, more than 260,000 homeowners have refinanced through the program, the vast majority of them people who have paid their bills on time. Mr. Preston predicted that 500,000 families would be helped by year’s end.

 

Mr. Preston warned, however, that F.H.A.’s efforts could be derailed if Congress passed housing legislation that failed to safeguard the agency’s financial stability. He said he was concerned about efforts to eliminate the agency’s plans to use risk-based pricing, which would allow F.H.A. for the first time to charge higher mortgage insurance premiums to borrowers viewed as presenting a higher credit risk.

 

He said he was also concerned about efforts by some lawmakers to maintain an agency program in which the seller finances the down payment on a mortgage. The program has suffered high delinquency and foreclosure rates in recent years, and the F.H.A. hopes to eliminate it.

 

If the Senate, as expected, adopts housing legislation by next week, differences need to be ironed out in the House, which approved a similar measure in May. Though the White House has expressed some willingness to negotiate, the administration has not rescinded a veto threat.

 

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, urged Republican lawmakers to speed up the bill, which has been slowed by a procedural fight despite broad support among lawmakers in both parties. “Since the last stall on the housing bill, 85,000 more Americans have received foreclosure notices — 8,500 a day,” Mr. Reid said. “Tomorrow it will be over 90,000. Every day they squander the Senate’s precious time, the American people lose.”

Let us know your thoughts?  You can email george@hbsadvantage.com

What steps are you taking to prepare for the tough times?

Hutchinson Business Solutions

Smart Solutions for Smart Businesses

Visit us on the web www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com

Ben S. Bernanke

Wholesale prices post biggest gain in 6 months

As reported in AP Wholesale prices post biggest gain in 6 months, propelled by energy and food costs   WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices bolted ahead in May at the fastest pace in six months as energy and food costs marched higher.   The Labor Department reported Tuesday that its Producer Price Index, which measures the costs of goods before they reach store shelves, shot up 1.4 percent in May. That was up from a modest 0.2 percent rise in April and marked the biggest increase since November.   However, stripping out energy and food prices, which can swing widely from month to month, the “core” rate of inflation rose 0.2 percent in May, an improvement from the prior month’s 0.4 percent increase. That suggested that other prices were fairly well behaved.   The overall inflation rate of 1.4 percent was higher than the 1 percent rise many economists were forecasting. But the increase in core prices matched their expectations.     Our perspective:   Food and energy are becoming the basic necessities nowadays. Throw in medical and other insurances and that seems to be all we are working for. To cover the basics.   We have to take a long hard look.   It seems that the last 20 – 30 years our economy has skyrocketed and at the same time it is becoming unaffordable. This would tell you that we are not addressing the issues properly.   We must be willing to look outside the box to define and create real solutions that work and benefit all, just not a few.   We do this in business everyday.   Hutchinson Business Solutions prides itself on “ Thinking out of the box,” creating opportunities to provide savings and increase efficiencies.   Whether it is Business Taxes, Energy, Communications or Insurance; we are addressing these topics with an eye towards the future.    We would like to know your thoughts? You may email george@hbsadvantage.com   Hutchinson Business Solutions     …….     Your CFO on the Go   Creating Opportunities Today…..Providing Savings for Tomorrow   Visit us on the web www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com

 

Beat the Heat…10% rebate

Summer is almost here and I think we had our first Heat Wave.

Lucky for us, the air conditioner went out and our office was 88 degrees for the last 2 days!

Maybe the heat got to me?

We have been working with several potential clients lately and they are with Verizon and / or ATT. When I asked them if they are happy with their service, they normally laugh and say:

 ” What service! Verizon / ATT is so difficult to deal with. You never speak to the same person twice and it takes tooooo long to just get a person.”

So why do Verizon and ATT have so many clients?

Name recognition!

When you want to order a new service, you pick up the telephone book and say, ” I guess we should just call Verizon. “

Bigger is not always better!

Hutchinson Business Solutions have strategic partnerships with providers who do a great job servicing Verizon and ATT accounts. And the best news … they also cost less.

Our clients are saving from 15% uto 40%

As part of deregulation and to encourage competition, Verizon and ATT were told to open the door and that they could no longer be the sole providers. They were told to make their network available to other providers.

Thanks to deregulation, your telephone service will remain on the Verizon / ATT platform and your new provider will do the billing.

This amounts to a billing change that will provides savings!

Personal service is only a phone call away!

Competition is good.

Think about the normal cost for calling long distance 10 years ago. $.30 to $.50 cents a minute was not uncommon.

What are you currently paying for long distance?

If you are paying more than $.05 cents per minute, you are paying too much!

Did you know that Verizon charges local calling in message units? They assume each local call will last 5 minutes so they charge $.08 for each message unit.

Make a 6 minute local call, now you are paying 2 message units or $.16.

Suppose you were calling home and said, “ I’m on my way. “

That cost you $.08.

Our providers charge local calling @ $.015 cents per minute. Now, doesn’t that make more sense?

Summer Special for all Verizon and ATT clients

Any current Verizon or ATT client, who contacts us as a result of reading this blog and agrees to change their telecom provider prior to 8/31/08, will recieve a 10% rebate of their 1st monthly bill with our new provider from Hutchinson Business Solutions.

Now there is no excuse!

You can increase the quality of your telecom service and we will rebate 10% of your 1st monthly bill.

You may email george@hbsadvantage.com to review and discuss your current telecom cost and receive a free proposal that will provide savings.

Yu may also visit us on the web www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com to learn more about opportunities to lower cost and increase profitability for your company.

 

Caught by the tale!

 

As reported today in Bloomberg.com

The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark U.S. interest rate by a quarter point to 2 percent and indicated it’s ready to pause after seven cuts since September.

“The substantial easing of monetary policy to date, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after meeting today in Washington. The central bank also warned that “some indicators of inflation expectations have risen in recent months.”

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues dropped a reference to “downside risks” to the economy, while acknowledging the damage that the housing slump has wrought on the six-year expansion. Stocks surrendered gains on speculation the most aggressive monetary-policy easing in two decades is approaching an end.

“We do not expect to see a rate cut at the next few meetings without a substantial contraction of the economy,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “We are not yet to Memorial Day weekend, but the Fed effectively told us today to take the summer off.”

Inflation Outlook

Oil prices reached another record high of $119.93 a barrel on April 28. The Fed said indicators of inflation expectations have risen.

“The committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting the projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization,” the Fed added. “It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully,” the Fed said.

At the same time, the economy is faltering. Hours before the Fed decision, the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product increased at an annual pace of 0.6 percent last quarter. Spending by households, the biggest part of the economy, grew at the slowest pace since 2001, when the U.S. economy was in a recession.

Our Perspective:

Where is the reality check for middle America?

Now the Fed is worrying about inflation. Food and gas prices have risen sharply! This is making it very difficult for families to keep up.

Where will we find relief?

It is getting more difficult to meet monthly expenses, let alone trying to add to our savings account.

Small and medium size businesses are caught in the crunch.

Should you find yourself dealing with these tighter dollar issues, give us a call. We are working with companies creating opportunities to lower cost. There are still many opportunities to find savings.

Don’t be complaisant! Be Proactive!

We are here to serve. Contact george@hbsadvantage.com

Visit our website www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com to learn about opportunities available to reduce cost and provide savings for your company.

Who defines Recession

 As reported in Bloomberg:

April 16 (Bloomberg) — Economists arguing over whether the U.S. is or isn’t in a recession may now have a new measuring tool: mentions of the word in the New York Times.

The economy shrank the five previous times since 1960 that “recession” appeared this often in the 156-year-old newspaper, investment-research firm Bespoke Investment Group LLC said today.

“Once the media and everybody starts talking about it, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Bespoke’s Justin Walters said during an interview. “It just adds to the pressure on the economy.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has retreated 13 percent since reaching a record in October amid concern $245 billion in subprime-related losses at banks worldwide will slow growth. The U.S. is, or will soon be, in a recession, according to the majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News from April 2 to April 8.

“The word `recession’ has spiked significantly since the third quarter,” according to Harrison, New York-based Bespoke’s report. “There were spikes in `87 and ‘98/’99 that didn’t turn out to be recessions, but the spikes didn’t reach current levels.”

Our Perspective:

I am interested in hearing from you as to what your thoughts are.

Are we in a recession?

Energy, food, medical cost are rising.

Unemployment claims are at record highs.

 The Fed keeps dropping the rate but credit is tight.

Are these signs?

What are you doing to address these issues?

Do you feel powerless?

What if you are a business owner?

Are you taking the steps to position your company?

Our clients are being proactive and asking questions.

They are creating opportunities to provide savings.

Do you have a question?

 

Let us know your thoughts?

 

You may email george@hbsadvantage.com

 

Hutchinson Business Solutions ……Your CFO on the Go.

 

Creating Opportunities Today,…Defining Savings for Tomorrow.

Visit http://www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com/ to learn more about saving opportunities available for your company.

Americans spent less in March

 

 

As reported in Bloomberg.com

 

April 14 (Bloomberg) — Americans spent less on furniture, clothing and appliances in March as the economy faltered and more of their money went to pay for gasoline and food.

 

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, is waning as households struggle with an 11 percent jump in gas prices this year to $3.37 a gallon, a rising jobless rate and a slump in home values. Investors anticipate that the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark interest rate at least a quarter point this month to alleviate the economic downturn.

 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he believes the country is in a recession, adding “these are very, very tough times in America.”

 

“Americans are hurting today,” McCain said at an Associated Press forum in Washington, D.C. “They’re hurting in the towns and cities across America.

Our Perspective:

At least we find that we are now leaving the state of denial. Politicians have been reluctant to say the R word. They were constantly talking about taking certain preventive steps.

Probably Too little …Too late!

What can we do?

If you own a business it would be prudent to look at the cost of your operation. I recently met with the Executive Director of a local non-profit. They have been hit hard with budget cuts that compound the problem of meeting rising cost.

There are opportunities to provide savings but there is no silver bullet. Companies are looking at a wide range of cost: Employee Benefits, Business Insurance, Energy and Telecom to name a few.

Our clients are being proactive and reviewing their cost.

To pay less does not equate to getting less.

Many times we find our clients are just paying too much!

It’s your call?

Do you have a question?

 

Let us know your thoughts?

 

You may email george@hbsadvantage.com

 

Hutchinson Business Solutions ……Your CFO on the Go.

 

Creating Opportunities Today,…Defining Savings for Tomorrow.Visit http://www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com/ to learn more about saving opportunities available for your company.

 

 

Spread the good news….. share this information with a friend.

US Consumer Confidence Index Falls to 26Year Low

As reported in Bloomberg

April 11 (Bloomberg) — Confidence among U.S. consumers sank to a 26-year low in April as the labor market continued to deteriorate and gasoline prices rose.

The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment decreased to 63.2 from 69.5 in March. The reading was below the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg News survey and the weakest since March 1982.

Americans are confronting the loss of 232,000 jobs so far this year, along with higher food and energy costs and overall weakening in the economy. Consumer spending in the first half will advance at the slowest rate in 17 years, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“The consumer’s feeling increasingly hemmed in,” said Brian Bethune, director of financial economics at Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “They’ve got higher energy bills, higher gasoline bills, higher food bills and obviously the employment markets are nowhere near as strong as they were. The economy is in a recession.”

Our Perspective:

The R word keeps popping up. Seems like more people are using it with greater frequency these days.

Allen Greenspan also used it the other day.

Seems like this has become a cyclical thing. That is what happens when we keep pushing the rock forward and not addressing the issues that confront us. We grow complacent.

So many issues are contributing to us being in this predicament. The sad part is that if you look back, we have been talking about the same issues for the last 40+ years.

What or you doing to address this issue in your own back yard?

Are you being proactive?

Are you looking to reduce cost?

Are you making your company more competitive?

So many people have worked hard and put a lot of sweat equity into building their American Dream. Don’t let it slip away.

We are working with our clients, reducing cost and strengthening their bottom line.

The time to act is now!

Do you have a question?

 

Let us know your thoughts?

 

You may email george@hbsadvantage.com

 

Hutchinson Business Solutions ……Your CFO on the Go.

 

Creating Opportunities Today,…Defining Savings for Tomorrow.

Visit http://www.hutchinsonbusinesssolutions.com/ to learn more about saving opportunities available for your company.

 

Spread the good news….. share this information with a friend.