Are you preparing to vacate the office during the Olympics?

Charity Research Trust provides innovation solutions to charities and not-for-profit organisations in the UK. Our mission is to support and guide charities and not-for-profit organisations to use innovation to enhance the way they work and collaborate. We've been putting this mission to the test ourselves in preparation for the Olympics this summer.

Many of CTT's client-facing systems were already web-based, so staff have the same access at home as they do in the office. The challenge was to do the same for the general office and administrative systems - primarily with phones, email and shared files. Staff already had some access to email and files over the internet through our Microsoft Exchange and Remote Desktop Connection, nevertheless this was not ideal as it didn't provide the greatest user experience.

The biggest issue in achieving 'office-free working'

The biggest issue in achieving 'office-free working', nevertheless, was the telephone system. We run a customer service desk for our customers which means that we have multiple people answering calls to the service desks at any one time and we have different phone numbers depending on the service a client is calling about. A Voice Over IP telephone exchange was the answer

Finding the right support company was key to making the system work as they are complex to configure. Afterwards testing and working with staff, the end result included the use of a 'softphone' from home. This turns an ordinary PC into a telephone extension connected to the main system in the office. It's just like having your office phone at home, so all calls are answered whichever line they come in on. We can now run the customer service desk as a virtual entity without the callers noticing any change.

- Testing and training. People work in different ways and research always has unforeseen consequences. Don't be afraid of research. Get staff to try the new systems and be prepared to make changes to accommodate the way people work.

- Cost. Innovation does not have to be expensive to work. We were able to obtain most of our systems through donations or at reduced rates and CTT's CTXchange network can help other charities to do the same.

- Bandwidth. Make sure everyone has access to a good internet service and that your offices have as much bandwidth as you can afford.

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