Videoconferencing is now a serious business
tool
I agree very strongly with
John McGhee (Letters, 6 March) concerning the
value of videoconferencing technology.
During my tenure at my previous employer, I saw
videoconferencing turn from a novelty into a serious business tool.
Costs savings varied, but were estimated to be no less than £20,000
in 2001, and rose to £45,000 a year within three years.
At my current employer we have installed a newer IP-based system
of much higher quality. The initial response has been very
positive, and we expect savings in the UK alone of about £40,000
this financial year, rising to £70,000 next year, by reducing
travelling and associated costs with a one-off expenditure of less
than £10,000.
In our overseas offices the potential savings are even greater.
It is also estimated that we will save 80 to 100 work days that
would otherwise be lost in travelling.
This is also significantly reducing our carbon footprint -
something the CEO is keen to see happen and probably an item that
we may use in our discussions with suppliers and customers. It has
been made available to all departments, which is also encouraging
the various teams to work more collaboratively. This will reduce
some of the time delays and improve the attitude between workers at
the different sites.
The company now views this as a major business tool - something
that after only six months is already indispensable.
Tony Sutcliffe, IT manager, Bott
Graduate and contractor are not comparable
roles
You report that IT directors would prefer to hire and train
graduates rather than hire contractors
(Computer Weekly, 13 March). As a graduate and
a contractor, I am puzzled by this false comparison.
Graduate recruits and contractors fulfil different roles, so why
would you choose between them? A good contractor brings a breadth
of experience and valuable specialist skills that may be lacking
within an organisation in response to short-term needs. A good
graduate recruit provides fresh blood to ensure the quality of
permanent staff in the longer term.
As for Paul Spencer's claim that graduates are more willing to
"work in new ways" than contractors, perhaps experienced staff know
better than to fall for the latest quick-fix IT fads so
enthusiastically embraced by management? How do most contractors
make a living, if not by constantly extending their skills and
experience, often at their own expense? And we have all seen
organisations that suffer from the "not invented here" syndrome,
precisely because their permanent staff or managers are reluctant
to "work in new ways".
Meanwhile, the sad reality is that too many British IT directors
are interested in hiring neither British graduates nor contractors,
but prefer to import cheap staff from abroad or move the work
offshore altogether.
Perhaps that is why many contractors have left the industry and
why growing numbers of IT graduates have been unable to find work
in recent years. This lack of commitment by British employers to
their own staff might also explain why our IT industry has suffered
from a self-inflicted "skills crisis" for much of the past 20
years.
Time for IT directors to put up or shut up?
Chris Webster
IT must be seen as the nexus of business
change
New technology implementations are once again highlighted as the
last consideration for CEOs and senior business managers when
planning a new strategy or future direction
(Computer Weekly, 6 March).
Perhaps this is due, in part, to the ubiquity of technology -
within the business world it is either ignored if it seamlessly
works or cursed if it does not. As such, many business leaders fail
to regard IT as the positive force that it so often is. Another
problem is that technology implementations can be perceived as
expensive and risky. Having seen how big IT projects can make - or
all too often break - the reputation of their peers, CEOs are
understandably risk averse.
Technology may well be loved and loathed in equal measure, and
badly planned implementations can be a gamble, but this is all the
more reason why it is ever more critical to ensure that IT is seen
as the nexus of any business change.
This demands a radical shift in attitude across the
organisation, but CEOs, more than most, need to set aside any
residual prejudice and combat poor experience to provide IT with
the strategic direction it requires to provide the business with
the technological innovations it is capable of delivering.
Joanna Sedley-Burke, Sovereign Business Integration
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