IN THIS ISSUE 04 What’s New A round-up of new office products for work and home 06 B ulletin Why it pays to be extra-vigilant in early and late afternoon 14 P roductivity It’s time to think smarter about productivity, says Nestlé Coffee Partners 15 I nterview We meet one of President Macron’s favourite start-ups, proptech firmWeMaintain 18 O pinion Romy Hughes of change management specialists Brightman Business Solutions explains how AI is enhancing corporate decision-making 21 Sustainability The return of destination charging 24 End User Computing How an ‘Office in a Box’ helped Standard Life Assurance staff keep working during lockdown 26 Cover Story New Quadient iX series mailing system provides a platform for smarter communications 28 Collaboration Konftel’s Jeff May describes the changing face of video meetings 30 Managed Services Stonewall streamlines laptop provision with Apogee managed service 31 Networks How a secure SD-WAN from Node4 is enabling digital transformation at Stagecoach 32 The month in numbers The world of work in numbers Editor: James Goulding 0780 308 7228 ·
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[email protected] Next month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) should give a big green boost to organisations’ sustainability plans. For too long, businesses and individuals (myself included) have stood back and waited for someone else to take the lead, or for the State to intervene with more stringent regulations, or for technology to come to the rescue. None of this has happened, so it really is up to individuals and businesses to drive the changes that are needed, as employers, employees and consumers of office products and IT (amongst other things). The tech industry has a very poor sustainability record. You just need to look at the mountains of e-waste to know that manufacturers and resellers of technology haven’t taken their environmental responsibilities seriously. Through the design of their products and a business model that encourages constant upgrades and product refreshes, they have encouraged a throw- away culture ahead of recycling and re-use, wasting energy, wasting resources, generating pollution and scarring the natural world in the process. Things are changing though. There have always been resellers that have taken the issue of e-waste seriously and seen the value in extending the life of equipment before eventually recycling it at end of life – companies like Stone Group, Agilitas and Econocom, for example. More and more IT providers are now adopting this lifecycle management approach and developing their own recycling capabilities or working in partnership with a company that can provide that service. There is also growing recognition that technology can offer an alternative, more sustainable way of doing things. The last 18 months are proof of that, with Zoom meetings replacing face- to-face meetings and associated travel and the transition to the cloud reducing the IT overhead. In a recent survey of senior decision-makers in mid-market UK businesses by Daisy Corporate Services, 72% said that their board understands how technology can contribute to their Environmental, Corporate and Social Governance (ESG). That, too, is encouraging. Then, there are advances in technology itself, which BT and Accenture have outlined in a new report (see page 11). In it, they claim that more efficient technology like 5G, fibre and the cloud has the potential to reduce the sector’s global emissions by 40% by 2030, despite an eight-fold increase in global data traffic. Will Governments take the steps necessary to mitigate climate change at COP26? Almost certainly not, but don’t let that stop you, as a technology buyer, from doing your bit. James Goulding , Editor ,
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