With vCom, Multi-Branch Companies Can Save Trees and Simplify Telecom Purchasing

San Ramon, California-based vCom Solutions, which offers cloud-based telecom service to multi-site companies, has been named a Certified Green Business through the Bay Area Green Business Program.

To obtain the certification, vCom demonstrated full compliance with local environmental regulatory agencies and took action to conserve resources and protect the environment. VCom will be honored by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors at a ceremony in April.

VCom enables customers to avoid the complexity and excessive costs of carrier-direct telecom purchasing, providing a software as a service (SaaS (News - Alert))-based telecom expense management (TEM) platform and seasoned professional services team, both at no charge. In addition, vCom customers get carrier-agnostic wholesale buying power to further reduce their service prices. Companies are offered a simple, transparent view into all of their telecom services and activity, and they receive one bill for all services from anywhere in America.

One of many screen shots from vCom.

But the biggest change that vCom made was converting its paper invoicing process — which consumed 13,000 pieces of paper monthly — to an electronic billing process. Initially, customers resisted receiving paperless bills. However, the company worked with clients to provide customized reports that simplified their accounting processes and, ultimately, all of their customers believed that they had gotten the data they needed more efficiently after the transition away from paper. With an average tree yielding only about 8,000-9,000 sheets of paper, vCom customers are now helping save one to two trees a month. What’s more, for every new customer account it lands, vCom plants one new tree.

"Pursuing our Green Certification was a no-brainer for vCom," explained Sameer Hilal, CEO and head of the ten-year-old company’s Green Committee. "The service we provide is inherently green, because we take the hundreds of paper invoices that our customers receive from multiple telecom carriers across the country, and boil them down into one electronic invoice. This not only saves our clients paper, but also eliminates the need for archiving, scanning, and sending documents around for approvals."

He added, “I think that it is important to strike a balance between your fiduciary responsibility and doing something that will help future generations. We decided that doing the right thing for our kids was ultimately a bargain."