James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » For this blog entry I'd like to introduce one of Waterstons' executive consultants, Alistair McLeod...
I love technology and working in an IT Consultancy company I see the benefits it brings to our clients every day. It can be an extremely powerful way of accelerating processes, consolidating information, or providing useful information quickly; however it is always important to ensure that technology is fit for purpose. This means you use the right technology in the right place to improve the way something is done. IâÂÂll give you an example:-
I have a PDA device that allows me to pick up emails on the move, check my calendar, and generally act as an electronic organiser. It is fantastic, and as an added bonus it doubles up as a phone and a camera (ok, so the camera is not fantastic, but it has comes in handy on several occasions).
The device also has Windows Mobile installed on it with Microsoft Pocket Office. This is great because not only can I check my emails, but I can also read and download attachments. I would consider this to be fit for purpose. It allows me to be contactable wherever I am, and I can deal with issues and make decisions quickly. I would however never dream of using my PDA to compose a letter, draft a customer report or even write the latest entry of the blog! It would be too time consuming. The PDA is not fit for purpose - a laptop or PC is.
At Waterstons we always get excited about new technology, but we always have to pinch ourselves and ask the question, how can this be used and what benefit will it bring to our customers? Once we understand this, then we can then start using the technology in an appropriate way.
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