The Leading Edge - Winter 2009 - (Page 11)

A pLuMMETING SToCk MArkET DoES NoT MEAN ThAT CoNSuMErS NEED LESS; IT juST MEANS ThAT ThE buyING pATTErNS ArE LIkELy To ChANGE AND SpENDING WILL DECrEASE. “Businesses that understand and collaborate with the Web’s influential social media outlets—blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a host of others—will fare better than those who fail to grasp the significance of this fundamental shift,” Lovell says. Funding losses for nonprofits Nonprofits around the country will see funding cuts for a variety of reasons. The government may reduce or eliminate their funding, their endowments took a hit in the stock market and their contributors are facing their own economic challenges. Dave Kerr, founder and president of Integrity House, a substance abuse rehabilitation center in New Jersey, says the need continues to be great but the dollars are shrinking. “The problem of addiction didn’t hear about our bad economy,” he says. “Our waiting list is in the hundreds. We probably will see a funding cut soon and yet somehow we have to maintain services to 366 addicts in recovery in our residential program,” he says. An added economic impact for organizations like Kerr’s is that graduates of the program will be competing for employment with hundreds of thousands of qualified workers being laid off. Steps to watching expenses include: • planning well in advance to shop for discounts and monitor currency fluctuations for the most favorable exchange rates, • using prepaid foreign currency travel cards. More people opt for these electronic forms of payment over traveler’s checks and cash, according to a recent industry study, • using planning tools such as Travelex’s budget calculator (www.cashpassport.com/ us/budgetcalculator.html) to estimate costs of trip basics such as food and beverage, accommodations, public transportation, entrance fees, etc. While travel for business is still required, cost containment is a priority for companies, according to the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. Christopher Russell, Travelex’s executive vice president of outsourcing, says business travel previously was considered a necessary expense and generally no one scrutinized that belief. “We see that starting to change,” he says. “Travel management and travel spending management are being discussed in CEO offices and board rooms across the country.” Fewer dollars spent on off-site meetings Travel managers, directors and others involved in planning meetings for their companies say they will be spending less in 2009. A Worktopia survey shows that economic conditions are tightening companies’ plans to host off-site meetings, including moving meetings to lower-priced venues and locations where less travel is incurred. More rigorous planning also is anticipated. Those companies expecting fewer meetings in 2009 typically are larger organizations with more than 2,500 employees. They also are the ones who are planning to strategically leverage technology to reduce meeting costs. “Not surprisingly, larger companies are more inclined to utilize a technology-based solution or service provider to source, track and plan their off-site meetings,” according to Worktopia. e it cost containment for many IT decision-makers across government and corporate sectors enter the year citing cost containment as their top priority, according to a survey by CDW Corp. Forty-one percent of respondents cited cost as their top concern. However, 32 percent said investment, new products and technologies was their priority for 2009, a five percentage point increase over 2008. “Many times, organizational objectives are set well in advance, and after navigating through the volatile market conditions that have become the defining characteristic of 2008, IT decision-makers are planning for 2009 by planning for the one element they can control—cost,” says CDW Vice President Mark Gambill, who handles market insights for the company. Planning before plane departs International travel will still happen, but Americans are opting to control costs better in 2009, according to Travelex. ThE LEadIng EdgE 11 http://www.cashpassport.com/us/budgetcalculator.html http://www.cashpassport.com/us/budgetcalculator.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leading Edge - Winter 2009

The Leading Edge - Winter 2009 Contents Stay on the Climb New Business Often Hinges on an Exceptional Proposal 2009: What’s Ahead and What's Behind for Businesses, Consumers and More Top 10 Misconceptions of Doing Business in Canada In a Nutshell: Q&A The Leading Edge Alliance

The Leading Edge - Winter 2009

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