ECOTEL – The Ecofriendly Hotel

Author: Mukul Kumar

Has worked with some of the best hotels in the world (Oberois & Fairmont, Dubai). Is presently working as the Business Development Manager for an Educational Company in Gulf and looking after ventures and networking in the Indian Sub Continent.

ECOTEL – The Concept

Ecotels were started with a view to focus on environment consciousness. The need to maintain a fine balance between business and eco-conservation became the driving force in building the Ecotel. The Ecotel took shape of a major campaign by the hoteliers around the world to show their guests that even though profit may be the motive for running a hotel, they were equally conscious about the well being of the environment.

Thus Ecotels are environment friendly hotels which follow certain regulations, processes and implement certain measures, which lead to reducing the harmful waste released by the hotel. The hotels put plants and processes to ensure maximum usage and recycling of resources. Most waste that is disposed is of non toxic nature to the environment and is bio degradable or recyclable.

Being an Ecotel needs inputs not just on part of the management but also needs equally conscious and responsible team to support the idea. This concept starts from the very basics like disposing wastes separately, this is only possible if the belief of the employees coincides with the belief of the organization i.e. to be an environmentally conscious hotel which gives as much as it can back to the society and help maintain the ecological balance. 

The Certification

The ECOTEL Certification is based on five areas of environmentalism, each of which is designated by a Globe award.  These five areas are referred to as the cornerstones of environmental responsibility, or simply as Globes.

1. Environmental Commitment

2. Solid Waste Management

3. Energy Efficiency

4. Water Conservation & Preservation

5. Employee Environment Education & Community Involvement

Hotels can apply for 1 to 5 Globe awards, although all hotels certified or recertified after 1999 must achieve at least two globe awards to be certified.

Within each globe inspection there are three levels of criteria and scoring: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary scores. All hotels applying for certification must satisfy all of the primary criteria before an inspection will be scheduled. The hotel must prepare an application including descriptions of how the primary criteria are achieved, and include descriptions of other environmental efforts and programs that are at the hotel.

Once it is evident that all of the primary criteria have been satisfied, inspections are scheduled to ascertain the lodging facility’s score according to the secondary criteria. Inspections – guided by hotel staff and unguided – are completed throughout the lodging facility to determine if the environmental programs that the hotel reports are actually part of the day-to-day operations. Each department or function area of the hotel (i.e., main restaurant kitchen, banquet kitchen, room service kitchen, front desk and office area, executive office areas, etc.) is inspected and scored individually. A percentage score is calculated for each department inspection and each department must score above a set level to be awarded the certification. If any department scores below that level, but above a minimum threshold, the tertiary criteria (described herein) can boost that department’s score in order that the hotel may achieve the award.

The tertiary criteria are most easily described as a bonus system. The hotel receives bonus points for environmental programs discovered in operation that are not part of the primary criteria, and are considered to be above ordinary levels of environmental responsibility. An example of a program that would earn tertiary points in the solid waste management category comes from a hotel in Latin America that collects cigarette butts and soaks them in solution to draw out chemicals, which are then used as pest-repellent for the fruits and vegetables grown on-site before the butts are disposed of.

Based upon the final scores of the hotels under the five different categories or the globes, a hotel is given an Ecotel status. Any hotel which is given an Ecotel status has to be ready for an inspection to check the standards and guidelines are adhered. This inspection may be carried out by surprise checks or the hotel may apply for it. A hotel to gain the Ecotel status must pass the classification for any two globes.

Benefits of an Ecotel

Being an Ecotel member can be beneficial in many ways. Apart from the increased publicity due to Ecotel tag, the hotel also sees best management of its resources which leads to lower operating costs. A very good example to show how a hotel would benefit from the Ecotel tag is “Uppal’s Orchid” in Delhi.  The hotel acclaims to be the first Ecotel in the continent and believes that along with all the publicity it gets as an Ecotel the guests who stay also are given a chance to contribute in different way to conservation of resources. The hotel believes that the Ecotel tag serves as a positioning statement for them and lures the guests to experience luxury with responsibility. A guest feels more responsible, when he is able to contribute even in the smallest form to the environment.

The hotel maintains a huge guest history and welcomes its guests to be a part of any programs that it does on environmental awareness and ecological drives. Also to quote in words of Junko Tsuda – Hilton International, Director of Marketing & Communications, Japan “ECOTEL is a great concept that any Hotel should be after. Under Ecotels guidance, we have been very successful in PR since the certification, receiving endless press inquiries and the saga still continues.”

It is clear that Ecotel as an effort is not based upon revenue maximisation but for making hotels more conscious towards the ecological balance and environment. The Ecotel is benchmark for showing responsibility towards the society and it individuals. Also apart from the environmental efforts the Ecotel also acts as a positioning statement to differentiate the hotel product from the rest of the hotels and creates inquisitiveness in guest’s minds.

Recruitment/Talent Hunt in Second Life – Initial Considerations for Organizations

Author: David D’Angelo

 

About Author:

David has worked in Human Resources for seven years primarily as an analyst.  He is a member of the International Association for Human Resources Information Management.  David’s Blog “Recruiting in Second Life” can be read on the ere.net blog network and was referenced by Governing online in their September 2008, article “The Reality of Virtual Reality” which appeared in “The Managing Technology Letter”.  His article “Try Second Life Beyond the IT Department” appeared in September 19, 2008, online issue of ere.net.

The technology has very much arrived for virtual worlds to impact real world business and they will only improve in time.  Many of the early adopters have reaped the benefits of these technologies and improved their brand globally. 

Many organizations are now recruiting in Second Life.  Universities recruit students, police departments recruit cyber savvy officers, IT organizations look for talent and evidence of it in Second Life, and the list goes on.  You may also have an interest in doing the same.  Where would you start?  This post will discuss some of the discussions and due diligence you will want to perform as you frame your case for recruiting in Second Life.

 

The first step to take to recruit in Second Life is to assess if you have the talent in house or would need to outsource the work.  One caveat to consider even if you have talent in your organization that could conceivably perform the work is that it may be well worth the additional cost to have a professional design firm set up your first virtual presence.  You want to be on a competitive level and project a professional image to recruit professional talent. There are many design firms with competitive prices that will tailor a package for your needs.  Interview several before making a decision. Once you have an established presence in Second Life, your onsite technical staff may be more than adequate for modifications and maintenance.  You may even want to have them shadow the design firm when your site is created so they can perform the routine maintenance. 

 

Your next step should be to define how your goal to recruit in Second Life would benefit your business both directly and indirectly.  You will need a project plan of what you would want to achieve in Second Life along with costs and benefits.  Also, note other stakeholders in your organization who could benefit from your presence.  The obvious benefactor is your marketing and branding team.  They can assist in announcing your presence in Second Life along with leveraging their branding focus.  It is also important to discuss your recruiting strategy with marketing.  They may be able to provide some demographics of your customer base that will give you some indication of how many people you may potentially have an opportunity to recruit. 

 

Be sure to reach out to other areas in your organization that engage in training or travel frequently.  There may be an opportunity to develop virtual training in Second Life and virtual meetings for those that travel or video conference often.

 

It is a good idea to have a discussion with your legal department on your specific plans for recruiting in Second Life.  They will be reassured if you stick to initial recruiting and keep the paperwork, secondary screening, and paperwork outside of Second Life.  You may even be surprised and find an interest in recruiting an intellectual property attorney in Second Life.  There is probably no other target so rich with intellectual property use and abuse as Second Life is.

 

The last step in your consideration is your budget.  In consideration of the difficult economic environment we are in this could be a deal breaker for some.  List the costs of development and having an island in SL along with anticipated benefits.  Some of these such as branding will be intangible.  I would suggest one of the best cases you can make for recruiting in Second Life is to participate in a job fair for minimal costs with avatars that display your logo. There are organizations that might do very well with representation at job fairs periodically.  Those committed to recruiting in Second Life will want to move forward with developing an Island to build on your success in the job fairs.

 

I am certain there are other considerations but I am hoping this will provide you with a starting point on how to frame your analysis if you plan to recruit in Second Life.  One final suggestion is to make your presentation to management in Second Life to give them an ideal how virtual business can work for your organization.

Riel Life Productions – A Real “Second Life” Virtuography

Author: Ecocandle Riel
(Brian Meeks in Real Life | CEO & Owner at Riel Life Productions)

Birth of Ecocandle Riel in Second Life (April 25, 2006)

In early April of 2006, the Washington Post ran an article about this obscure virtual world, where people hang out, chat, dance and even shop.  Several weeks later, on April 25, I decided to give it a try, and so I went to www.secondlife.com and got my first avatar.  I remember that the sign up screen indicated that there were 187,000+ people who had come before me.  That seemed like a pretty big number at the time.  The process was simple; I selected a last name, Riel, from a list and then checked out the first name to see if “Ecocandle” was taken.  It wasn’t, it never is.  Some years before signing up,  I had run a candle manufacturing plant that made candles from soybean oil.   My moniker was Ecocandle back then and it sort of grew on me.  After a couple of more questions, I choose the free option, and Ecocandle Riel was born.

A Bond Builds With Second Life

Many people have tried SL and only about 10% of the people which create an avatar, are active after a month.  This isn’t a good statistic, but the realities are that the world is so massive, that to fully enjoy all which is offered, one must spend a little time learning the ins and outs.  The common thread among the older avatars, is that we all knew someone very early in our experience that would help us get accustomed to the new frontier.  Linden Labs, the company behind SL, provides Introduction Islands, as do companies like Cranial Tap and The Electric Sheep Company, which are designed to explain different aspects of using your new avatar.  These are helpful, but it is the connection which one makes that determines if they will remain.  Within 2 hours I met Lupo Drake, and after 15 minutes of chatting, he introduced me to Gracie Gable and Cavalier Goodnight.  Lupo and Gracie were there for me that first month, answering questions, helping me find out how to build fun things, and teaching me how to wear the cool new hair I had bought.  Today, Lupo and Gracie, are valued team members on my projects.  It is because of them that I stayed and it changed the direction of my life.

I Start Earning in Second Life

There are many ways that people make a living in virtual worlds.  I have a good friend who designs women’s clothing.  He isn’t the top designer but he has made very good money.  There are those who sell furniture, pre-fab houses and buildings, animations, custom textures, skins for avatars, art.  If you can imagine it, it is likely being done in Second Life.  My company is involved in the building of spaces, called sims, in SL, for corporate clients.  I have 7 contract workers who live all over the world, in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, Canada,  and France.  When a project begins we gather, layout the plans and everyone is given their tasks.  Then they start working, according to their schedule.  Because all of them are brilliant designers and hard workers, I don’t worry about the time of day they are working, because I know they will get it done.  This means that the time zone differences (eight of them) don’t get in our way.  It does make for some odd days for me, managing all of it, but I so love what we do, that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It was 9 months after I discovered SL, that I left my real life job as an auto insurance analyst, to start my company.    With my first big contract in hand, I assembled my team, and we began building a 2 sim space for a major Seattle real estate firm.  They had 2 building, one that was complete, and one that wasn’t started, which they wanted reproduced in SL.  The project was never opened to the public, but merely an R & D project.  They wanted to understand what was possible.  So we created their buildings, the second building, based upon the scale model that they had produced.  The Condominium contained two of the floor plans, completely furnished, and allowed one to tour the space and get a feel for what the real world unit would look like.  They wanted to know if this could be used to give tours to potential buyers.  We included features like click through counters.  If you didn’t like the counter, just click on it, and the surface would change to the next choice.   The CEO and staff declared the experiment a success and maintained the island, for their staff, for a year.

I Expand the Base

            This project led other builds and to an entirely different service.  The first client also wanted to know what it would take to create a video of the project.  I devoted countless hours to learning about something called Machinima, the art of creating film with your computer in virtual worlds or games.   It is different than the more common CGI, which is creating film by rendering scenes, one frame at a time, using a computer.   In Machinima, one actually films, real time, the subject in the virtual world.   Perhaps one of my most enjoyable projects was the “movie trailer” we created for an author in Quebec.  In October of 2007, she was releasing her new children’s book, Terra Incognita.  It is a story about children stranded on an island which has an active volcano.   We created the island in SL, built a volcano, and hired actors to play the parts of the children.   The client gave us the story board and we created the film.  I purchased some royalty free music online and finished the project, which was a huge success and her publisher was thrilled with the response.

                Projects in SL can range in cost, based upon the amount of work required to fill the clients request.  It is typical to see a one sim build cost between $20,000 – $50,000, though incredibly complex builds can be as much as $250,000.  Machinima and custom scripting projects vary greatly, but simple projects can be as little as $500.  There are many ways to approach a project.  Does the client need to have products duplicated in great detail?  Do they need space for events?  Do they want to gather marketing information?  All of this information factors into the cost.  There are some unforeseen benefits to virtual worlds.  Rivers Run Red built a space for Adidas in SL, which they used to promote their brand for a year.  Their goal was to get exposure, but was pleasantly surprised when the build generated over $8000.00 in virtual shoe sales. I have a pair, they are great.

 When I Look Back Now

                When I first started there were roughly 18,000 regular users in SL, today 1.3 million have logged in the last 60 days.   It is remarkable how much it has grown.  My company still creates builds, does custom scripts, and produces films, and I look forward to what every day will bring.  Mitch Kapoor, the founder of Lotus Notes, spoke at the 2006 Second Life Community Convention, and said that he believes that 3D Virtual Worlds are the natural evolution of the internet. 

After 31 months, I am more convinced than ever.

Brandgain (An SMPO not a BPO) – A tryst with Marketing !

Author: Sheena Anand

 

Journey Of a Thousand Miles… Began with Brandgain, an SMPO not a BPO…

 

At times I wonder, how significant our first step towards a long, never ending career growth journey is!! Graduating from an engineering college and landing into marketing arena before an MBA degree was a not so thought of plan. But the offer just came and I accepted it trusting my technical as well as marketing skills, taking into account the fact that I would not be aware of most of the jargons or marketing concepts but knowing that the product I was supposed to market was Microsoft ERP, ax and navision made me all the more enthusiastic, after all technology was involved, its at my core.

 

Brandgain, Asia’s first Sales and Marketing Process Outsourcing company, based out of Singapore, provided a stupendous platform to expand my vision and enhance my marketing skills. It gave me exposure to interact with the Key Decision Makers, BDMs and TDMs, majorly CIOs, at times CFOs if required, discuss with them their organizations’ technology deployment, analyze the gaps between their technology and our product/service and finally emphasizing on the importance of filling those gaps. With experience in those conversations with the top most people, I realized that building credibility at the start of conversation was one of the very sought after aspect. During this conversation, we tried to figure out if the client was a prospect and called it a Market Qualifying Prospect.

 

Brandgain, apart from other major marketing and event management projects, had the privilege to work with Microsoft directly as their Marketing Consultants and indirectly with Microsoft Channel Partners specializing in sundry verticals like Price Waterhouse Coopers specializing in selling and implementing ERP systems in Professional Services Sector, Tectura in Textiles and Process Industries and the list of partners was growing each day. After generating leads for these partners, we escalated them to the sales team of the respective partner. The work of Brandgain doesn’t stop here and this is where the difference between Brandgain and a BPO is evident. Once the sales team closes the deal, they revert with results, and Brandgain is accountable for the same. And that calls for returning customers. Working with Brandgain was a marvelous learning experience….