Businesses are always looking at way to cut costs, but you might assume that taking a green approach will not be compatible with growth and cost effectiveness in these austere times. However, there is evidence that eco-friendly technologies can actually help a business to improve its green credentials while also becoming a leaner, more efficient and productive organization in the process.
By investing in green telecoms technologies, companies will be helping to cut emissions, which are expected to come down by 24 per cent as a direct result. This is good for the planet but also good for the economy, because growth will be generated by the investment in sustainable solutions to common problems.
There are all sorts of things that your business can harness right now to do its bit for the environment while also improving productivity. One of these is to invest in a VoIP service to replace a reliance on an older PSTN service for in-house telecoms.
VoIP operates over an Internet connection and so a single line can handle multiple calls simultaneously. This means that costs are lower and VoIP-to-VoIP calls are usually free. Chatting with colleagues based at a different site or communicating with clients will be even easier and less of a financial burden.
The other benefit of VoIP and contemporary telecoms services as a whole is that you can carry out the kind of communications you would expect from a face-to-face meeting without actually having to travel around the country or the world in order to meet with business partners and potential customers.
Conference calling using voice or video will allow you to hold meetings that would otherwise have to involve a lot of traveling, which would cost you money and increase the carbon footprint of your business. With modern companies trying to reduce their costs and their carbon emissions, this is doubly beneficial. Because VoIP is not reliant purely on landline connections, you can also make calls from mobile devices and enjoy the same conferencing and routing features as you would get in the office. The benefits to productivity which this affords should be clear to anyone who has to regularly work in the field.
Not all business can be conducted over the phone, which is why general IT can be another significant expense for companies which want to remain competitive. However, an in-house setup will rarely be scalable enough to meet the needs of a growing business on an ongoing basis. It can also be expensive and relatively inefficient. This is why firms that are looking for sustainability and affordability turn to cloud computing.
Almost any platform can be powered by the cloud, with the option to include data storage which is secure and has enough scope to expand along with your requirements. In addition, the cloud allows you to use exactly the resources you need and not overspend on power-hungry, unnecessarily complex systems that will take some time to actually reach their full potential.
All of these technologies are out there just waiting to be used, but you have to be well informed to realise that going green does not mean compromising your ability to grow and lower costs at the same time, which is really the Holy Grail for any company.
This article was written by Daisy Group plc one of the leading cloud computing providers to Uk businesses. In adition to hosting and cloud solutions Daisy are also VoIP phone specialists offering a range of solutions to suite businesses of all sizes.
Featured image courtesy of N A I T.
