ROI, Business Benefits and Carbon Footprint of SaaS Collaboration

Following on from my blog just before Christmas on the cost savings of using Networker, a recently new customer has shared some of their experiences.   

''Regarding the success of today’s NetWorker meeting for 20 people: Normally 6 people would have had to come here for the meeting and charge expenses for car use and parking circa £125. We are having another one next week so that will make at least £250 each we've saved in two weeks in out of pocket expenses plus approx 18- 20 hours lost productive time travelling, plus reduced carbon footprint. Even the most vociferous of critics now admit NetWorker is worth weight in gold this winter with weather issues and these savings.'' 

This real life example crystallises for us the immediate business benefits a SaaS based collaboration tool can have and has already saved each user more than twice the annual subscription fee on travelling to these two meetings alone.

Business Continuity: So often forgotten until you need it.

The weather over the past two weeks in the UK has been pretty dreadful with much of the transport system closed down and many people finding themselves snow bound at home. For many this has meant resorting to the mobile phone and e-mail to try to continue business.

For one of our newer customers though they were surprised to discover the power of being able to log into Networker from their home PC and be instantly connected to their office community. Presence meant they could see who was 'in' and available. Many meetings still went ahead simply transformed into audio conferences or e-meetings. For this particular customer, use of the public internet or e-mail for sending confidential files is prohibited so they were delighted to find the embedded encrypted secure file transfer capability which enabled them to keep their business moving.

Its not often that businesses are denied access to their offices through fire or flood so smaller groups tend to forget their business continuity planning. However Networker has shown how it supports home working and how it's possible to run a business effectively when everyone has to work remotely.

Now the problem I had was we lost all power at home for 28 hours due to the heavy snow fall bending over trees which snapped the power lines .  I had no PC or broadband router and the mobile went dead after 6 hours. This meant I had no alternative but to go outside and play in the snow !  Note to Product Management: Should we offer standby generators as a Networker Homeworker  'Option' ?