Technology Business

Video conferencing comes in many types, from the simple – though still effective – to the very sophisticated and expensive. Telepresence video conferencing is the most high-end of the options available. The idea here is that the other person or people in on the call should appear like they are actually in the room with you. That means they employ the highest quality sound and vision communication, leaning on high bandwidth connections for the significant amount of data that needs to be transmitted reliably for such high resolution and fidelity reproduction at the other end. That involves specialist equipment and, as such, has an associated price tag. For that reason, it is most usually employed by big businesses that can both afford the costs and require the best audio visual conferencing that technology can offer. At the other end of the scale there is the simplest camera and microphone set-up, which is cheap enough to be built into many new computers – even netbooks, which can cost only £200-£300. Powered by Skype or other similar software, these are used by millions of people to make cheap or free video calls across the world with only a broadband connection.

There are lots of advantages to all forms of video conferencing. Cost is one, and is the reason that so many people use Skype. Why pay for a pricey international call when you can get one for free online? Throw in the video images as well and you have all the reasons you need. For big organisations, this cost factor is multiplied when you consider the expense of getting people together for a meeting – especially if they are coming from different countries. This also takes time, and frequently you will be spending far longer travelling than in the meeting itself – an inefficient use of time. There are also environmental advantages, since travel is carbon-intensive. That makes a difference in an age where carbon footprint is tracked and incorporated into a company’s results and public image.

Video conferencing will usually pay for itself in a pretty short time. Naturally, there are limits even to the best technology and there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting. But the benefits are such that every organisation with any kind of geographic spread – even across a few miles – should consider some form of audio visual conferencing. Whether that’s at the lower end of the spectrum or one of the cutting-edge telepresence video conferencing set-ups will depend on the needs of your firm.

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There are lots of reasons to go to university. It’s a time to experience life away from home, to expand your horizons and meet new people, as well as to gain extra education. But the reason at the end of all that is to access the graduate jobs market. Given the debts that are now associated with three or more years at university, that reality will be uppermost in the minds of many matriculating or graduating this year. But going directly into a job isn’t the only way to progress after uni. A graduate scheme is another option, as is an internship. (In fact, internships are available while you are at uni, in the holidays, sometimes for stretches of up to three months in the summer or for a few weeks at other times. These can be a great way to see life in the workplace and get to know a particular company. With such a hard jobs market, you would be right to take any opportunity you can get along those lines.)

Research out recently suggested that the average student could soon be racking up debts of around £50,000 over the course of a three year degree. That figure is disputed, with others thinking it will be nearer £40,000, but either way, that’s a lot of money to have to pay back when you leave. However, this is a different kind of debt to other loans like a mortgage. The tuition component is extremely low interest, and only has to be repaid after you pass a particular threshold of earnings. You also have to remember that the average graduate will earn an additional £100,000-plus over the course of their working lifetime, above and beyond the debt their student days involved.

Nevertheless, £40-50,000 is a massive amount of money – more if you are thinking about a longer degree, such as for engineering, which usually involves a ‘sandwich’ year in industry. With that in mind, you should do everything you can to prepare you for getting graduate jobs. A graduate scheme will introduce you to a company and introduce you into their organisation, but these are currently in short supply. Another idea is an internship (after uni, this time). These are often low-paid or expenses-only but are a foot in the door in many cases. Whilst you won’t want to be collecting more debts, if the internship leads to a good job at the end of the term, then it will have been worth it.

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Student loans are some of the most reasonable debt out there. They are low cost (in fact, some people have ended up paying next to no interest on them) and they don’t need to be repaid until you are earning above a particular threshold. If you reach a minimum age without hitting that threshold, they may be cancelled completely. The system is currently going through changes, so it’s worth keeping your eye on the ball, but all in all, as debt goes, these loans aren’t bad value. But they are often paid infrequently, if regularly, meaning that you may get to the end of your overdraft a bit too early for the next payment to get you out of trouble. It’s in these circumstances that you need to look around for any alternatives – friends, relatives, credit cards and, if you need to, unsecured loans. These aren’t to be taken on lightly, but a cash advance can get you out of a difficult spot. If that’s going to save you more money (in late-payment fines, for example) than it costs in interest, then it may be a solution worth considering.

No debt is good debt, and it’s best to be fairly strict and structured about your finances in order to avoid accidentally running out of cash. And it’s true that short-term loans can be quite expensive – you can expect to pay around 30 percent over the course of a month, which is far more than you’d pay for a loan from a bank, or on your overdraft, or even on a credit card (the most expensive of which are around 30 to 40 percent per annum). But they are intended to be short-term cash in fairly small amounts – typically between £75 and £750.

Whilst student loans may not be bettered in their terms, sometimes there’s no alternative. If you haven’t planned properly – or have just been thrown a curve-ball by circumstances beyond your control – then a cash advance could get you out of trouble. Unsecured loans are usually expensive and not designed to function in the same way as a student loan; they are for short-term difficulties rather than long periods of time, and the interest rate reflects this (as well as the risk to the lender). However, if there aren’t any good (or cheaper) alternatives, then it makes financial sense to search for one. If that gives you the breathing space to fix your budget and put measures in place so that the same thing doesn’t happen again, then it has served a handy purpose.

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document management is now a coming-of-age technology that can have widespread benefits on your business’s bottom line as well as on the environment. Like many green technologies, document processing has financial benefits as well, since it reduces the consumption of resources that threaten both the planet’s sustainability and your profit margin – cutting down on waste is win/win. Invoice processing is another side of this, and this can have further benefits. Taken together, these technologies bring efficiencies to your business, streamlining the way your offices are run without entailing the major upheaval that converting to a paperless system would if carried out in one fell swoop.

These document processing systems, described at their simplest, convert physical documents such as letter, memos, invoices and reports, into electronic versions that can be stored on your computer network and accessed like any other file. This means that no one has to spend time looking for a lost piece of paper ever again; so long as things are filed in the right place (the document management system is the virtual filing cabinet), you don’t need to photocopy sheets of paper to make them available to more than one person. Neither do things get forgotten merely because they have been placed at the bottom of a stack of paperwork. This is particularly important with invoices, since if you have a two-tier system where electronically-sent invoices are paid first and fastest using BACS, and physical ones are paid more slowly (and possibly irregularly, since they are becoming less common and more problematic), you risk upsetting clients or suppliers.

All of this means that document processing ticks all three boxes for the so-called triple bottom line. Running an effective document management system brings economic, environmental and relational advantages through increased efficiencies, lower waste, faster payments and happier, less stressed staff. One aspect of this your business may not have considered in the past is invoice processing, which avoids the problems of sending pdf invoices with its own fully-compliant system that enables e-invoices to be sent instantly and directly to clients and suppliers. Incidentally, it also removes most of the errors associated with fraud and invoices that have been sent accidentally, including duplicates – something you should certainly bear in mind since the cost savings alone can be substantial, before you even start to weigh up the other advantages.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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Recently, social work jobs have become somewhat less popular as a career option for young people, as a few high profile cases have drawn attention to the negative side of social services jobs.  In particular, in the case of the tragic death of the infant known as Baby P, the social work team was landed by the press with a significant amount of the blame for the events that lead to the child’s death.  However, the recent decision of the Sun newspaper to apologise unreservedly and pay undisclosed compensation to the social worker involved in the case may give some hope to those who are anxious about the impact of the press’s coverage of the case on anybody thinking about social worker jobs.

Sylvia Henry, who worked as a social worker in Haringey, London for 23 years, was accused in articles published in the Sun of having been ‘grossly negligent’ in her handling of the Baby P case, and it was argued that  she was ‘thereby to blame for his appalling abuse and death’.  The newspaper had also stated that Henry had shown no remorse for her errors, and had ducked responsibility for the child’s death.  The litigation challenged a number of articles published in the newspaper over four months from November 2008, which also claimed that Henry was lazy and had often shown disregard for the safety of children.  As anybody who is employed within social services jobs tends to be motivated by a strong concern for the welfare of the children under their care, these allegations were surely highly upsetting for Sylvia Henry.

The Sun also ran a ‘Justice for Baby P’ campaign, which named Henry and called for certain Harringey social services staff to be fired and banned from any future work with children.  The newspaper gathered 1.6 million signatures for its petition, which was passed to Downing Street.  After court proceedings between Henry and the newspaper, a spokesperson said that the Sun ‘unreservedly accepts that there is no justification for any of the allegations’, adding that she was not to blame in any way for anything done by the local services that may have contributed to baby Peter’s awful abuse and death. What is more, they accepted that she had done her very best for Peter, even making efforts to have him placed in foster care.

Many people with an interest in social work jobs have seen this decision as a positive move in terms of the tendency of the media to conduct witch-hunts against those in social services jobs in high profile cases such as this.  When a tragedy occurs, there is surely enough misery and heartbreak already, without having to drag those in social worker jobs through a professional and personal trial by the media.

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Social work jobs might sound interesting, but it is worth considering whether you really know what working in this field really entails, and the different kinds of jobs that are available.  There are a a variety of specialisms within social services jobs, but the two most important are residential social work and field social work.  The former refers to the care and supervision of a group of people (they might be children, elderly people, the mentally or physically handicapped, or people suffering from alcohol or drug addiction) in a residential home or school.  Those who specialise in field social work handle the problems of individuals or groups.  This might involve child care, mental welfare, finding foster homes, or advising those adopting children. Generally, these types of social services jobs are about trying to restore acceptable or improved social conditions for an individual family or community.

Social worker jobs are not right for everyone, and there are certain characteristics that are required of anybody who is interested in working in this field.  You will need a desire to help the disadvantaged, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, the ability to get on with people from many different walks of life, and a willingness to work outside the normal 9-5 day.  It is vital to be able to show concern for others’ feelings without becoming emotionally over-involved, otherwise the job will become much more stressful than it should be.

Entry requirements are fairly specific; you will need a degree in social work to become a social worker.  If you are currently studying for a degree in a different field and you are considering this kind of career, you will need to take another undergraduate degree, which usually takes three years.  However, there are some accelerated two-year programmes for those who have studied relevant subjects such as sociology, social policy, psychology and law.  In some cases, graduates can get government funding if they want to retrain as social workers. The ‘step-up to social work’ programme was created to attract high-flyers into the area.  Those with a 2:1 degree and experience working with children or families are paid to study for a Masters degree. The Children’s Workforce and Development Council provide £15,000 for each candidate, and there are up to 200 places on the programme.

There are, therefore, many different routes into social work jobs.  Whether you are studying for a degree in social work or have a vague sense that this kind of role might be right for you, there should be a route into social services jobs that suits you.  If your skills and interest meet those that are required of social worker jobs, then it promises to be an extremely fulfilling and enjoyable career.

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‘Short term loan’ is a term that usually comes with a loaded image. At best, it’s an extortionately costly and rather dodgy loan that’s not worth the trouble; at worst, it’s the loan shark and his mates on your door step. But there are companies that can offer you a cash advance totally legally. The sums are typically subject to higher interest rates than you’d get from a bank – around 30 percent for the month – which is a lot. Nevertheless, in some cases instant loan approval can play its part in your finances. The trick is to think very carefully and ask whether this is one of those occasions.

It should go without saying that if you can avoid taking out a loan – any loan – then you should. It’s always more economical to pay for something up front than to do so on credit. Even the best forms of debt, like a mortgage, are expensive if you look at them in the long run. If you buy something on a credit card and pay back at the minimum rate (usually 2 percent per month or £5, whichever is more) you can end up paying three times as much as if you’d saved the cash.

Of course, there are times when it’s unavoidable to take out a loan, the mortgage being one clear example. And there are times when unexpected expenses force you into debt. If you’ve run out of overdraft, maxed out your credit cards and can’t get a loan from a bank, then the short term loan might be your final hope – assuming you can’t get the money from friends or family. In these instances, a cash advance might be preferable to the other consequences of not borrowing the money. Without instant loan approval, what would happen? If it’s a month of having to save here and there, it’s probably not worth it. But if it means you would rack up other costs and charges, or be unable to pay your rent, then it could be an answer. Just make sure that you use the breathing space it gives you to set your budget in order, so that this is not a recurring problem. The idea is to use it as a last solution, not a regular answer that you end up going back to repeatedly.

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People collect LPs for a number of reasons. Some enthusiasts believe that it sounds better than modern music storage systems; the digitisation process can result in music feeling too ‘clean’, whereas the analogue method used by LPs is more authentic. Others may have a big record collection left over from the days before tapes, CDs and mp3s came along. Either way, if you want to play your record collection – and get best sound quality out of it – then you will need some specialist equipment. A phono stage (also known as a phono preamp or a phono amp) is the missing piece that you can use to link a turntable to modern stereo equipment. If you’re a music lover, then you will know that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; you can’t expect to play good music on a bad stereo set and enjoy the result.

This can bring problems if you’ve forked out a lot of money on cutting-edge equipment. Mostly, modern stereo sets are designed to play CDs and mp3s, and sometimes tapes. What they are not designed to do is play records. There may be a plug in the back for you to connect your turntable, but that in itself doesn’t result in a good listening experience. The problem is that the signal that comes off a turntable is much lower than the signal that you get from a CD player.

You can get around this by turning the volume up high, but you will quickly realise that this doesn’t sound good. As well as amplifying the low-level signal of the music, you will also amplify all the hiss and buzz. The result will be your favourite records, ruined by static. Old amplifiers, intended to be used with turntables, took this into account. Modern stereos do not – and most won’t have a built-in adaptor, since it’s not economically viable. Why bother, when comparatively few people listen to vinyl any more?

The solution is a phono stage – an extra component that goes in between your turntable and stereo amplifier and speakers. This phono amp boosts the signal from the record deck and makes it usable to the stereo – meaning that you don’t get the static that occurs when you turn the volume up high. It is therefore crucial for rehabilitating your old LP collection, and if you have a good stereo then it’s worth investing in a decent phono amp, too.

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If you work in a modern building then you probably have broad, expansive windows that give the room an airy, open feel and allow in plenty of sunlight. This has a number of advantages. For starters, you cut down on lighting bills – and sunlight is far better than electric lights. It’s brighter, and the mixture of wavelengths is (by definition) more ‘natural’, meaning that people generally feel better in the sun than under artificial lights. It also decreases heating bills. The problem comes when it’s summer, and the building can overheat. Then, you have a different issue, since you have to spend money you saved on heating on new air conditioning. Another solution is to retrofit a brise soleil, or glass louvres. External louvres can be an effective way of having the best of both worlds – allowing the sun to light your premises in the winter, but not overheating them in the summer.

There are a number of variants on the theme, and the particular version will depend on your circumstances – your climate, for starters, but also where your building is positioned and which way it faces. Some louvres are movable, and can be controlled from minute-to-minute to react to conditions on the day. Others are fixed, though these can still be highly effective. One of the most simple but helpful types is a ‘shelf’ which admits low-angle winter sun, or light at the start of the day when the sun is still low in the sky. In the summer, or the middle of the day, when the sun tends to be overhead, the shelf blocks its light from the windows.

The brise soleil – French for ‘sun breaker’ – is a permanent sun barrier that can take a variety of forms. Sometimes it is little more than a horizontal surface projecting from the side of the building. On other occasions they are more complex, perhaps being slatted to admit a proportion of the sun, or only sun at certain times of day or year. These, along with glass louvres (which can be used in conjunction with a sun breaker), are effective solutions to managing sunlight, which can result in large savings for your business. If this is something that your office finds a problem, then external louvres might be something to look into.

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Many of us feel we would like to be fitter, or spend more time working on our health.  The idea of going for a run on a cold evening or cycling to work is not always as tempting as we might hope.  For most people, the ideal solution is to find a form of exercise that is actually enjoyable.  If this sounds like you, London kickboxing classes could be the answer.  If you can find a London kickboxing club that offers good classes at your level, you might find yourself on a quick route to losing weight and improving your overall fitness.  Kickboxing London has developed significantly in recent years, so most people should be able to find something appropriate for them.

One of the advantages of getting into kickboxing is that it is fulfilling on so many levels.  In contrast with other sports which can become dull, kickboxing lets you learn new skills, develop fitness and improve your self confidence all at once.  As kickboxing is so enjoyable, many people stick to it for months, and even years, so staying fit does not feel like such an effort.  Not only is it a brilliant workout, but it teaches you to defend yourself.  The variety of moves and the mental aspect of the sport mean that it will keep your mind and soul occupied while you exercise your body.

If you do want to learn kickboxing for the health benefits, though, it is important to do so properly.  Standing around in a park throwing casual punches with a partner is not going to give you that slim physique you are aiming for.  Consistency is also extremely important, as the longer you consistently participate, the stronger your habit of doing it will be.  It is possible to vary the style of your participation; for example, there are aerobics-style kickboxing classes where you can use the skills in a more circuits based setting.  There is no point in learning kickboxing to defend yourself unless you perfect it through repetition.  Many novices try to learn new moves too soon, thinking that the fighter who knows the most moves will be the best.  In reality each move needs to be practised until it is second nature, so that in a real fight situation you will be able to execute it without even thinking.  There is no point learning a new move until you have achieved this with each one.

Decent London kickboxing classes should teach you all this, but it is wise to be aware of the demands of the activity before arriving at your chosen London kickboxing club.  Kickboxing London has so much to offer that once you start, it may become a habit for life.

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