The IT department is plugged in in more ways than one. While sat at their workstations, it appears techies are most likely to be found sporting a pair of headphones and indulging their passion for pop music and podcasts. When asked whether IT staff listen to music or podcasts through headphones at their desks more than half (53 per cent) of respondents to a silicon.com poll said techies not only tune in (or out, depending on your view) but are apparently not breaking company rules by doing so.

O2 has announced a new "starter pack" for customers that are setting up small businesses. The mobile operator's new SME Starter plan gives customers a free two-month subscription to any O2 Best for Business tariff, a dedicated customer-service helpdesk and a call from an account manager every three months. SMEs can take up the offer if they sign 12-month contracts with O2.

Glasgow City Council has signed a £15.5m, five-year deal to supply its primary and nursery schools with computer equipment and support services from Dell. From 1 April, nearly 7,400 Dell PCs will be distributed to the city's pre-12 schools (170 primary and 122 nursery) as part of a contract agreed by the council's education services department.

Blackpool Council has developed a database of land, street and property information which has already saved around £750,000 in maintenance costs. The geographical database, developed with geographical information software company GGP, has brought together information previously held across seven separate datasets. It's this consolidation into a single location that has brought about the savings since the database came on stream.

The biggest cost-savings in IT outsourcing come from moving infrastructure such as networks and servers out of house - leading to an average cost reduction of 27 per cent, new research reveals. Other areas which also bring about savings include outsourcing application development, which reduces spending by around 20 per cent; application support (16 per cent); and helpdesk services (13 per cent).

BlackBerry users want customer relationship management apps on their devices more than anything else, research reveals. Nearly a third (29 per cent) of UK executives said mobile CRM is the most important application for future BlackBerrys, according to a survey by networking company LAN 2 LAN. The ability to dispatch jobs to workers and manage the helpdesk while on the move came out as the second must-have, while integrating enterprise databases with the BlackBerry platform came in third on the wishlist for new devices.

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