Are you a professional practice, for example, Accountants, Solictors, Consultants?

If you could help your clients increase their profits, with no upfront costs, how impressed would they be?

Read more…….

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There’s no getting away from it, businesses are expensive to run.  And yet organisations throughout the UK and Ireland are paying much more than they should for their essential business costs.

View the e-book Lowering the Cost of Doing Business Corporate Brochure here…….

New Ofcom rules should soon make it cheaper to call 0870 numbers.
The measures – which will come into effect on 1 August 2009 – will also give consumers a much clearer idea of how much it costs to call these numbers.
0870 numbers are used by many businesses and organisations to provide a wide range of information and advice including many customer service lines.
But consumers are often charged more for calling these numbers than they would if they called a ‘geographic rate’ (01, 02 or 03) number.

Revenue sharing
And because they cost more, businesses and organisations are also able to take a cut of the call charges – a practice known as revenue sharing.
However, the new rules will encourage communication providers to stop charging higher prices for calls to 0870 numbers from fixed lines and mobiles than calls to ‘geographic rate’ numbers.
They will also be encouraged to include 0870 calls in call packages on the same basis as geographic calls.
Communications providers that want to continue charging for 0870 calls at rates above those for geographic numbers will be bound by strict rules about how prices are publicised on websites and in promotional material at point of sale.

Enforcement action
They will also be responsible for making sure their customers know how much they will be charged for calling an 0870 number.
Communications providers will not be allowed to advertise 0870 numbers as ‘national rate’ unless they are charging at geographic rates.
If they do not comply with these rules, they could be subject to enforcement action including possible fines.
Ofcom’s new rules should also effectively end revenue sharing on 0870 numbers.
Ofcom welcomes steps that some fixed line companies have already taken to include calls to 0870 numbers in call packages and reduce their prices.

Read the full Ofcom statement on 0870 numbers…..

As the credit crunch continues to bite and businesses batten down the hatches for a recession, anyone tempted to take their attention off environmental matters should think again.

Resource efficiency could be the answer to help combat the downturn. Waste prevention, energy efficiency and using less raw materials will be crucial to saving UK companies money and reducing costs.

More than 85% of companies questioned for new Envirowise research chose the above actions as a way to make their business more profitable.

Responsibility cannot rest with managers alone, however. There seems to remain a chasm between the behaviours of individuals at home…..and at the office…..if Britain’s bosses were to disclose the huge costs of their business gas, electricity, water and recycling bills to their staff, it is anticipated that this would increase their awareness of the need to reduce waste, and change their behaviour at work.

Consumers are becoming more conscious and making choices based on issues that go beyond price. While economic considerations may have become more important, it is likely the businesses that will thrive during the downturn are those which fulfil twin needs, providing both value for money and an assurance of environmental and ethical responsibility.

Auditel can help with these issues.

Click here to read the full Envirowise article……