Internet protocol (IP) telephony probably isn’t in the daily lexicon of the typical CFO. But maybe it should be.

IP telephony underlies the enhanced services of unified communications — for example, instant messaging (chat), speech recognition, integrated voicemail and email — while allowing organizations to dramatically reduce telecom costs. A Frost & Sullivan research report lays out the core rationale and lists the savings, which include: reduced calling costs; faster and more efficient moves, adds, and changes; lower overall network monitoring, management, and configuration costs; and reduced access costs and long distance calling costs.

Is your organization a candidate for IP telephony? Start by determining how many phone lines you’re paying for. Then ask yourself how fully utilized they are. How quickly could you reconfigure your phones in response to a sudden business opportunity? If your answers are: too many, too little, and too slowly, then you probably should consider IP telephony. more

“The biggest flaw in our thinking [in the United States] is that we need only a small number of well-educated, career-specialized people to run the economy,” says Edward Gordon, president of Chicago-based Imperial Consulting and author of “Winning the Global Talent Showdown: How Businesses and Communities Can Partner to Rebuild the Jobs Pipeline” (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009; more information here). “Those days are over because we’re in an entirely new economy…” more

I keep coming across evidence that there are still serious misunderstandings about the potential scope and power of performance management initiatives.

Here’s an example: blogger Ann All recently posted this article titled “BPM + CRM = Improved (not Perfect) Customer Service.” In it, she advocates integrating a company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system with business process management (BPM) tools.

The article is a solid piece. However, when it comes to integration, why stop with just those two components? Why limit what information and solutions can be combined and integrated?

One reason for this myopia is because there’s still some confusion in the marketplace about the meaning of the term “performance management.” Just Google it and you’ll see what I mean. more

Many companies have been stashing cash like crazy, as this post from last month highlights.

Businesses are less alike, however, when it comes to determining the calculation variables they use to decide how best to invest their cash. That’s the conclusion from a recent survey of 300-some corporate finance pros by the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP). more

March ushers in baseball spring training, March Madness in the NCAA, signs of warmer weather, hopes of a better future, and – yes! – proxy filings.

I checked in with ClearBridge Compensation Group to get a feel for how preliminary proxy fillings look this season. Managing Partner Russ Miller (who many years back taught me quite a bit about the nature of executive compensation) and his team reviewed proxy filings of the first 30 Fortune 500 companies to file this year. more