Whitfield Clinic receives ISO 9001

Mr. David Beirne, CEO of Whitfield Clinic being presented with the ISO 9001:2008 certificate for Cleaning Services at Whitfield Clinic by Mr. John O Carroll, Managing Director of Zehnacker Healthcare Ireland.

This award represents Whitfield Clinic’s commitment to total quality management; a continually improving process approach implemented throughout the hospital. Critical cleaning processes and their interactions are understood and documented, with a strong organisational commitment to all the facets of the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. The quality management system is verified by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) with the aim of improving the quality, the design, the performance and the safety of the Cleaning Services at Whitfield Clinic.

Whitfield CEO David Beirne emphasises the importance of this award, “Hygiene standards are a vital component of the service we provide. This award provides an independent recognition of the standards we demand internally. It recognises the measures our clinical team put in place, and the efforts of our staff and partners to implement these measures. We are all very proud to receive this recognition.”

South East businesses are ready for the Cloud!

HCS Business Solutions, an IT services provider with an extensive South Eastern client base, in association with the South Eastern Regional Chambers, recently conducted a survey about Cloud Computing and the perceptions surrounding it amongst businesses in the South East.

The survey was distributed to Chamber members across Waterford, Wexford, Clonmel, Carlow and Kilkenny. The findings reported that the majority of businesses were not only familiar with the concept of Cloud computing, but would consider using some form of cloud services. Only 4% of respondents had never heard of Cloud computing.

Simply put, cloud computing allows end users to securely leverage the Internet for application use, data storage, and other tools. Coupled with this cloud options are more cost effective, with no need for on site backup.

Almost 74% of the respondents were representative of small businesses employing up to 50 employees. This seems particularly apt as Paul Rellis, MD Microsoft Ireland, recently stated that cloud computing will give huge opportunities to individuals and companies alike.

“The power of computing that was once the preserve of large organisations can now be used by every organisation of every size. Cloud computing is a new industry that Ireland can take advantage of very quickly. The technology space changes so rapidly but this is a transformation that will be sustainable over the next couple of decades.”

Based on the respondents knowledge of Cloud computing the most important perceived benefit of using cloud services were:

1) it requires no capital up front investment

2) it cuts company costs

3) it allows staff to collaborate and share more information

Despite the positivity surrounding cloud services, many respondents expressed concerns about certain aspects of adopting the cloud. Across the region 85% of respondents stated that reliability was “very important” or “a showstopper” for them. Whereas over three quarters expressed security as a very important or show stopping concern in adopting the cloud.

While all of the respondents have broadband facilities, their broadband speed varies considerably with 10% of companies having a broadband speed of less than 2MB, while the majority of respondents (29.3%) have a broadband speed of 4 to 8 MB. However, despite the variations in broadband facilities, almost half of the businesses (43%) were confident that their broadband connection was reliable enough to support cloud services to their business.

Neil Phelan, Director of HCS Business Solutions, which conducted the survey, believes that the results do endorse the future of cloud computing.

“The premise of this regional survey was to test the waters amongst businesses about their perception of the cloud, their knowledge of the services and to unearth their main concerns about implementing a cloud strategy.”

“Although some questions arise around challenges to adopting cloud services - security, speed and reliability will inevitably remain valid concerns amongst businesses. However, we do believe that in time companies not just in the South East of Ireland, but globally, will regard cloud based services for businesses as the norm. Cloud computing will give users a more reliable, remote and transparent IT service resulting in greater uptime and more business stability, which in these tough times is crucial.”

Mr. Phelan added that most companies and consumers are already using some form of cloud technologies and may not consider themselves as being cloud users. Services such as Online Backup and Remote Email Filtering are cloud based technologies that are being utilised already by many companies.

For a copy of the survey results or further information about HCS Business Solutions call 051-595200 or email info@hcs.ie

South East businesses are ready for the Cloud!

HCS Business Solutions, an IT services provider with an extensive South Eastern client base, in association with the South Eastern Regional Chambers, recently conducted a survey about Cloud Computing and the perceptions surrounding it amongst businesses in the South East.

The survey was distributed to Chamber members across Waterford, Wexford, Clonmel, Carlow and Kilkenny. The findings reported that the majority of businesses were not only familiar with the concept of Cloud computing, but would consider using some form of cloud services. Only 4% of respondents had never heard of Cloud computing.

Simply put, cloud computing allows end users to securely leverage the Internet for application use, data storage, and other tools. Coupled with this cloud options are more cost effective, with no need for on site backup.

Almost 74% of the respondents were representative of small businesses employing up to 50 employees. This seems particularly apt as Paul Rellis, MD Microsoft Ireland, recently stated that cloud computing will give huge opportunities to individuals and companies alike.

“The power of computing that was once the preserve of large organisations can now be used by every organisation of every size. Cloud computing is a new industry that Ireland can take advantage of very quickly. The technology space changes so rapidly but this is a transformation that will be sustainable over the next couple of decades.”

Based on the respondents knowledge of Cloud computing the most important perceived benefit of using cloud services were:

1) it requires no capital up front investment

2) it cuts company costs

3) it allows staff to collaborate and share more information

Despite the positivity surrounding cloud services, many respondents expressed concerns about certain aspects of adopting the cloud. Across the region 85% of respondents stated that reliability was “very important” or “a showstopper” for them. Whereas over three quarters expressed security as a very important or show stopping concern in adopting the cloud.

While all of the respondents have broadband facilities, their broadband speed varies considerably with 10% of companies having a broadband speed of less than 2MB, while the majority of respondents (29.3%) have a broadband speed of 4 to 8 MB. However, despite the variations in broadband facilities, almost half of the businesses (43%) were confident that their broadband connection was reliable enough to support cloud services to their business.

Neil Phelan, Director of HCS Business Solutions, which conducted the survey, believes that the results do endorse the future of cloud computing.

“The premise of this regional survey was to test the waters amongst businesses about their perception of the cloud, their knowledge of the services and to unearth their main concerns about implementing a cloud strategy.”

“Although some questions arise around challenges to adopting cloud services - security, speed and reliability will inevitably remain valid concerns amongst businesses. However, we do believe that in time companies not just in the South East of Ireland, but globally, will regard cloud based services for businesses as the norm. Cloud computing will give users a more reliable, remote and transparent IT service resulting in greater uptime and more business stability, which in these tough times is crucial.”

Mr. Phelan added that most companies and consumers are already using some form of cloud technologies and may not consider themselves as being cloud users. Services such as Online Backup and Remote Email Filtering are cloud based technologies that are being utilised already by many companies.

For a copy of the survey results or further information about HCS Business Solutions call 051-595200 or email info@hcs.ie

Mr. Binman launches free recycling service to Waterford City and County

Mr. Binman, the multi award-winning waste recycling company, is leading the “green revolution” by offering the people of Waterford City and County a free recyclable collection service.

Joe Cleary of Mr Binman, one of the country’s most progressive and environmentally conscious waste management companies, was delighted to introduce this free service to Waterford City and County. According to Joe, this is a win – win situation for the people of Waterford. “It’s very simple; Waterford people are being charged by the Local Authorities to recycle by having to buy bin-tags or recycling bags. The cost of recycling in some areas is limiting households and that is why Mr. Binman has launched the “Free for all” recycling strategy”.

Last week it was announced Local Authority charges such as bin collections, commercial water provisions and car parks, may be subject to an increase of up to 21% from July, due to changes in VAT legislation. In contrast Mr. Binman is hoping to help drastically increase Waterford’s recycling levels by encouraging people to recycle for free.

Joe Cleary continued “Mr. Binman is cheaper than the Council services anyway but if a householder wants to just get their recycling collected by us, free of charge, then they will save up to €120 a year.”

He added “All households in the city and county can now avail of free recycling collections, even though they are not currently customers of Mr. Binman. By simply getting a special sticker and recycling bags from Mr Binman, your recycling is collected free of charge as part of Mr Binman’s collection run. It’s as straight forward as that.”

Householders can collect free stickers and recycling bags from Mr Binman’s stall at City Square, Waterford, by logging onto http://www.mrbinman.com/ or by calling the office on 051 643144.

Mr Binman is the current Repak Recycling Contractor of the Year and is constantly striving to increase the amount of recycling. The more material that is recycled, the less waste going to landfill which is better for this and future generations.

Joe Cleary said “The challenge for us all is to make small modifications in our day to day practises. Small but significant steps such as reducing, reusing and recycling our waste can make a big difference.”

Cleary added “By joining Mr. Binman’s Green Revolution we are all playing a small part in recycling our waste and because it’s free, we will all feel the benefit. If people like our recycling service, we have cheaper rates on the other bins too so they can try us for free and save money before making any decisions”.

Mr Binman is a family run waste and recycling company that employs over 150 people in the South East region.

For further information and details of where to obtain Mr. Binman stickers or recycling bags log onto http://www.mrbinman.com/ or call 051 643144.