Virtual servers catching on in the UK

Some 60 per cent of firms that have virtual servers have opted for them in order to increase their efficiency. They are also helping to ease people into the idea of cloud computing by making the distinction between virtualisation and private cloud computing less obvious.

Virtualization.info’s chief editor, Kenneth van Surksum, meanwhile, has spoken out in order to assert that a greater number of virtualisation platforms will be used this year, with more and more products hitting the market from a range of providers, according to a report in globalgold.co.uk.

Corporate IT Forum’s research services manager, Dani Briscoe, asserted that virtualised servers help to reduce costs for small and medium-sized businesses as a single piece of hardware can be used to run a number of virtual servers.

She also stated, "Virtualisation is established. It is a known thing. People are happy with it," helping to explain why the technology has become so popular when compared to some other cloud computing technologies.

Plumbing firm recommends preventative maintenance

The plumbing giant, which has signed up to maintenance agreements with large commercial partners, such as JD Wetherspoon and Wagamama, told customers that when it comes to blocked drains, 'prevention is better than cure'.

The experts claim that a build-up of grease is often the main problem that leads to drain blockages and that planned maintenance can prevent this from happening.

"Around 65 per cent of blockages in a year are caused by the build-up of fat solids and grease in the drainage system. Dealing with these blockages can be costly and lead to higher water bills, as well as lost business,” stated Catriona Berry, Drain Doctor’s business development manager.

She added that the firm hold a strong regard for its back-office system, which deals with calls from customers and schedules work to field engineers using its service desk management software.

"With over 200 vans on the road run from 68 locations nationwide, national customers such as JD Wetherspoon can be confident that we will be there when we are needed,” added Ms Berry.

Community healthcare firm offers new mobile workforce management system

The IT system is designed specifically for the mobile workforce in the community healthcare sector and will be known as 'Advanced Community'. It will be available for use by many kinds of mobile health care workers, including dieticians, language therapists, community nurses and health visitors.

Medway Community Healthcare is a health social enterprise that helps some 280,000 people in the Medway region through both unplanned and planned health services. The mobile workforce who will be offered the service will be able to access it from their mobile phones and it will help them to manage treatment and their own work schedules.

The Head of Informatics and Performance at Medway, Rob Howard, explained, “Advanced Community will transform the way we work, enabling us to more efficiently and cost-effectively deliver care.

“Its integration with mobile technology will allow staff to retrieve and record key patient information whilst on the move. Importantly, our teams will be able to more effectively manage their time and appointment planning across the area we serve.”

Is outsourcing the solution to IT skills shortages?

The IT sector has been struggling to find the talent it needs to fill roles for several years, at a time when some IT departments are busier than ever.

In an attempt to solve the skills shortage in the tech industry, several large service providers, including Siemens, Atos and CSC, have signed up to an initiative that is intended to help train young people with IT skills.

The program is partly intended to reduce the number of IT jobs being outsourced abroad, while improving the skills held by those working in IT support and service management roles in the UK.

It is hoped that the scheme helps to bridge the gap between education and the workplace, as many employers are finding it difficult to find in-house staff with the IT support skills they are looking for. It is for this reason that many businesses are turning to IT outsourcing to ensure that their staff can access the best support when they need it from a skilled hep desk IT team.

Hume City Council adopts work scheduling software

Hume City Council has adopted a new work scheduling software system to help it maintain customer service standards at its call centres.

As with firms looking to control a mobile workforce, organisations that deal with a high volume of customer enquiries can benefit hugely from this kind of work scheduling software.

Hume City Council Reaping the Benefits of Work Scheduling Software

Some 170,000 local residents use the City Council’s call centres and customer service centres. The enquiries include everything form planning permission, council tax, waste and environmental queries and local legislation.

Jo McCray, who is in charge of customer service at the Council, said, “The solution has allowed us to achieve a number of benefits, such as accurately forecasting our call volumes, predicting how many staff we require to meet our service levels, and scheduling the appropriate staff members with matched skills at each centre.”

Similar work scheduling software systems can be used to track mobile workers, such as field engineers, who may need their work allocated and monitored while they are on the road.

Ms McCray added, “We employ full time, part time and casual staff who can all work various shifts and rotate across all three customer service centre locations.

“We needed a solution that could incorporate staff preferences within the scheduling process and ensure we were staffed appropriately at each customer service centre location.”

BYOD seen as a benefit by employees

Bring you own device (BYOD) schemes are taking off all over the UK, with more firms than ever encouraging workers to use their own devices at home. So how can this benefit businesses and employees?

The benefit of BYOD to businesses is clear, as they rarely pay for the devices themselves. Many will offer to pay for some of the cost, while many will just pay for the software the worker needs to use to access required virtual desktop technology.

Although surveys on the phenomenon have produced mixed responses, a poll by Facebook, Google+ and Twitter found that people are increasingly aware of ‘bring your own device’ policies when they look for a new job. In fact, 45 per cent of employees said they would accept less pay if they were given the chance to choose their own device.

Although many expect some contribution from their employers towards the device, a large number also saw the ability to work more flexibly by using their own device as a major benefit.

Firms that encourage BYOD should ensure they have the right level of IT support on hand to help those working from a variety of different devices.

IT departments seeing their roles improve under cloud computing

Although some may be concerned that the onset of cloud computing will spell the end of the IT department in most offices, many industry insiders are convinced that the cloud will actually improve their roles.

Cloud computing improves the profile of IT departments

The traditional impression of IT support was similar to that portrayed in the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd in that they were often ridiculed and taken for granted by the rest of the office. However, as more and more firms adopt cloud computing and begin to outsource IT support, IT workers in-house are seeing their profile improve and their roles become more interesting.

With everyday maintenance and infrastructure support tasks taken off their hands, IT departments can begin to work at a more strategic level, helping to develop software that gives their business a competitive edge, for example.

In a piece for the Platform Cloud 9 blog, Keith Bates claims that IT professionals across the land are reaping the benefits of the introduction of more cloud computing technologies into offices. Although there was some initial panic about its impact on IT departments, they are quickly realising that their roles are becoming far more important within the companies they work for.

NHS runs up billion pound maintenance bill

As a result of running up a huge backlog of planned maintenance work, the NHS in Scotland faces bills of as much as £1 billion to carry out the repairs, according to a new report.

The government’s State of the Estate report is damning and suggests that the NHS’s planned maintenance software is either lacking or ineffective. The NHS, however, claims that the bill could be halved with the disposal of some older buildings and through extra funding totalling some £300 million.

The problem is largely down to repairs, which have been due for a number of years, being put off due to budget constraints, resulting in a worsening of conditions. Over time this approach to planned maintenance is “giving rise to poor condition and performance”, according to the report.

The report went on to add: “It is an ongoing challenge for the NHS to balance investment between that which is focused on service improvement and development, and that which is necessary to ensure existing properties do not cause harm or undue disruption to service delivery.”

Deploying planned preventative maintenance software can help firms avoid a similar fate happening to them.

British Gas engineers receiving abuse from staff

British Gas’s mobile workforce of engineers is increasingly having to put up with abuse from customers about their rising gas bills, according to the firm’s managing director, Phil Bentley.

He claims that gas engineers and call centre staff are bearing the brunt of customers’ frustrations about the rising cost of fuel. His comments came in the form of an email to staff, which has been linked online and reported on by the Daily Mail. The email states, ‘We have seen a groundswell of anti-British Gas comments, with increasingly aggressive tones.’

The email also admits that call centre staff and the mobile workforce have a ‘tough gig’ and that the media is partly to blame for the growing mistrust among its customers.

Gary Smith from the GMB union, of which many British Gas staff are members, claims that frontline staff get a raw deal in dealing with customers’ complaints. He explained, ‘The problem is getting worse. The staff (engineers) on the front line bear the brunt and it takes an emotional toll. People should remember that these workers are human beings.’

Firms with a significant numbers of staff on the road need to ensure that they have the right mobile workforce management solutions in place to give engineers and other field workers the support they need to deal with customer complaints and feedback.

Cloud computing can offer clear benefits to education sector

There are many benefits to be had by the education sector through the adoption of cloud computing technologies, including cost savings and students services.

Perhaps the main advantage to the education sector is the ability to access real time information from anywhere in the world in seconds. It also encourages an open learning environment as cloud computing allows for many pupils to share work, ideas and information easily.

Cost savings and energy savings, which come about as a result of adopting cloud computing, also offer great benefits to education institutions. Because the technology is so new, energy efficiency is a central priority. Adopting cloud computing technologies, such as remote desktops and cloud based IT support, for example, helps schools and colleges to cut down on costs and equipment.

Running these services through the cloud reduces the need for on-site technical support and maintenance services, while upgrades can be carried out automatically, for all end users, and at a much lower cost.

As a result of these factors, teachers and learners know they have access to the latest programmes, the most up-to-date information and the quickest services – all at a lower cost than running them outside of the cloud.