Category Archives: Green IT

Day Two of this experiment, can I make a saving today? 

Experiment Background

There is plenty of documented articles which detail potential savings but I hope my postings this week provide you some food for thought and real examples…. 

During the week I will be recording the actual cost my company will save while I make full use of technology in production today.  For the purposes of this experiment I first of all investigated the average monthly salary in the UK.  Using a search engine and following the first link http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285 I will use £2,124 per month in my calculations. 

Tuesday - Day Two Findings

Today I have worked from home and progressed the “To do” list.  Just as well because I heard of a traffic incident on my normal commute so I would have been stuck in traffic for a while this morning.  Various calls with suppliers was necessary today so commercial quotations could be sent out for customer approval.  As my company strategic partners also have Microsoft Office Communications Server in operation this was easy via “federation”.

After lunch a hot opportunity for a Microsoft unified communications project was discovered.  The nearest account manager was notified via instant messaging on his smart phone and visited the customer within the hour.  A LiveMeeting involving myself and other company resources quickly identified the customer requirements.  I was tasked with preparing a design document and commercial quotation.  With the use of multi-party audio/video and desktop sharing I quickly assembled the team of staff resources and developed the necessary solution on my laptop from home.

Saving

1 hour travel labour for my normal commute (£13.28 per hour) – £13.28

2 hours travel labour for delays the traffic accident caused  (£13.28 per hour) – £26.56

36 miles fuel ( £1.19 per gallon) – £3.60

Supplier Communications (no need for voicemail tag, finding out supplier availability etc)

2 hours  labour saving (£13.28 per hour) = £26.56

Hot Opportunity Proposal (staff presence availability, desktop sharing collaboration, audio/video rich communication)

3 hours  labour saving in travel and productivity with the team (£13.28 per hour) = £39.84

So Total Saving today = £109.84

Day two of the experiment and yet another saving.  Although my carbon footprint and productivity gains are similar with Monday we quickly secured a project engagement for the company today by making full use of unified communications!!!!  I have not listed any savings for the other staff and suppliers I worked with today.  I wonder how unified communications will help me tomorrow??? 

Breaking News – Just been told I must attend a customer site tomorrow.  Can unified communications help a mobile user???

This week techtrooper will be conducting a small experiment so you can understand how unified communications saves money.  There is plenty of documented articles which detail potential savings but I hope my postings this week provides you some food for thought and real examples…. 

During the week I will record the actual cost my company will save while I make full use of technology in production today.  For the purposes of this experiment I first of all investigated the average monthly salary in the UK.  Using a search engine and following the first link http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285 I will use £2,124 per month in my calculations. 

Monday – Day One Findings

Today I have been booked onto a training course.  Rather than hop into a car, drive to the nearest training centre, pay for car parking etc. I’ve been able to attend the training via Microsoft LiveMeeting.

Saving

4 hours travel labour (£13.28 per hour) – £53.12

Car Parking (£1 per hour) – £8

260 miles fuel ( £1.19 per gallon) – £26.00

I also helped some of my colleagues for a couple of hours via Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 instant messaging.

2 hours labour (£13.28 per hour) = £26.56

So Total Saving today = £113.68

Day one of the experiment and I’ve made a saving.  In the process I have also been more productive and reduced my carbon footprint.  Three other colleagues also attended the training in this way so keep in mind my costs only reflect one individual.  I wonder how unified communications will help me tomorrow???