Sustainable Practices for a Greener IT Environment 

cloud computing, dark data, green IT, Ophtek, outsourcing, sustainable IT, turn off pc, working remotely, , , , , ,
02
Jan 2024

Modern businesses are constantly looking to reduce their carbon footprint. One of the best ways to achieve this is with a greener IT environment. 

When it comes to the environment, digital data comes at a cost. Therefore, it’s important for businesses to evaluate their practices in order to reduce their impact on the environment. This is known as Green IT, a study and practice of the ways in which IT usage can be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. However, for many organizations, their adoption of eco-friendly practices tends to be focused on manufacturing and service elements. 

How Do You Develop Sustainable IT Practices? 

If you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your IT operations, you should start making changes in these areas: 

  • Cloud computing: one of the best ways to reduce your impact on the environment is by embracing the cloud. Due to superior hardware setups, cloud data centers use less energy than traditional in-house data solutions. And the savings are seriously impressive. It’s estimated that cloud computing can improve energy efficiency by up to 93% and, in the process, release 98% fewer greenhouse gases. 
     
  • Dark data: all businesses carry and store huge amounts of data, but does it all need to be kept? Data which is stored, but not required is referred to as dark data. Therefore, if you’re using cloud data centers, which are responsible for 2.5% of carbon dioxide emissions, to store dark data, you’re putting an unnecessary strain on the environment. The solution here is to evaluate your data governance policies and develop strategies for disposing of dark data. 
     
  • Turn your PCs off: many employees fail to shut their PCs down at the end of the day. This is the result of wanting to get home and, of course, saving time the next day when they’re logging on. However, leaving a PC running overnight not only produces carbon emissions but also shortens the lifespan of the device. This means that you are more likely to have to replace the machine, contributing towards environmental damage. Accordingly, your employees need to be educated on the importance of shutting their PC down. 
     
  • Outsourcing: if your business experiences a surge in demand, you don’t have to buy additional equipment to cope with the increased workload. Instead, you can outsource this workload, such as to a call center, to manage the demand. After all, this surge in activity may be short lived, and outsourcing represents a sustainable and more affordable option. Remember, anything which reduces the sale of new hardware will only have a positive effect  
    on the environment. 
     
  • Remote working: advances in IT technology mean that any employee with a high-speed internet connection can seamlessly connect with your IT infrastructure from home. This means a reduction in not just emissions from travel, but also a number of energy saving costs in your office. As a result, allowing employees to work from home will easily enhance your green credentials and reduce your carbon footprint. 

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals. 

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5 Best Tips to Make Remote Working on a PC a Success

calendar apps, collaboration, comfort, equipment, Ophtek, remote work, remote workers, simplicity, technical issues, working remotely, , , , , , , ,
03
Aug 2021

Remote working is becoming an increasingly popular way for organizations and their staff to operate. But it’s crucial that you know how to do it properly.

The popularity of remote working has been growing for several years, but this growth has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Working from remote locations, however, doesn’t come without challenges. A home, for example, wasn’t built to be used as a workplace. And it’s unlikely that a home will come pre-loaded with powerful communication options. But challenges such as these can easily be tackled.

All you have to do is take a look at our 5 best tips to make remote working on a PC a success.

Enhancing the Remote Working Experience

Simplicity is an essential part of any infrastructure and remote working is no different. Therefore, make sure you integrate these simple tips into your remote working setup:

  1. Comfort is Key: It’s important that you create a suitable working space for setting up your PC. A quiet location with minimal distractions is vital, so it’s a good idea to set up in a location away from TVs and any other noise sources. The most pressing element, however, is a good chair. You’re going to be sitting in the same seat for several hours a day, so you need to get one which is both comfortable and suitable.
  2. Collaboration Tools: Communicating while remote working is very different to communicating when all employees are based in a central location. Naturally, this can lead to an increase in the time taken to answer queries, but it’s easy to work around this. Software such as Microsoft Teams, Discord and Slack allows employees to communicate and collaborate with ease.
  3. Invest in Your Equipment: Whether you’re using your own PC or a work issued one, it pays to invest in your technology. It may be as simple as upgrading your internet connection to increase connection speeds and reliability. Alternatively, you may wish to invest in replacement peripherals which are more ergonomic such as mice, keyboards and headphones.
  4. Use Calendar Apps: Without a team around you, it’s difficult for you to keep on top of things. After all, an office full of employees can quickly remind you that you have a meeting coming up. But a remote worker doesn’t have this luxury. Therefore, using calendar apps such as Google Calendar and Microsoft Calendar can prove invaluable. Take time each week to set up important reminders in these to ensure you remain on top of your schedule.
  5. Don’t Ignore Technical Issues: One of the drawbacks of remote working is that a technical issue can quickly disrupt your day. The luxury of jumping on a spare workstation isn’t an issue when you’re away from the office. And this is why it’s crucial that you report all technical issues to your IT team as soon as possible. An early investigation could easily prevent a major technical fault and allow you to stay productive.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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Make Remote Working Easier with these PC Tips

Ophtek, PC Tips, remote work, remote workers, working from home, working remotely, , ,
02
Jun 2020

Remote working has become the norm for countless employees over the last two months, but it’s not easy. However, you can make remote working easier.

It’s not that remote working is difficult, it’s more that it’s a break from your normal working routine. And, depending on your age, this routine could have been in place for decades. It’s not easy to make this transition seamlessly and, given the current headlines, it’s understandable that working from home can feel tough. But you don’t have to let this situation descend into frustration. Instead, you can make a number of changes which make remote working that little bit easier.

An excellent place to start is by making changes to the way you use your PC.

How to Make Life Easier

There are many ways that you can make remote working easier and some of the simplest and most effective are:

  • Work Near Your Router: Home internet connections are more than capable of handling your workload, but this is all dependent on the strength of your signal. Therefore you need to work as near to your router as possible. That bed in your spare bedroom may be comfortable, but if the wireless signal there is weak then you run the risk of frequent disconnections. Be sure to use a good quality router.
  • Work with a Calendar App: Remote working tends to involve working on your own for long periods of time. Sure, there’s the modern luxury of video conferencing and chat software, but it’s not the same as being surrounded by your work colleagues. Accordingly, it can be difficult to stay on track with your schedule and workload. However, this situation can be reversed by setting yourself reminders. The calendar within Microsoft Outlook is more than adequate for this, but it’s possible to install third-party apps if you need more options.
  • Block Online Distractions: It’s easy to become distracted by the internet when you’re working from home, but this doesn’t have to be the case. There are a number of ‘blocker’ apps that can be installed on a PC to block out distractions. So, for example, if you want to block access to social media sites for an afternoon, you can program this into an app such as Freedom. You are then free to focus exclusively on your workload and ensure that you keep on top of it.
  • Connect Your Laptop to your TV: Working on a laptop isn’t always easy due to the limited screen sizes that are available. And this can be a problem if you need a large screen to organize your work. But there’s a very simple solution. Almost all modern laptops contain HDMI ports, so you should be able to easily connect your laptop to your 50” television set. All you need is a HDMI cable and a modern TV.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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The Best Work-From-Home Tech You Should Be Using

Ophtek, work from home tech, working from home, working remotely, , ,
12
May 2020

Working from home is very different to working in an office. And, accordingly, you will need specific work-at-home tech to counter these changes.

The most noticeable difference to working at home is that it’s more comfortable. There’s no need to sit at a single desk all day long and there’s certainly no requirement to wear a suit. But the usual peripherals you use in the office aren’t suited to a home environment. Working off a couch, for example is very different, to working from an office desk with flat, stable surfaces. Therefore, it’s crucial that you equip yourself with tech that suits your new work environment. Not only will it allow you to work comfortably, but it will keep you focused on your work.

What is the Best Work-from-Home Tech?

Everyone wants to be comfortable, so it’s clear that you need the best work-from-home tech. And, believe us, if there’s a work-from-home problem, technology will have found a solution. Some of the most useful peripherals to invest in are:

  • Couch Mouse: A mouse, even in the touchscreen age we live in, is vital for working on a PC. But conventional mice need hard, flat surfaces to operate. And this isn’t always an option if you’re working on a couch. Sure, you could use a built in touch pad on a laptop, but these don’t always suit every task. However, it’s possible to buy so called ‘couch mice’ which work on soft surfaces and provide perfect navigation. 
  • Noise Cancelling Headphones: Working from home, especially when your family is also there, can be a major challenge. A full house can get noisy very quickly and this can prove to be a major distraction. However, a set of noise cancelling headphones can provide a quick solution to this problem. By channeling your favorite music (or ambient sounds) through your headphones you will find that you can focus more closely on your work. And, if you need to take calls, you can use the headphones to win back some much needed privacy. 

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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How to Work Remotely During the Coronavirus Crisis

coronavirus, covid19, Ophtek, remote work, working remotely, , , ,
23
Mar 2020

Coronavirus has changed the way that many of us are working; remote working has suddenly become the norm, but how do you work from home?

The need to self-isolate means that offices packed full of employees are no longer a viable option. However, businesses need to continue operating. And that’s why many organizations are asking their staff to work from home. Remote working has been growing in popularity for some time, but current events have now made this an urgent necessity. The speed at which this has unfolded, though, means that businesses and workers haven’t been prepared.

But working from home is relatively simple. You just need to know the basics of remote working, so let’s take a quick look.

What is Remote Working?

Remote working is, at its simplest, where an employee completes their work away from the office. Traditionally, the telephone was the only tool available for remote workers and this limited the work they could complete. But advances in technology mean that almost every office task can now be carried out remotely. All you need is an internet connection and a PC; this combination allows you to log into both IT and telephone systems.

And this means that you can seamlessly relocate your workplace to any remote location. For most employees this will be a home setting, but it also opens up an opportunity for employees on business trips, for example, to set up in hotel rooms. Regardless of the scenario the end result is the same: full access to your work PC. With this in place you can access all your software and files. So, for example, you can email from Outlook and gain access to customer databases as if you were in the office.

What are the Best Ways to Work Remotely?

The concept and practices of remote working are going to be new to many employees, but thankfully it’s a painless affair. It’s important to remember that in-house servers are not the only option. Cloud based servers are a perfect solution to the need to connect workers to vital IT systems without the need to commute from home. And this is where the need for a remote internet connection comes into play. With this in place, employees can use the following software to connect to their work computer:

  • TeamViewer:  Remote working scenarios have been tackled by TeamViewer since 2005 and this experience marks them out as experts in their field. The TeamViewer application is available for a wide range of devices that include Windows, Mac, Chrome, Linux and BlackBerry operating systems. Therefore, every device within your organization should be compatible. And, with TeamViewer in place, your employees will be able to complete tasks such as remote desktop access, web conferencing, desktop sharing and file transfer activity.
  • AnyDesk:  Although the software has only been available since 2015, AnyDesk provides a powerful solution for all your remote working needs. The software can be installed quickly and provides a secure work environment from the comfort of your own home. And this home office can be implemented across devices running operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Android, Mac and many more. Most importantly, AnyDesk is highly flexible, responsive and makes remote working easier than ever.
  • SplashTop:  Since 2006, SplashTop has been offering fast and secure connections. Wherever you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to connect to a remote computer. Remote access from an unlimited amount of computers, tablets, or mobile devices. You can work across operating systems as SplashTop is compatible with devices running Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. You can also use Chrome web browsers and Chromebooks to start a remote desktop connection.

Collaboration at work is, of course, crucial. But, when you’re not sitting with your co-workers, this conjures up a number of communication problems. These obstacles, however, are now a thing of the past thanks to chat software. These lightweight apps allow your employees to chat and share files with ease and in real time. Some of the most popular applications include:

  • Discord:  Although Discord was designed for Gamers, it comes packed with so many strong features that it can easily be adopted for business. Discord’s communication channels specialize in providing high quality video and audio services alongside file-sharing capabilities. And this makes it perfect for both internal and external collaboration.
  • Slack:  Granting effortless and innovative communication is the backbone of Slack’s design. It’s an app which allows teams to join unique work spaces that open up a world of opportunity. Within these work spaces, employees can chat to each other via text, audio and video. Slack also allows third party apps such as Dropbox and Google Drive to integrate with the service to maximize functionality.

Final Thoughts

Businesses all over the world are facing unprecedented problems that have grown exponentially over the last couple of weeks. The main message to communicate here is that employees need to remain safe. But this doesn’t mean that your organization has to come to a halt. Instead, you can turn to technology to keep your employees safe and maintain productivity.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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