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Blog posts tagged video
On video: three IT mistakes your should avoid (and one cat)
June 13, 2013
We all have our embarrassing moments when it comes to using computers at work. A few weeks ago I knocked an entire glass over water over my year-old laptop. (Thankfully it seems to have survived ok, and may even have emerged cleaner as a result.)
When IT problems happen, mostly you have to do your best to fix them, shrug your shoulders and move on. But just occasionally, problems are captured on video for the wider world to see. And that means you can learn from the mistakes of others, instead of making the errors yourself.
We trawled YouTube to find three salient lessons about using computers and IT for business:
1. Be careful with deliveries
If you need an unfeasibly large amount of cable for your office, be careful as you unload it:
(This video was part of a marketing campaign for Microsoft, but it may still make you chuckle.)
2. Don't mess with your computer's cooling
Everyone knows that computers get warm as you use them. But it's amazing how hot they get if you remove the heatsink that cools the main processor.
As this old video shows, they literally go up in smoke:
3. Cats and printers don't mix
Ok, most companies probably don't have an office cat. But if you do, don't make the mistake of letting them near your printer:
How do you see your IT running costs?
June 20, 2011
We've decided to experiment with creating some video blogs. For our first, Craig Sharp from Abussi looks at IT running costs. Are they an investment, or a necessary evil? Once you've watched it, please use the comments to let us know what you think. We've put a full transcript of the video beneath it.
You can also download the audio in MP3 format for listening on the move.
Video transcript:
"Hi, this is Craig Sharp. Today's short video blog has been prompted by the recent IT donut article, How to cut your IT running costs."
"I think the key thing about IT running costs is to consider whether you're looking at them as a cost, or as an investment. There are many people who feel IT is a cost they have to bear, that there's no alternative, and that this is something they have to pay a lot of money for."
"Some of that's true, but I think it depends on your perspective as to how you deal with the costs that come with having your IT system. For me, it seems an investment, mainly because you're investing in a platform that's going to be the basis for your entire business. Therefore, you want it to be reliable and to not hinder your ability to work."
"Sometimes skimping on costs can result in problems which actually make you very ineffective and inefficient - and that ultimately can lead to problems with your business."
"The other things to bear in mind are fairly straightforward. The article pulled out that cloud computing can often save money. That's true."
"Cloud computing is a new service which allows you to take some of the services running inside your business - often on computers which are using electricity and incurring costs - and puts them in a cloud solution, which means you don't have that responsibility any more. You just pay a small monthly fee."
"Those kinds of issues are worth considering when you want to reduce costs."
"I'd certainly urge you to go and look at the article about how to cut your running costs. It's a good starting point on where to begin with making your IT more of an investment. Thanks very much."
If there are any questions you'd like to see Craig answer in a future video blog, leave a comment and we'll do our best!
Face it — who needs video calling?
February 24, 2011
Train fares are astronomical and petrol is £1.25 per litre. Fortunately, it’s possible for people to collaborate — and salesmen to meet clients — via audio and web conferencing services. Hurrah! But hang on — what about that other form of conferencing technology?
Video conferencing has been on the market for the last fourteen years, but uptake among SMEs remains poor. Despite manufacturers’ best efforts, SMEs have bypassed it in favour of its conferencing cousins, audio and web, or are showing little enthusiasm for it. Why?
Audio killed the video star
For small firms, the answer lies in the arcane standards and expensive kit that, until now, have made video conferencing something of a luxury purchase. The value of video is easier to quantify in large multinationals, where savings on air fares can be substantial.
Smaller businesses, by contrast, are only likely to be using video if they have a special need, such as using sign language to communicate or getting instant feedback on prototypes. Otherwise, an audio conference call — or web conference for presentation purposes — is a perfectly adequate alternative.
2011 — video goes viral
2011 could be different, though — and here’s why: Most video conferencing services are now conducted over the open internet, so there’s no need for separate ISDN lines, extra call costs or desktop boxes. What’s more, those shopping for new kit will find that many new laptops come with front facing cameras and the necessary video calling software.
More importantly, perhaps, are the many tablet PCs launching this year, all with video call capabilities built in. Then there’s the ongoing smart phone revolution which has just seen Skype introduce video calling over 3G networks, and Apple promoting its proprietary FaceTime software on the iPhone 4 (albeit restricted to use over Wi-Fi, at least for now).
So the stars appear to be aligning. In 2011, video calling will be available on all sorts of device — PC-to-PC, mobile-to-mobile, and computer-to-mobile. It might just be worth evaluating the potential benefits of face-to-face video conferencing in your business. And if you do, here’s my prediction...
You won’t countenance it
Unless you have a specialist requirement, you probably won’t bother with video. For one thing, who needs the grief? A face looking at another face makes perfect sense when it’s what’s actually happening in the real world, but — on screen, and on camera? Suddenly you’re an actor giving a performance.
You gesticulate, nod, smile, grimace or gurn in some other way to animate your face in time with the conversation. Every nervous tic, or each moment of excessive eye contact, has the potential to be grotesquely accentuated or misinterpreted. Who needs that?
Some SMEs will doubtless experiment as costs drop and the kit becomes standard issue, but perhaps video conferencing was always destined for the living room instead of the office. Interacting on screen with a friend or relative is a completely different proposition.
Then again, even at home there are limitations. If I simply phone a friend or relative, we can have a perfectly productive conversation while changing clothes, drawing up a shopping list or putting the kettle on. On a video call, we’d be forced to, well, stare at each other. And that’s just weird.
So there you have it. Despite the shiny new kit, 2011 will NOT be the year in which video conferencing finally rocks the small business world. Now look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong.
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