Telecom expense management firm Valicom announces a webinar “Telecom and Wireless Management: The 5 Questions You Should be Asking.” The webinar will encourage telecom and financial managers to look at their telecom and wireless management program with fresh eyes, to see if it’s up to the task. The webinar will be held Tuesday, November 13, 10 a.m. CST.

Valicom is to host a webinar encouraging managers to look at their telecom and wireless management program with fresh eyes. “Telecom and Wireless Management: The 5 Questions You Should be Asking” will offer ways to discover if managers really know what is going on, or just think they know. The webinar will be held November 13, 10:00 AM central time. Registration is available via the Valicom website at http://www.valicomcorp.com

In 2012, managing telecom isn’t just about controlling cost. It’s also about limiting risk, gaining visibility and making smarter business decisions. And the need for strong telecom and wireless management practices is growing. Industry statistics show that up to 20% of telecom invoices have errors, and firms without a telecom expense management program pay up to 22% MORE for telecom than their peers that do. Thiswebinar is designed to help telecom and financial managers probe their communication processes, vendors, software and services to ensure they are delivering results.

Valicom CEO Nancy Peckham says, of the upcoming webinar, “Having offered telecom expense management solutions since 1991, we know where the holes in firms’ processes usually are, and what questions to ask to find them. This webinar brings those ideas together, giving telecom managers a blueprint for checking out their own programs.”

The webinar will be co-presented by Lacinda Athen and Jeff Poirior of Valicom. Jeff, President and COO, brings 25 years of telecommunications and information technology management experience in voice and data networking, server support, and telephony and security; with a significant emphasis on customer service.

Register for “Telecom and Wireless Management: The 5 Questions You Should be Asking” on November 13 by visiting http://www.valicomcorp.com or calling 800-467-7226 x619.

Latest Smart Data Release Makes Commercial Spending Intelligence More Accessible and Actionable

MasterCard today introduced the latest enhancements to the MasterCard^® Smart Data offering, including its Web-based expense management and business intelligence solution, MasterCard^®smartdata.gen2™. These updates help enable companies of all sizes to better manage their business and increase cost savings through unsurpassed visibility and access to comprehensive spend analytics.

As more mid-sized companies do business on a global scale, they join larger multinational corporations in needing access to consolidated, detailed expense data that can be seamlessly integrated into their ERP and accounting systems. At the same time, small business owners need a solution that simplifies expense management and allows them to focus on running their business.

Included among the enhancements to smartdata.gen2 are:

• Improvements to expense reporting functionality, helping to drive greater efficiency, accountability and cost savings;
• Industry-leading data export capabilities, for the flexibility to serve every kind of customer; and,
• A new analytics module to monitor programs graphically and dynamically with a couple of clicks.

In addition, the MasterCard Global Data Repository was also upgraded to capture and distribute carbon scores, allowing interested corporations to track their estimated carbon footprint.

“Within the commercial payments space, it is absolutely vital that we provide comprehensive and usable data to our customers so they can streamline their purchasing processes and better manage expenses,” said Ed Glassman, MasterCard group executive, Global Commercial Products. “The enhanced functionality of our Smart Data offering provides organizations of all sizes a solution that seamlessly integrates into their ERP and accounting systems, while simplifying everyday processes. Every improvement we made may help to drive savings for them down the line.”

In a recent survey conducted by Blueframe and commissioned by MasterCard, issuers and end users overwhelmingly gave Smart Data top marks for satisfaction, and reported that “Smart Data is the best tool for tracking & analyzing data,” and that it “…is efficient, with good features and functionality and excellent customer support. Overall, it offers very good value for us,” among other reasons for satisfaction.

The MasterCard Smart Data platform offers usable spending data that can be configured for multiple card programs and market segments, including purchasing, corporate, fleet and travel card programs, allowing for applications and insights to be tailored and integrated for each organization. Over the past 18 years, more than 200 issuers have provided these services to hundreds of thousands of customers in more than 130 countries around the globe and in 21 languages.

• To see how MasterCard makes data smarter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm0Q_7bEMCI

About MasterCard Worldwide

MasterCard (NYSE: MA  ) , www.mastercard.com,is a global payments and technology company. It operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Cashless Conversations Blog and subscribe for the latest news.

The most popular tools used by UK business travellers who do use mobile apps on the road are maps like Google or Bing (with 90 per cent using them always, often or occasionally) and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (with 60 per cent using them always, often or occasionally). Map apps help business travellers quickly find hotels or meeting venues, while social networks allow them to stay abreast of the day’s news or keep in touch with friends and family back home.

However, there are other apps that can make a business trip quicker, easier and more relaxed that travellers are currently missing out on using. Surprisingly for example, whilst just under one in five (18 per cent) business travellers surveyed agreed ‘the stacks of expense reports to be completed on return’ was a major business travel pain point, over three quarters (76 per cent) of app-using business travellers have never downloaded or used one to help manage their expenses quickly and efficiently whilst on the road.

Moreover, despite over three quarters (77 per cent) of respondents complaining of ‘unproductive moments’ whilst on the move, few travellers are making use of other apps that can save time and boost productivity. Only two in five (40 per cent) of app-using travellers leverage airline apps like British Airways and less than a third (32 per cent) use airport information apps like GateGuru or the Heathrow app often, regularly or occasionally.

Isabel Montesdeoca, General Manager and Senior Vice President for Concur EMEA comments: “There’s no denying that despite the rewarding aspects of travelling on business, like spending time with your colleagues and visiting new cities, other aspects such as filing expenses and rebooking travel can be incredibly frustrating. However the explosion of apps, fuelled by smartphone and tablet growth, has made solutions to these problems available to road warriors everywhere.

Concur provides mobile apps that help business travellers before, during and after travel. TripIt, a free travel app from Concur, uses a traveller’s confirmation emails to automatically create one simple, smart itinerary to access on a smartphone, calendar, or anywhere online. The Concur mobile app allows business travellers whose companies use the Concur travel and expense management solution to book or amend travel, and do their expenses from wherever they are.

Montesdeoca continues: “At Concur, we’re committed to making the business travel process as quick, easy and productive for people that spend time out on the road. Embracing the power of mobile to make this happen is one of our biggest focuses as an organisation.”

For more information about this study, read the Executive Summary or download the infographic here

Redmond-based Concur is best known for helping business travelers manage travel and entertainment expenses. Now, with the addition of Trip Maximizer, the company is looking to go a step further, helping sales professionals locate and communicate with clients.

Here’s how the new Trip Maximizer service works: The user inputs their initial travel plans into the Salesforce Sales Cloud, and then is shown recommendations for prospective sales opportunities during the trip. Once the traveler decides to add a sales opportunity to their trip, it takes a few clicks to add it to their itinerary, which is then added to their connected calendar. The idea is to remove the need for a countless number of emails, as well as remove the need to go back and forth between separate applications.

Trip Maximizer goes beyond that, though. Adding to the social side of the connected cloud, the service will also provide recommendations for dining locations near scheduled meetings. If there are any colleagues that will be in the area at the same time, they will be notified of relevant trip details, to maximize collaboration between workers, through Salesforce Chatter.

To read full article, visit: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/concur-unveils-trip-maximizer-concurforce/

Business expenses related to travel and entertainment (T&E) encompass 8% to 12% of the average organization’s total budget, forcing executives to implement next-generation strategies and solutions for driving down operational costs and improving visibility in both processes and spending. Automation and T&E expense management tools have proven to drive tremendous value from a complex spend category that grows more strategic in nature each year. However, for the average organization, shifting from a manual program to technology-fused processes may result in unwanted corporate headaches as solution selection project managers survey the vendor landscape for an ideal enabler.

The T&E Expense Management Solution Selection Guide is a handbook for organizations that are embarking on the solution selection journey to replace traditionally-manual capabilities or move to an updated technology platform. This report will help guide those executives tasked with leading a solution selection program on the necessary components for building an effective team and understanding the technological landscape of travel and expense management solutions.

To obtain a complimentary copy of this report, made available in part by Certify, Concur, and expensewatch.com, visit: 
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=7964&camp=2.