According to a new report from the Corporate IT Forum, a growing number of UK businesses are opting to adopt virtual desktop and server technologies in order to cut down on costs.

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.

Leading plumbing firm, Drain Doctor, has been advising commercial clients of the importance of preventative maintenance when trying to avoid spending unnecessary cash.

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.

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.”