WWF: Green technology for nature
There’s an increasing number of organizations focusing on making investments in communications technology and equipment that will generate savings in energy and travel costs over time.
The World Wildlife Federation in Finland is doing just that. “We avoid unnecessary travel by using new communications technology effectively,” said WWF Finlands’s former finance manager, Harri Lundelin.
The WWF is a nature conservation organization that encourages people and communities to protect the environment. The WWF’s employees and volunteers work towards saving the world’s most unique natural habitats and endangered species. The WWF place a lot of importance of being model example of the very behaviors they encourage their supporters to adopt.
To achieve these goals, the WWF needed access to the latest technology. With a software donation from Microsoft, WWF Finland deployed the Microsoft Unified Communications system (now known as “Microsoft Lync”), a telephony, instant messaging, and presence tool which makes communication between WWF staff more efficient and frees them from the constraints of time, place, and equipment. With the new system, WWF staff can easily call each other from their desks, see who is online, instant message each other, share desktops, host conference calls, and more. They have improved their communications while saving costs and operating in a more environmentally sustainable manner.
“One of our employees works in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and we keep in touch through Office Communicator. Modern technology opens up entirely new possibilities for real-time communication," said Lundelin. "Initially, we just wanted to develop teleconferencing, as we wanted to avoid unnecessary travel. The WWF has worked with Microsoft in the past, and they helped us with this solution as well."
The Unified Communications solution donated by Microsoft didn’t just offer advanced communications possibilities. The Office Communicator Server combined with Windows Server also enabled simultaneous editing of documents by several persons. "Actually, managing and sharing documents is the most important thing for me. For example, it is extremely handy to open an Excel document for editing, and let someone else see my edits on his/her computer. Speaking with the other person via the computer at the same time is also easy," he added.
"This makes telecommuting easier, since people can now genuinely choose their working location and time. All this has an obvious connection to well-being at work," he adds.
More nonprofit technology resources:
Microsoft has a global software donations program that brings the benefits of affordable software to nonprofits around the world like WWF Finland. Find out more about the program here.
Does your nonprofit get software donations from Microsoft?
Find out more about Microsoft nonprofit donations and how you can let your favorite nonprofit know here.
Want to learn more about getting a software donation for your nonprofit organization? Visit www.microsoft.com/nonprofit.
*Harri Lundelin retired in 2010.