Data centre systems can be a productive and inexpensive approach to managing your business’ data. That said, running and maintaining a data centre can be a varied and daunting task that requires a good understanding. If your data centre isn’t running effectively, your company’s data may not be being stored as efficiently as you wish.

To help you out, we have established 3 top tips to keep your data centre running smoothly.

3 Tips To Keep Your Data Centre

1. Keep your data centre clean and tidy

Cleaning and upkeeping your data centre may seem like a basic practice that should be conducted on a regular basis, but some organisations still allow sections of their data centres to look real messy, leaving an abundance of unusable or old equipment lying around.

You’d be amazed at how much more productive your data centre can be with an organised area, even if properly disposing of old IT equipment may not be high on your list of things to do.

Basic cleaning is essential. Dust can block the airflow of the space and could potentially inflict overheating issues, which is why you should remember to dust your equipment and all resources within the data centre. In doing so, your equipment should not only perform better, but last far longer too.

2. Sufficient power supply

It’s simple: when your power goes out, everything shuts down and stops. When the power goes out, it doesn’t mean it’s your fault. Either way, it’s something no one wants to affect their data centre.

If you want a quick and effective method to keep data running, why not consider a data centre UPS for your space? This will ensure that your data centre is never without power – it is uninterruptible, after all.

A data centre needs to have numerous backup generators to provide power in the unfortunate event that there is a power outage to ensure it can run effectively, and stay unaffected by power failures.

3. Connectivity is key

There is little use for data centres if the external connectivity is inadequate, since – more often than not – most data centres have some sort of connection to the internet.

Without any external connectivity, your data centre will just be a building full of computers that can only cooperate with one another internally.

A data centre can be more useful to those on the outside as information can be sent from it more quickly and efficiently which is why – as we’ve said – connectivity is key to keeping your data centre running smoothly.

Final thoughts

As you can see, keeping your data centre running doesn’t have to be a complicated affair. In fact, some of the steps in this list might sound like common sense but can often get overlooked for more complicated technological solutions.

However, by ensuring that your data centre is reliable, accessible, and regularly maintained, you can mitigate the risk of downtime as much as possible, even in the event of a power failure.

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However, it’s ultimately up to the user to realise those capabilities — a job that can prove appreciably easier than you might have expected. Here are several examples of Raspberry Pi projects that, though simple to undertake, can tap into a surprisingly vast range of the Pi’s potential.

5 ‘Basic’ Raspberry Pi Projects That Are Actually Very Useful

1. Set up a sensor and alarm

While you probably shouldn’t use this setup to protect a workplace, it’s pleasantly surprising how well a Pi paired with some other bits and pieces can help in providing low-level security.

Those ‘other bits and pieces’ include, as MUO describes, “a passive infrared sensor, a piezo buzzer, a single resistor, and some wires”. This project also entails some use of the programming language Python, meaning that you can ease yourself gently into this specific aspect of Pi use.

2. Make a USB printer wireless

Yes, printers are less of ‘a thing’ these days. The last printer you ever bought could well have been a USB model that originally hit the market before Wi-Fi connectivity became widespread.

However, if you’ve still got that printer tucked away somewhere, you could dig it out and make it wireless with the use of a Pi and a Wi-Fi dongle. To get going, just insert the dongle, plug in your printer and put in some commands.

3. Play a modified Minecraft

If you love playing Minecraft, you can take things to the next level by bringing unique elements to the game, such as by adding new graphics and enabling players to move more quickly.

These custom modifications — or ‘mods’ — are not possible on console or tablet versions of Minecraft. However, it’s a different matter with Minecraft: Pi Edition, which features its own programming language you could use to experiment with mods.

4. Build your own computer

Technically, as it stands, a Raspberry Pi already is a computer. However, by plugging some USB peripherals into the Pi and installing a Linux distribution on it, you can make it feel like more of a ‘proper’ computer complete with simple word-processing, spreadsheet and calculator software.

If you are still feeling daunted by the prospect, keep in mind that specialist online stores like The Pi Hut stock pre-packed kits containing many of the components you will need.

5. Create your own cloud storage

If you have kids, this can be an especially fun project to undertake with their help. Pocket-lint enthuses that “the Raspberry Pi can be used to introduce children to the idea of files and where they are stored.”

Through adding a high-capacity SD or microSD card or USB drive to your Pi, you can give it additional storage capacity you would subsequently be able to access from a distance via an SSH command using the Linux operating system on the Pi.

The Samba network sharing protocol, which you can use for free, would enable you to give access privileges to numerous potential users of the cloud storage.

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Author: Edwin Owusu Peprah

The post Would I Pi To You? 5 ‘Basic’ Raspberry Pi Projects That Are Actually Very Useful appeared first on WNV.

Here’s our guide to the very best webinar trends set to take off in 2022.

4 Webinar Trends To Take Off in 2022

1. Shorter Duration Webinars

According to studies, the ideal length for a webinar is 30 to 40 minutes. So, when it comes to marketing webinars, consider keeping your event reasonably short to this approximate duration, as a lengthier webinar deter potential participants from even joining the event or leaving early.

To convert leads, you don’t need to develop a webinar that is full of tons of content and information; instead, focus on what is the most important and relevant to keeping your audience both engaged for a reasonable duration and influenced by your event.

2. Incorporate Live Interaction Features

Live chat engagement, live polls, interactive buttons and other live participant engagement features have transformed the typical ‘one person speaks’ webinar into a more interactive and dynamic dialogue that draws the audience into the event, not feeling excluded.

Several of the best webinar platforms include interactive features within their video conferencing so participants can interact and engage more easily and in new and innovative ways.

Being able to have all of your attendees engaged throughout in different ways keeps them interested, acknowledged and ensures both them and you are happy with and understand everything that is being said.

You can have a better understanding of how attendees are grasping your webinar and how they feel about everything by incorporating polls and interactive buttons.

3. Pre-Recorded Webinars

Pre-recorded webinars are more engaging than standard video and are simply webinars that have been pre-recorded and then made accessible for distribution. For pre-recorded webinars, automated polls, questions, videos, and other features may be configured, despite them not being recorded and hosted in real time.

Pre-recorded webinars allow presenters to concentrate more on their presentation and enhance their content, as well enable their webinar events to be more interactive as they don’t have to focus on speaking or worry as much.

With a pre-recorded webinar, everything can be scheduled and planned ahead of time, allowing speakers to be more calm and focused on their subject throughout their presentations. Furthermore, once the webinar has been recorded, hosts may watch it and edit out any errors or embarrassing situations. Segments that did not go as planned can be re-recorded and re-added to the webinar.

4. Presenter Tools

Aside from slide and file sharing, you may wish to share a streaming video for interaction, and a webinar solution that covers the sorts of video files you employ would be useful. Post-event reports that don’t simply provide you stats but also archive user involvement so you can find out who asked you that question and follow up with them personally.

It has become on trend for hosts to make sure that recordings capture and record everything within a webinar, from participant chats to shared videos, so that consumers who watch your pre-recorded webinar have the same engaging experience that attendees endured throughout the live event.

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Author: Edwin Owusu Peprah

The post The Very Best Webinar Trends To Take Off in 2022 appeared first on WNV.

Whether you have been back into the office when lockdowns were eased, or you have instead been working from home for over a year now, it has probably got you thinking about what might happen when this is all over.

Let’s Look At The Facts…

Near the start of 2021, the idea of working from home being here to stay dominated the media headlines, as the Telegraph predicted in January that as many as a quarter of British employees could end up working from home for good.

In another article, Sky News argued that flexible working practices look to be a thing of the post-pandemic future, but when companies will implement these is unclear. This makes the point that, though we know working from home is likely to be a permanent feature, there is no predicting how and when this might solidify.

However, a couple of months down the line, in April 2021, HSBC became the first company to announce that they were moving more than 1,200 members of staff in Britain to permanent work-from-home contracts.

 This is down to a study done by the UK bank, which found that 70% of its call centre employees chose to not return to the office. On the other side of the matter, a mere 5% said they wanted to return to the office permanently.

Therefore, the question we might ask ourselves should not be whether we are likely to work from home post-pandemic but instead how we might achieve working from home permanently in an effective way.

How To Effectively Implement Permanent Work-From-Home Procedures

1. Hosted phone system

One way you could work from home permanently, or even just a couple days a week, is by using a hosted phone system. A hosted phone system works through the internet-based cloud as opposed to traditional phone lines, allowing you greater flexibility over the workplace.

Operating the phone system through your personal smartphone or home office computer will allow you all of the benefits of having a business phone without the hassle of needing to purchase and install additional hardware or infrastructure.

2. Track your productivity

In the same way that you would be assessed on your progress within the office setting, you can make a safe bet that your supervisors will be making sure you are staying productive at home. To make sure that you are doing your best, keep an eye on your productivity.

3. Be adaptable

The hardest part of this is always going to be adapting to the changes. Whilst some people may work from home permanently post-pandemic, some employees won’t be afforded this luxury due to the nature of their job. There will also be some who split their time between the usual workplace and their home office evenly.

Therefore, as everyone start to settle into their new working habits, you should be as adaptable as possible, with everyone supporting one another as we try to create some semblance of a ‘new normal’ in the wake of the pandemic.

Author: Edwin Owusu Peprah

The post Are Many People Likely To Continue Working From Home Even After The Pandemic? appeared first on WNV.

What if we told you that some office buildings come with benefits you may not have even thought of? Doughnut believe it? Well, then, here are 5 surprise extras you could get with an office.

5 Surprise Extras You Could Get With An Office

1. Doughnuts & Cakes

In Sweden, there is a custom in which workers take regular breaks from work, relaxing and chatting over coffee, cakes and other light snacks. This custom, called fika, is common in most if not all Swedish offices.

This is why many offices now are starting to adopt a similar thing in the UK by offering doughnuts and cakes once a week. By providing a treat at the end of a working week, it reinforces the good work that you have been doing, letting you relax over the weekend.

2. Complimentary Gym

After a hard day’s slog at the office, there’s nothing better than having a good workout, releasing the tension in your muscles and allowing you to blow off some steam.

Many modern office buildings have an onsite gym and showers so that you don’t have to make your way across town after work. This will reduce your commute time drastically and allow you to leave the office building nice and refreshed every day.

3. Barista Style Coffee

Every year, Brits spend over £4 billion on coffee. Not just any coffee, either, but high-street barista coffee like Costa Coffee, Café Nero and Starbucks. Let’s be honest, we all love a good coffee break at work, and treating ourselves to a cappuccino to get our caffeine fix.

Some serviced offices can come with barista-style roasted bean coffee, allowing you to get that taste without having to walk far for it. Even better, this coffee can come complimentary, included with the price of your rent.

4. Fresh Fruit Every Day

Want something a bit healthier than cake and doughnuts but still need that sweet fix mid-afternoon? Well, that is exactly what you can get when your office provides fresh fruit every day free of charge.

It is recommended that we get at least five portions of fruit and veg every day. By doing so, you will increase your energy levels and lower your risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers.

5. Special Events

If you work in a large corporate office, or you are an individual entrepreneur in a serviced office, you may not get to interact with people who work around you. Even if you do, it is unlikely that you know everyone who works in the building.

This is why offices can come with an extensive events programme allowing workers to interact, socialize and network. These events can also be educational, providing that training you might have been putting off doing.

Why choose having just one of these perks when you could get them all at the flexible workplaces in London from BE Offices? With these 5 surprise extras, you will not believe how moving into one of these offices will transform your working life.

Read Also: How To Plan A Party At Home During COVID-19

Author: Edwin Owusu Peprah

The post I Doughnut Believe It: 5 Surprise Extras You Could Get With An Office appeared first on WNV.