Powering up for IT savings

1. Cloud computing
Cloud computing, which Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Eamon Ryan has repeatedly referred to as “the next big thing'‘, is a fancy term for online applications. Think Google Applications, but in a far more sophisticated way. There is no capital outlay, no CD-Rom, no crashes, no complicated licensing considerations with cloud computing. Crucially, there is no wasted expenditure, as you pay for the amount of time or volume of each service that your company uses.
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Being based online, the advantages are obvious: you can access, collaborate and develop projects on virtually any web-connected computer. So far, companies like EMC (storage), Salesforce.com (CRM) and IBM or Sun (virtualisation) are offering services to businesses through the cloud.

Other companies are springing up by the day. Obviously, decent broadband and some kind of service-level-agreement with the cloud firm are prerequisites. But in the era of Facebook and Twitter, this could be a big bonus for your company this year.

2. Roaming bills
While the European Commission has taken action on roaming charges in recent years, 60 cent a minute is still a premium your firm could do without. Data charges are also exorbitant, as high as €3 per megabyte in some countries. There are several ways to tackle this.

One method is to simply be more careful: Vodafone and O2 users can save a fortune if they register a roaming rate before traveling. In a similar vein, they can save even more if they make sure to remain on their operators' designated sister network (which takes constant supervision). In the absence of a decent deal on roaming, another option is to avail of some of the cut-price roaming services offered by third-party companies, such as MaxRoam.

These provide you with a new sim-card (and a new number) that reduces the cost of making (and taking) calls by at least 50 per cent. There is some administrative hassle with this option, but it can save a lot of money.

3. Skype and VoIP
Skype has been around for several years, but it is set to shine in this recession. Quite simply, the prospect of making calls that cost nothing will start to be taken more seriously by hard-pressed Irish companies. It is not just for landline calls, either: some mobile operators have opened up their networks to Skype, albeit in a limited way.

3 Ireland, for example, has two phone models on the market that al low Skype-to-Skype calls absolutely free. That is potentially a far wider net than the normal call-3friends-for-free offers that operators usually provide. Although Skype still cannot guarantee the same service levels as the big telcos, it has amassed a reasonable number of pro-business features, such as conference calls and answering services.

4. Mobile broadband
Often caught outside the office with a need to connect online for 20 minutes? There are two solutions: a mobile broadband dongle or a wi-fi hotspot. Unfortunately, most mobile broadband services require a 12-month commitment and have very small monthly data caps (3 Ireland has a pay-as-you-go solution).What's more, they are often unreliable when abroad. For frequent business travellers, that means wi-fi is the best solution.

In Ireland, one-off wi-fi connections are prohibitively expensive, as much as €15 to log on in some hotels. But getting an account with a large international wi-fi chain could make good economic sense. Boingo and Trustive are two of the largest chains in the world.

Boingo, which covers 100,000 hotspots worldwide (including all of Eircom's hotspots around the country), costs €45 per month. Trustive, which covers 65,000 wi-fi hotspots (including all of Bitbuzz's Irish hotspots), costs €33 per month.

5. Use social networks
They take time and patience, but they're free. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are fast becoming hotbeds of interaction between people passing on tips or business leads to others. Twitter, especially, has a huge business development focus among its users in Ireland, as is evidenced by the profile and activities of its biggest users, who are mostly IT-based professionals.

Forget about the cultural impression you might have about ‘sad people' connecting online. What is important is that the thousands of people interacting daily on these sites are looking for good deals, leads and opportunities. Interacting with them can result in fresh economic activity for your company.

6. Start allowing a bit of teleworking
For certain firms, teleworking works. It frees up office space, makes the employee use initiative and discipline, and emphasises results-based work. How? By eliminating commutes, limiting distractions and office banter and allowing a focus that is often not possible in an office.

With the increasing advance of broadband and webcams, remote meetings and conferencing are no longer an issue. Big IT companies such as HP and Microsoft allow this practice. It does not work for everyone, as some people thrive on camaraderie and collaboration. But many indigenous Irish firms have not given teleworking its due consideration.

7. Unified communications
The idea of unifying all a company's landlines, broadband and mobile communications into one service, using one technology, has been a holy grail for at least five years. Unfortunately, it has been very expensive for companies to make this transformation, with new hardware, software and infrastructural tinkering often required. But there are cheaper options that are beginning to appear on the horizon (see page 14).

Whereas complicated, bespoke packages had to be constructed using specialist components by large telcos for this to work, the industry has begun to adopt more standard hardware and software.

The result is a reduction in prices: a unified communication infrastructure can now be set up for less than €50,000, three years ago this sum would have been considered peanuts for such technology. Helping this development is the upgrading of broadband connections, largely for free to the end user. A 20Mbs connection could have cost €3,000 per month from Eircom as early as three years ago. Today, it could cost as low as €60.

8.Virtualisation
Virtualising your office doesn't mean taking it off into Second Life. A virtualisation set-up, although it can be now involve many things (see page 8), is normally associated with offsite data storage or other hardware-replacement services.

Its key advantage is an outsourcing one: it lets someone else sweat their assets for your computing benefit. That means less room required for large bulky items, such as servers.

It also (often) means that someone else takes care of the day-to-day hassles involved with keeping your network ticking over smoothly, freeing up resources within your own company.

9. Open source
Open source is not the treasure -trove of freebies that it once was. But it is not a journey into DIY bedsit-land either. Virtually every top company uses some form of open source software. They do this because it makes economic sense and is often more stable and configurable. But large firms can afford know-it all techies.

For the smaller company, there are thousands of applications that are free, or cost next to nothing, that can help companies out in a pinch. These range from old reliables such as Open Office and Star Office to Google Apps (which some don't consider to be’ open source') to accounting and business applications available from sites such as Download.com.

Bear in mind that these can differ somewhat from the proprietary software that your staff may be familiar with. Also, because they're inexpensive alternatives, they are not as sophisticated. But they will save money, at least in the short term.

10. Learn a bit of digital marketing
So you've signed up for Facebook and Twitter? That's great. But you also need to use your existing digital infrastructure to market your services a little better. A blog can be a good way to do this, and costs next to nothing. A monthly e-mail to customers is another way of doing it. You can use both to talk about industry issues in an informative way. There are two things to note, though.

First, you need to put in some readable content. If you make car alternators, don't write 2,000 words about Mosa's latest three-phase model. Instead, start with a few headlines about Formula 1 or something your clients might actually find interesting. Then stick in a ‘how-to'article about the way to recognise that something's wrong in your car. Then mention some of the latest bargains or services you have.

Secondly, don't spam people. Although the data privacy commissioner might not agree, it's generally okay to email someone once with your firm's newsletter. But make sure you give them a big notice that they can opt out of your e-mail. If they exercise this option, respect it. Sending customers e-mails they don't want only annoys them.

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BY Adrian Weckler
Source：THE POST.IE

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