With the ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus (COVID-19), many offices are asking how to effectively stop the spread of germs and keep employees safe. Keeping office equipment like your copiers and printers sanitized and practicing social distancing is critical to ensuring your staff can stay productive while also limiting risks of spreading germs.
While there is no guarantee that these practices can keep you from contracting the coronavirus, they will help you put your best foot forward in protecting yourself and others who may be more at risk. If you have further questions about how to utilize your office equipment in the wake of the coronavirus please reach out to us online or at 800-648-7081.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when all, but the most progressive industries would have scoffed at the notion of latte-sipping, pajama-clad American workers toiling away in their home offices. Not so in 2020. Last year’s Global State of Remote Work determined that U.S. employees are 66% more likely to work remotely in full-time positions than their counterparts across the globe. Millennials and Gen Z’ers, who now comprise the majority of the American workforce, count the comfort of working from home as “a necessary perk.”
Yet, for all of the recent reports on the efficacy of remote working, there is a significant downside. A New York Times report warns that social isolation is growing epidemic, with both young and older Americans increasingly at risk. Working from home can be lonely. What’s more, because work-from-home jobs offer flexible hours, work-life boundaries can (and often do) get fuzzy. A recent study found that nine of 10 millennials check their work-related email outside of designated working hours. And though videoconferencing is increasingly popular across most industries, there is no true substitute for face-to-face collaboration and camaraderie among colleagues.
With these cautions in mind, we hope the following guidelines will help you create an efficient home office, whether you use it for full-time work, running a family business, or just catching up on the bills.
Whether designing your home office from scratch or retrofitting an existing room, two guiding principles prevail: (1) Less is more (2) Multi-purpose/multi-layered. Seamlessly incorporating efficient workspace into your home demands pre-planning and creativity. In choosing the best space to set up shop, you’ll need to consider traffic flow and your ability to block out distraction.
Home office furniture should complement the other rooms in your house, but also serve your workflow to best advantage. With space typically at a premium, you’ll want to organize both vertically and horizontally (e.g. make use of floating shelves to get books and office equipment off the desk, and vertical file folders to hold important papers). When you think of the amount of time you spend here, a comfortable, ergonomic chair is one of the best investments you can make.
Home Office Technology
Once you’ve gotten the physical space for your home office squared away, the next step is choosing technology that best meets your needs and budget. The workflow experts at Copiers Plus are ideally suited to recommend process strategies and technology solutions to manage documents and data, including the Kyocera line of mid- or low-range printers. Designed for small work groups or individual users, these products include features such as:
Professionalism is key to the success of every remote employee. No matter your job and industry specific applications, communication is essential. To that end, it’s likely you’ll also require one or more of these essentials:
Along with these high-tech and higher-priced items, never underestimate the value of inexpensive products to keep the clutter at a minimum. Cord organizers and bins to conceal papers and binders are a must. Last but not least, seek out an eye-saving task lamp that you can adjust for your (varying) work environment.
Technology is vital to companies that want to exist today and to a larger scale thrive in the years ahead. Drew Smith of Copiers Plus shares insights into the role technology helps his company — and his customers — do business today and plan effectively for their future.
Each of our customer’s infrastructure is different and continues to change seemingly daily with new technological advances. It is our job to adapt to each environment and offer solutions that will bring value to their office communication. One way we are able to achieve this is by integrating with the different software programs and applications currently used within their organizations. In addition, our ability to tap into the variety of expertise our vendors offer is critical in making sure the most versatile technological options are available and executed for our customers.
The ability to integrate with cloud applications is a top trend in our industry today. With the rise of mobile workers and non-traditional workplaces, it is pertinent that organizations have access to their documents wherever they are and whenever they need them. By allowing synchronization with cloud applications, users are able to ensure they are always working on the newest version of their documents and can collaborate with co-workers seamlessly.
Governmental compliance, document security, and workflow bottlenecks are the biggest challenges our customers are currently facing. With the ever-changing landscape of technology, questions constantly arise on how to stay compliant and ensure your documents are safeguarded both internally and externally. We are able to help by looking into the document workflows of our customers to uncover their liabilities and see where we can increase transparency. One example is making sure each user in the organization has an individual login to copiers and devices within the organization. By allowing custom access, we are able to allow users access to their individual cloud accounts, folders and shared organizational software such as SharePoint, while also providing the organization with an audit trail of users that accessed specified devices, activity logs, and the time documents were scanned, copied, faxed or printed.
Our industry, like many others, has changed significantly. In both the sales and service side of our organization, the specifications of our products and our knowledge of their capabilities was the most important aspect to ensuring success with our customers. Now, we must not only understand the products and software we offer, but the landscape in which we offer them, the regulations within those realms, and the individualization we can bring to each user within the organization. That is why it is critical our employees and prospective employees are committed to continuous training to stay up-to-date on software updates, security protocols and integrations we can pass along to customers.
Today, we are able to provide prospective customers with less “risk” than ever before. With trial versions of our software offerings and free demo periods for our devices, users are able to see how the solutions we propose will work within their environment before purchasing. In addition, webinars have been exceedingly helpful in communicating complex technical applications both externally with clients and internally with our vendor partners.
I believe we will see even more advances in the world of automation and cloud integration. We have shifted from selling products to selling productivity so we will be focused on ensuring users are more secure in their document handling procedures, have access to their documents quicker, and are able to easily collaborate with fellow team members.
We are invested in training both our sales and service team so they are able to offer the best solutions available to our clients at the time. We are also ensuring we align ourselves with vendors that understand the importance technological advances play on our customers’ workflows. If we were to get complacent in our knowledge and offerings, our customers’ productivity would suffer and that is a non-starter for us.
There have been many advancements over the past couple of years that have allowed us to respond quicker and more effectively to our clients. One is our ability to remote into our customer’s device and automatically update firmware. In addition, we have software that automatically tracks the meters on networked devices we deploy so our customers don’t have to manually send in meter readings each month. Low toner levels and other maintenance-related alerts are now sent directly to our team without customer initiation being necessary. Thanks to these notifications, oftentimes we are able to have toner delivered to customers before they even know they need it.
We utilize automation technology in our service department by having real-time data flowing in and alerting us when we need to make adjustments and take necessary action in the field. Though we welcome automation in most instances, we still believe in a live person answering each call to our organization.
Customer data lives within most documents in an organization. It is how you manage the permissions and flow of these documents that make the most difference. We deploy services and applications that safeguard our customers against threats by focusing on the liabilities within their current landscape. Ensuring organizations don’t allow unvetted access to their devices and that they restrict or monitor usage is a key way we advise them to protect their data.
Want to learn to stay ahead of the technology curve and safeguard your data? Give us a call at 800-648-7081 or schedule an appointment with us here.
Church bulletins are an essential tool for welcoming first-time visitors and members to your church community. Even in the digital age, there is no disputing the church bulletin is an important component in how a church communicates. A study by Thom S. Rainer confirmed that most churches still use some form of a printed bulletin, and most guests expect to be handed something by a greeter when they enter the church.
Also called a worship folder, worship guide, or information guide, these printed pages are likely the one thing visitors and members will take home with them. The professionals at Copiers Plus can help you produce the ideal printed communication for your unique fellowship community. Just like that perfectly-placed tennis serve, they’ll help you to find the ‘sweet spot’ with customized managed print solutions.
In the era of the 24-hour news cycle and an ever-growing avalanche of social media, we all suffer from information overload. Limiting your church bulletin to the “basics” will help to avoid key frustrations of this medium:
According to an analysis by church management specialist Rich Birch, “The largest churches tended to have the smallest bulletins.” Birch recommends the following “essentials” be included:
While these standard components are critical, your church’s mission is both universal AND unique; to that end, it’s equally important to deploy language and design that reflects the unique culture and demographics of your congregation. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to shape an overall tone that is loving, welcoming, accepting, and inviting. You may include an Order of Service to guide new-comers, or mission opportunities that highlight your church’s involvement with the community and throughout the world.
Lots of free or low-cost templates for church bulletins are available:
Whether or not your church uses bulletins, Copiers Plus can help your church evaluate and innovate communication strategies for visitors and members. Request an appointment with our team to see how your church can benefit from a communication strategy that is clear and relevant.
Merriam Webster defines digerati as: persons well versed in computer use and technology. In today’s workplace, this also means you’re a champion of digital transformation—the integration of digital technology into every aspect of operation.
Simply put, digital transformation is about changing the way businesses interact with their customers, finding new ways to provide a consistent and positive experience, whenever and wherever they need it. Industry experts across diverse sectors see exceptional potential in cloud-based digital technologies. Are you ready to take the leap?
Bottom Line: Profitability
Though companies may balk at the initial investment for digital technologies, the payoff is often considerable. MIT reports: “the 25% of firms that excel both in digital intensity and transformation management capabilities are 26% more profitable, generate 9% more revenue from their physical assets, and achieve 12% higher market valuations than other large firms in their industries.”
The Plus Factor: Employee Satisfaction and Engagement
At Copiers Plus, our specialists advise a wide range of corporate and small-business customers on document management and managed print services—always with the goals of increasing revenues and efficiencies. Likewise, they understand digital transformation plays a key role in empowering employees. Nationally, in a recent survey of more than 1,000 employee respondents, 76% reported that having the digital tools they need at work makes them more productive. More than half, 53%, said it makes them more successful. A third said it makes them smarter, and 28% said it makes them happier.
Road Blocks to Change: The Fear Factor
Even so, implementing technological change in the workplace can present significant challenges. Seeing a potential threat to their jobs, it’s understandable that some workers might feel skeptical about the benefits of certain digital technologies. Others, may feel overwhelmed or skittish about the learning curve, especially if decision making and system deployments are conducted off-site, with little or no opportunity for their buy-in.
Plan
Organizations should plan carefully before rolling out new digital technology, building in realistic timelines for initial deployment, training, and trouble-shooting.
Assess
Mapping out a digital transformation plan should include a critical assessment of which digital tools employees need to get their jobs done more efficiently. Including employees in this planning phase can help IT specialists to pinpoint deficiencies and better understand where organizations should prioritize improvements.
Communicate Internally
Before implementing a new digital technology, always communicate to staff what is being deployed, why it is being deployed, and how it will affect each individual employee. While this may require tailoring the communication to different staff groups, these efforts are critical to engaging employees and—ultimately—creating the seamless digital transformation you’ve planned for. Further, rather than delivering just one general announcement, industry experts recommend multiple (shorter), intermittent announcements leading up to the technology roll-out.
Train
For a technology deployment to deliver the best possible return on investment, organizations need to ensure that staff are using that technology correctly and channeling its full potential. When workers understand the full range of functionality, the payoff doubles: employees feel higher satisfaction at work and employers assure cost-effectiveness of their investment—a win-win for all.
It’s a classic business 101 understanding: Operating costs dictate growth and ultimately success. More and more, today’s managers seek ways to optimize how teams utilize resources to communicate and do their jobs.
A line-item at the top of many budget spends revolves around demand on copiers, multi-functional printers, etc. It’s not uncommon for groups to drop significant chunks of total revenue on related printing expenses.
In this video, Drew Smith – our Director of Communications – offers a glimpse inside the numbers behind printing, exploring Copiers Plus process to help groups stop throwing away money with each click of the print button.
There are a plethora of technologies employed in every office environment, whether a one person operation at home or in a brick-and-morter location with dozens of employees. Copiers Plus Director of Communications Drew Smith shares insights into the role technology helps his company — and his customers — do business.
It used to be that equipment features and specifications drove the agenda. Now, dealers must incorporate digital solutions, cloud integration, document security and print management offerings into their strategies. Deploying successful programs requires specialized talent in both sales and service, not to mention constant training on new practices and updates. With these changes, many dealers have decided to sell to larger conglomerates rather than investing in their communities they serve and tapping into their talent pool. At Copiers Plus, we are large enough to meet our customer needs and small enough to care. We focus on adapting to meet the needs of our customers and ensuring they have an option of a local company that will treat them with the detail needed for a successful document workflow solution.
A key technology we are excited about is a comprehensive remote monitoring solution called KYOCERA Fleet Services (KFS). It is helping our customers save both time and money by allowing IT professionals to monitor devices in real-time, anticipate issues, and update firmware remotely during off-peak hours. In addition, it provides data that helps determine how machines are being utilized in terms of volume and color usage. Coupling this technology with our custom tiercolor billing offering, which allows our customers to pay only for the amount of color they print on a page rather than a standard rate, we have been able to optimize how are customers approach their printing procedures.
Many companies utilize a variety of software, equipment and applications throughout their day, but they are not incorporating them all into a relevant workflow. We look at how customers are accessing, storing and securing their documents and then work to leverage their existing investments to produce a workflow that is intuitive, efficient, and customized to each end user through secure access protocols.
We have been able to adapt to technological advances by offering remote support and problem solving either over the phone or through logging in remotely to clients’ systems to make changes. In addition, we have the capability of deploying equipment that is powered by the KFS remote monitoring solution, as previously mentioned, which allows permitted IT professionals real-time access to devices across their fleet. Organizationally, we utilize vehicle tracking on our service vehicles to maintain fast response times and aid our dispatchers in route management. By ensuring we adapt our processes and operate at peak efficiency, we are able to offer lower prices to our customers without sacrificing our service standards and offerings.
We work with great partners like Kyocera Document Solutions and OnBase by Hyland, that help us to provide cutting edge equipment and digital solutions. By having this technology on the partner level, we are able to rest assured that when we meet with a client, no matter what level of sophistication they may require, we have the tools to either deploy a specific solution or work with one of our partners to create a customized build-out. Our in-house ability to provide solutions is a game changer and provides our customers with unparalleled efficiency at a much lower cost than has ever been attainable.
Our customers will spend less time manually processing documents. We believe the upcoming wave will be even more of a shift to a workflowcentric model and automation. Presently, applications, security and document management have taken center stage. We have already started shifting the paradigm with our proprietary Discovery Process that encapsulates print fleets, document management and networking systems, in anticipation that this isn’t a trend that will die out. Rather, we believe it will spread into the varying verticals and sizes of organizations we serve. Today’s users want things done fast and are aware that their data is vulnerable. Seemingly every day there are new applications and software programs that enter the market that will aid us in providing custom workflow solutions that are efficient, secure and competitive in regards to investment.
We are constantly engaging new technologies as they are released, especially in relation to solutions and software. We continue to add on to our portfolio of offerings and partnering vendors. Staying nimble is a key component to ensure that we are adapting to the needs of our customers, and truly offering a customized approach that helps them to manage their documents in an efficient and secure manner.
Have you ever had that moment where you were listening to a song you had heard a hundred times and then for the first time realized what the lyrics were saying? Or maybe you are one of the people that mistook the lyrics of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer, to say “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” instead of “tiny dancer”. Sometimes we get so caught up in the rhythm, catchy choruses and our perceptions that we miss the meaning of the song as a whole.
In the same way, today’s office equipment has generally been misinterpreted. Modern multi-function devices (MFPs) are oftentimes referred to as “copy machines” and are used over and over again for only the basic features they provide. It isn’t that the devices are lacking new features, they are filled with intuitive tools out of the box, but rather that the rhythms of life in the workplace have set a course where routine is associated with comfort and adapting to change is scary.
Why is changing how we view technology procedures scary? Usually, fear thrives when there is not a strategic plan in place for how the organization can benefit and execute new technologies. Change is hard, especially if there is no assurance from training on a personal level. Often times, people would rather keep their same process because they fear being left to figure out a new way on their own.
It is important to partner with vendors you trust and that will not only provide you with valuable insight on what technology is available but also provide the training and support at the individual employee level to make it a reality for your workplace.
Now that you know what to look for to ensure your workplace can adapt to new technologies, let's uncover some potential “hidden” features of your organization’s MFPs.
Access
Assigning pin codes or key card access for users of your devices allows a foundation for security, cost control, and collaborative productivity features. Organizations need to know that their vital documents are secure and that the users accessing them are credentialed. It is important for organizations to have an audit trail created through access protocols along with records of users’ print habits. Individual user activity insights can lead to valuable cost-cutting measures for managers in an organization of any size. Though, potentially the most important feature that access protocols create are the ability for individual users to access their customized workflows and applications such as shared folders, cloud platforms and other collaborative digital outlets. You can learn more about this topic in our blog on workflow integration.
Faxing
In the past, faxing consisted of sending your documents to a fax number, waiting on a confirmation page and hoping that the file size wasn’t too large to send. Or the frustrating result of a busy signal due to high traffic from the other end of the line. This way is still used commonly today even though a more secure, cost-effective, and convenient way exists. Now, you are able to ELIMINATE your additional phone line completely, cutting that monthly cost and in addition, you no longer need a fax board for your device, saving you even more money. We offer solutions that allow you to fax through your computer or MFP in a way that establishes an audit trail of outgoing and incoming documents along with an unlimited file size capability. In short, you can fax from your desk with a more secure procedure and save money!
Scanning to Email
Users that scan to email as their primary scanning procedure are often either using Gmail, Outlook or Office 365 as their mail platform. With Kyocera hardware, you are now able to incorporate both Google and Microsoft applications that allow you to access your individual email account from the device and have any emails you send show up in your sent folder. This provides an additional audit trail and the ability for recipients of the email to reply back to you in a thread.
Cloud Storage
Whether you use personal cloud storage applications like OneDrive, DropBox, or GoogleDrive or you use large scale enterprise cloud solutions, we can help your copier or MFP integrate with them. No longer will you have to scan to your email or desktop and then save to your cloud account. You now will have the capability to sign-in on the device using your credentials and access your personal account. Through this level of access, you will be able to save documents in folders and sub-folders and even retrieve PDFs for printing, all from your device.
Private Print
Have you ever had an instance where you picked up a print job you probably shouldn’t have seen? Or maybe you printed something and then ran to the copier to retrieve it before someone else could see it. These are all too common occurrences in workplaces of all varieties. What most don’t know is that there are private print features that are built into most devices. On all new Kyocera devices, a user can go into printer properties on the print driver and select “private print” from the choices. This feature will prompt for a four-digit code and then send the file to the device. At the device, the user can find the file in the job box located on the home screen under the title private print. After finding their file the user simply enters their four-digit code and then the print job is released.
Private Print Downloadable PDF
These five tips are just a few of the many features available to users of modern MFPs and serve as a simple guideline to unleashing the potential of your devices. Copiers Plus would love the opportunity to walk you through how to incorporate these subtle changes along with additional techniques relevant to your organizational workflows.
On the Saturday before Halloween, Impact Church’s youth group ventured into the streets of Wilmington in search of clues to thwart a full-on zombie apocalypse. Known as the annual “Pumpkin Hunt,” the ghoulish quest took participants all around the Port City, ultimately leading them to Copiers Plus for a final showdown with the living dead!
Drew Smith –Director of Communications for Copiers Plus – played the role of security guard. As the group fought off monsters and rummaged through our make-shift laboratory, Drew tried his best to regulate the chaos!
“We had hints and riddles stretching from Monkey Junction to downtown along with several volunteers dressed to the nines as doctors and zombies,” Drew said. “Everything pointed them back to our office, which housed the pumpkin infected with the zombie virus strand. It was pretty intense.”
The group stumbled upon many challenges during the three-hour hunt. However, few were more unique than that presented on a single sheet of paper.
“We used a private printed document to hide a crucial answering key for accessing the Copiers Plus lab,” Drew said. “The students had to use a black light to reveal the pin code on a sheet of paper above the printer and follow the secure printing protocols.”
Fortunately, one group of participants used their investigative prowess and survival skills to figure it out, isolate the correct serum, and dissolve the zombie bacteria within the cursed gourd.
“It was a great time and just shows some of the more creative uses for your modern multi-function printer,” Drew laughed.
If you’d like to join the secret message fun and have a Kyocera, check out these instructions on how to private print. Enjoy and make sure to share your stories with us!
The phrase “first do no harm” expresses the underlying ethical rules of modern medicine. As the healthcare industry moves from paper-driven, manual methods to increasingly sophisticated digital and cloud-based systems, network administrators face Brave New World challenges, like protecting sensitive patient data from hackers. Keeping this information safe and secure is mandatory for HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance. Innovations like Electronic Health Records (EHR) have revolutionized the practice of medicine but also raise the stakes of a breach. No matter the size of the practice, change is inevitable. “First do no harm” can serve as a guiding principle for incorporating new applications and devices with multi-function printers (MFP). Technology specialists at Copiers Plus stand ready to help you address security concerns raised here.
Workflow takes place everywhere and—simply put—includes a sequence of physical and mental tasks performed by various people within and between work environments. As in other sectors, healthcare workflows can be implemented organization-wide, in single departments, or just in your head. Workflows occur before, during, or after a patient visit.
Healthcare is especially rife with repetitive, predictable tasks. Administrators plot out these tasks as a series of conditional steps, or workflows—with increasing reliance on new technologies. Automated workflows, designed to reduce human error and increase efficiency, use process management tools. Consider the following applications for automation software:
Clinical Follow-up
Transfer test results into an EHR system over the cloud network to help medical practitioners understand a patient’s condition and offer accurate treatment.
Patient Admission and Discharge
In a traditional manual, paper-based workflow, discharge approvals are tedious. With an automated workflow, approval steps are done in real time. Similarly, the admission process can be automated to make the process quicker and more reliable. The process often goes through registration, billing, and insurance routes.
Managing the staff rotation and on-call roster
By linking your scheduling software with workflow management software, you can expedite approvals for schedules and notify staff immediately.
Staff onboarding
Implementing an automated system will eliminate redundancies so your new staff will fill out forms only once and all stakeholders are up to date.
Other opportunities for workflow integration include:
First Do No Harm
Simply stated by Drs. Jason Lee and Adele Shartzer:
For clinicians, the standards underlying the revamping of workflow should always be focused on improving patient safety, enhancing the quality of patient data collected, enriching workflow efficiency, and improving distribution of workflow tasks. 96
As you assess your healthcare workflow integration needs, ask Copiers Plus.
Kyocera recently introduced the process management software MyQ. This customizable, server-based solution provides network administrators with the ability to manage all devices in their fleet through a single web-based interface, one significant step toward streamlining and securing sensitive patient information.
