Still time to enter our competition September 8, 2009
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If you work for a UK based charity or NFP then there is still time to enter our summer competition.
There are both silly and sensible prizes to be won, including 2 months of free telephone/remote support.
You don’t have to be an artistic or green-fingered genius to win so why not give it a go. Just visit:
http://www.charitysolutions.co.uk/summer.html
and fill in the form there or give us a ring or email your details to sales@charitysolutions.co.uk and we will take it from there.
Please do at least think about entering – and pass the message on to anyone you know who also works for a UK charity. While we don’t want to give current entry numbers away, let’s just say that the odds of winning are currently in your favour! 
Using Internet Telephony For Professional Communications – Is It Worth It? Is It Safe? April 22, 2008
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Todays workplaces are faced with challenges every day because of the introduction of new technologies. It can be difficult to keep up with the steady stream of new advances and even trickier to know which ones could, with correct usage, make your office life easier.
Take Skype for example. Skype – and other similar services such as Gizmo – allow users to make telephone calls over the internet to other users of the same service free of charge. This communication method has its benefits although there are a few potential downsides that you need to consider as well.
Services such as Skype are fast gaining in popularity. Calling between computers both using the chosen service is completely free, obviously an appealing feature to many people. Most of the services also offer the ability to call “normal” telephone numbers (mobile or land lines) at fairly competitive rates – often really competitive for international calls. Some providers also provide an additional service that (for a monthly or yearly fee) provides you with an incoming phone number. This is a fantastic way to get a number in (depending on the provider) the town or country you want – giving you a pseudo-presence there and making it cheaper for you colleagues, or supporters in that area to call you.
However, though the services are generally reliable, we would not advise relying on them as your only method of telephony – incoming or outgoing. If the service does fail (as happened for several days last year to many SkypeIn users for example) you will be left without any method of telephone contact – which not only will cause major inconvenience but does little for your professional profile.
According to the majority of users the audio is generally superb but the big question is really is it secure to use in an office environment? Each provider will have their own individual security features, so let’s take Skype as an example.
When calling Skype to Skype the calls are strongly encrypted so therefore at the higher end in the security stakes compared to other things that use the internet. If using Skype to call to mobile or landlines however, the calls are only encrypted for the Skype portion and not when they hit the public domain. This is fine if you have offices dotted about the country, or world, and you can implement a company-wide policy of Skype usage between offices, but if you are a smaller organisation mainly communicating with customers using a regular landline/mobile service you cannot guarantee the complete security of the conversations. This is not to say that using Skype is more of a threat to charities than other ‘techie’ tools, such as email, but because Skype is newer the vulnerabilities may not be as well known.
Compliance and protection of information within organisations is also a hot topic these days. Organisations need not only to know what information is entering and leaving the office but also to log and archive it as well. It is difficult for third party applications (ie monitoring tools) to interface with Skype. This makes it very difficult to know exactly what information is entering or leaving the organisation. Sensitive information could be passed on with no way of tracking where and from whom it originated.
Perhaps the answer is not to ban Skype flat-out but if you are going to consider its use, then control it – as you do with email. Policies on acceptable usage, such as no file transfers, and cautions against using it for sensitive communications, should be written and enforced.
Any comments, queries or suggestions for follow up topics that you would like us to cover? Just leave a comment or contact us (details on the About Us page) and we will do our best to help.
Green IT – some simple ways to start March 24, 2008
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Last time we took a slightly cynical look at the mountain of green rhetoric we are all being subjected to these days. This week we are trying to cut through the marketing propaganda to give some suggestions that are practical and usable for all organisations – not just the huge ones with large budgets and resources.
First of all, forget about the hype and get back to basics. Remember the recycling mantra:
- - Reduce
- - Reuse
- - Recycle
Reduce is an easy one. Ensuring your computers and printers are shut down at night and not just left on standby will cut down on wasteful power consumption and immediately improve your green footprint. Remember to also switch off monitors when not in use – you can adjust the settings to switch off after a certain period of inactivity. Laptops (and even some PCs) can be set to go into a standby lower power mode if not used for a set period.
Reducing your office paper consumption is another hot issue. You could use less by using both sides and thinking before you print – do you really need ten copies in full colour? Using cheaper low-grade or recycled paper for general use and keeping high-quality paper usage to a minimum is another simple green solution.
Also, don’t forget that a lot of the simple greener changes you have probably already made at home can be carried over into the office – like using low energy bulbs and rechargeable batteries.
Reuse your IT equipment for as long as it is practical and economical. Upgrade only when extra features, speed or processing power is essential – or if the equipment is particularly old and “power hungry”. Some organisations use snazzy new computers that are far more powerful than necessary to run simple office applications. Older machines with less powerful processors could simply be fitted with additional memory or bigger hard disks to remain in service. If you do need a new computer, check the manufacturers website to how green (both in terms of power consumption and the components used) – and when choosing a manufacturer, consult independent organisations such as Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org/electronics) who regularly monitor how well the main manufacturers are truly doing on the green front or visit the EPEAT website (www.epeat.net) where an increading number of PCs, notebooks and monitors are evaluated and scored according to set environmental criteria.
Think about refilling rather than discarding your printer cartridges. (But take care to check manufacturers warranty if your printer is new because sometimes use of third-party consumables can lead to warranty exclusions.) National companies such as Cartridge World have outlets across the UK where you can take your empty cartridges to be refilled. Or, if you prefer, you can also buy special kits and refill the cartridges yourself – though this can get messy and isn’t always particularly successful. By reusing your cartridges you will not only help save landfill space but you can save money.
Recycle! Under the European Union’s Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) Directive, all manufacturers of electrical equipment are responsible for its environmentally friendly disposal, and the infrastructure required for collection. This allows old equipment to be reused and recycled where possible, with any potentially hazardous components properly disposed of. Your IT supplier may well have facilities in place to recycle your old equipment, if not consult your local council website or national one like www.recyclenow.co.uk.
Once again, the recycling efforts you probably make at home can be reproduced in the office. Don’t forget that not only can your waste paper be recycled, but cans, bottles, cardboard or even plastics. It might not be as easy or cheap (unlike the private house refuse collection facilities provided by councils, most commercial waste collectors will only provide recycling collection at an additional cost) but with a bit or organisation it can be done – and a bottle or can recycled from your office will save just as much energy and resources as one from home.
There are many green options available for smaller organisations and even small changes can make a difference to the environment – and also to your finances. Here are some links you may find useful:
www.netregs.gov.uk – Waste Legislation Information
www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.org/forum – Internet forum with ‘green office’ ideas (amongst many other green topics)
www.donateapc.org – “matchmaking” service for people wanting to get rid of old IT equipment and people wanting to recycle it
www.globalactionplan.org.uk – helping organisations reduce their environmental impact.
www.greenpeace.org/electronics – highlights green IT issues and produces regular reports of how much manufacturers are truly doing to be greener
www.epeat.net - contains details of of PCs, notebooks and monitors that have been evaluated and scored according to set environmental criteria
www.recyclenow.co.uk – website is dedicated to raising recycling awareness and promoting responsible waste management
Any questions or comments? Or any useful websites you would like to see added to our list? Just leave a comment or contact us (details on the About Us page) and we will do our best to help.
Green IT – Is It Easy? March 17, 2008
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Recycling your empty soft drink cans and glass bottles is by now second nature to most people. The introduction of kerbside collection has made recycling such a convenience that it almost goes against natural instincts to throw your recyclables in the ‘normal’ bin! But how many think of recycling and specifically Green IT at the office? As a Charity we know you are probably trying hard to do your bit, but if you are not a huge organisation it can be confusing to know where to start.
Put simply, Green IT is using your computing resources more efficiently. Some larger corporations are already taking steps to become more environmentally friendly. Quite apart from any concerns for our planet, they believe being green can reap benefits from cost savings to higher productivity. And of course better environmental credentials look very hip these days! But what does Green IT mean for the smaller organisations and what are some practical solutions?
These days there is much hype surrounding the Green IT issue. If you listened to all of it you would be scrapping your current IT for energy efficient PCs made from natural materials, ditching your servers for new high efficiency blade versions and encouraging your employees teleconference into work rather than drive. But if you take a step back and look at things more practically, it doesn’t take long to work out that (quite apart from the probably prohibitive costs involved) starting anew really isn’t an option that is cast-iron guaranteed to be more environmentally friendly long-term – particularly when you take into account the energy involved in producing all those new computers and shipping them all over the world, not to mention the cost, time & money to dispose of the old IT equipment that was still really working fine for you.
Don’t beat yourself up about the fact that you are not following every green recommendation or buying every new “greener” option. Remember that a lot of the people urging you to swap to those new greener options are not acting entirely out of concern for the planet – the sales of all that replacement kit does mean that those “go-green” pleas by the computer manufacturers are likely to be more than a little self-serving.
Hype aside, there are many small changes that you can make which when combined can still make a significant difference overall.
Next week we will go back to true green basics to look at some simple ways any organisation (however small) can make a difference.
