In an Unpredictable Economy, Flexible IT is Key
 The jury’s still out as to whether or not the U.S. economy will enter a recession – and that’s left a lot of IT departments pondering a difficult question. Should you take the time and resources to prepare for the worst, or focus on improving business as usual? > Read More
Renewing Your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement? Five Ways to Get More for Less
 Each year, thousands of companies renew their Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft. But, what may seem like a routine renewal process is actually an excellent opportunity to reduce your Microsoft spend.
Here are five ways you can get the most out of your Microsoft EA: > Read More
 Risk is no stranger to CompuCredit. In fact, it’s part of the company’s corporate mission – to provide financial services to consumers that are underserved by traditional financial institutions. However, “risky business” was redefined for the financial services and lending industry in August 2007 as the market took a sharp downturn. In response, CompuCredit enlisted NPI to identify ways to increase the flexibility of its IT infrastructure and prepare its operations to contract and expand as warranted by market demand.
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Auditing Transportation Invoices – In-house or Outsourced, Immediate Savings Await
If you think your transportation costs are high now, just wait. NPI anticipates the fuelsurcharge rate increases between April and September of 2008 to be the highest on record.  The question is – howdo you minimize the impact of these drastic increases? Many companies are unsure.In response, NPI recently launched an education campaign to teach companies how they can reduce transportation spend in light of rising fuel costs. Some of the tactics presented in this article can be deployed on your own, while others may require third-party services. Regardless, we feel it’s important to let companies know there are solutions to mitigate fuel rate increases. > Read More
The American DJ Group of Companies is the one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of professional audio and special effects lighting products. With recent advances into new product lines and a growing network of distributors and retailers throughout the U.S., Europe and Latin America, American DJ has grown rapidly over the past few years…and so has its transportation spend.
In 2007, American DJ acknowledged they no longer had the time nor resources to weed through thousands of pages of invoices to closely monitor transportation spending. They needed a partner that could take on this challenge and ensure billing accuracy, without jeopardizing their strong relationships with UPS and FedEx.
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Deferred Tier Pricing…Is it Good for You?
 Shipping rates are a hot topic right now, and rightfully so. However, there is another transportation spend issue that is burdening many companies – it’s called Deferred Tier Pricing (DTP). This pricing model, commonly used by UPS, FedEx and DHL, uses a rebate-like process to provide shipping discounts to customers. You pay full price for shipping charges up front and receive carrier discounts end of quarter or, in some cases, year-end via a rebate check.
There are several problems with DTP, ranging from its negative impact on cash flow to the accuracy in which rebated discounts are tracked. If your carrier contract employs this pricing model, NPI’s transportation experts recommend restructuring your agreement for the following reasons:
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