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‘green’ business practices
Understanding...
Bringing it all together
IT • communications • support
What’s good for the environment can alsobe good for your business
Understanding…‘green’ business practices
To nd out more about how BT can help your company,visit our website at
www.bt.com/business
Welcome to “Understanding ‘green’ business practices”, one in our series
of guides designed to help smaller businesses get more from their IT andcommunications systems. We aim to demystify key topics by:
Contents
04 PART 1
Tackling Climate Change: Whose responsibility is it?
06 PART 2
The business impact of turning ‘green’
08 PART 3
What it means to be a sustainable business
10 PART 4
What actions can my business take to become green?
10
Flexible working
14
Business tools
20
Marketing your business
22
The role of IT systems
24
Staff development
26
The ofce environment
27
Working with suppliers
28 PART 5
Making it a reality
30 PART 6
Some useful websitesThis guide will look at how modern IT and communications can helpyour business to act in a more environmentally-friendly way. Theexciting news about adopting ‘green’ business practices is that what’s
good for the environment can also be good for your business. Making adifference is easier than you think.
For further advice about technology and what it can do for yourbusiness, access to case studies and articles or to download copiesof the other ‘Understanding…’ guides, go to BT Business Insight,a unique online resource for small businesses, at
www.bt.com/insight
•
Explaining the basics of concepts so you can see how they
apply to your business•
Outlining key opportunities and benets so you can seewhat is possible
•
Advising on the best approach to move forward, helping
you to make the right decisions for your business and avoidcommon pitfalls•
Helping you to save time and money, simplifying the way
you approach communications.
1617
The virtual fling cabinet
Recent years have seen the emergence of new and exciting forms of online software thatenable better collaboration and reduce paper usage. Known as ‘workspaces’, the simpleidea is to improve team-working by storing all the documents and information relating
to any given project in one place.
It’s practically a virtual meeting room, ling cabinet and notice board rolled into one.
Team members can pin notices on the message board and can speedily locate anyreference materials or plans pertaining to their project role.
And, perhaps most importantly from an environmental perspective, is the document
control feature. Most of us have experienced the headache of reading and editing a
document that we believe to be the latest version, only to discover we are looking atan old one. This not only wastes time but also ends up wasting a huge amount of paper.The virtual workspace concept removes this problem by holding the master copy of each document. So you always know the version you’re working on is the most current.
Electronic signatures
Contracts are a major source of paper usage in business. Firstly
there is the need to print contracts and sign them, then the needto fax them to the recipient, which uses the same amount of paperagain. However technology is now becoming available that enables
electronic signatures to be used. The services to look for are those that
comply with the UK Electronic Signatures Act, which gives electroniccontracts the same weight as those executed on paper.
Electronic signatures mean documents never need to be printed.This creates a major saving in paper usage
In addition to this, there is the potential to cut down on theofce space needed to store hard copies of all such documents
With the possibility for smaller premises comes the potential for
lower energy bills from the reduced heating and lighting costs.
Case study: Henmore Marketing moves business to a virtualwork space
Henmore Marketing specialises in delivering marketing communications and consultancy
services to IT and technology companies. MD Catherine Doel’s knowledge of the
technology market meant she had been quick to see an opportunity to move herbusiness to a ‘virtual’ footing.
Henmore Marketing shifted to home-working. Enabled by broadband, all employeescould now be happy home-workers with the same access to the company networkas they used to enjoy from the ofce.But after a stolen laptop scare, a few days of seriously delayed email, and the newchallenge of managing email through a rewall at a client’s site, Catherine knew shehad a problem ensuring communications and access to key documents was kept atthe required levels. This led Henmore Marketing to embrace BT Workspace software.It helps them ensure that team members always work on the correct version of important documents, while client communication now takes place via discussionforums in the workspace.As well as the cost savings of no longer needing to pay rent for ofce space, there wasa clear environmental benet in the form of reduced employee travel and power usage.The combination of broadband and workspace software helped to transform the way
Henmore do business.
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