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01732 759725
magazine
03
Editor:
James Goulding
0780 308 7228 [email protected]
Advertising Director:
EthanWhite
01732 759725 [email protected]
Publishing Director:
Neil Trim
01732 759725 [email protected]
Group Sales Manager:
Martin Jenner-Hall
07824 552116 [email protected]
Kingswood Media Ltd.,
Amhurst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT
Tel: 01732 759725 • Email: [email protected]
Business Info is a controlled circulation magazine. Applications for free copies
will be considered upon receipt of a completed and signed reader info card
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companies or residents and @ £75 p.a. for non-UK subscribers.
The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers
who cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.
No part of Business Info magazine can be reproduced without the prior permission
of the publisher. © Copyright 2013 Kingswood Media Ltd. ISSN 1464-8814
Design: Sandtiger Media – www.sandtiger.co.uk
For the latest industry news visit: www.binfo.co.uk
“ ”
IN THIS ISSUE
05
Agenda
Why office design matters
10
Cover Story
Boost your performance with
Sharedband
12
FlexibleWorking
How to make a success of
flexi-work
19
Innovations
Smart technology for today’s
workers
28
Monitors & Displays
New designs for the post-PC era
31
Green Networks
Energy-efficient data centres
32
Data Centres
South-East worst for power cuts
34
Census Data
What it can do for your business
37
Air conditioning
Why it pays to use
professional
installers
38
Office
Environment
How to stay cool this summer
41
Document management
Welbeck Estates streamlines invoice
processing with INVU
42
ElectronicWorkflows
Digital alternatives to paper-based
processes
I have some sympathy with Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s
opposition to home working on the basis that it impairs
collaboration and innovation. There are clearly times when
working from home lets you get more done, more quickly. But
it is equally true that you lose something if you no longer have
face-to-face interaction with colleagues. In a recent survey by
Overbury (see page 5), 61% of respondents said their best ideas
came from unplanned conversations with colleagues.With the
right to request flexible working being extended to all employees
in 2014, employers that haven’t already done so must quickly
develop a flexible working strategy for their business.When doing
so, they shouldn’t forget the needs and wishes of office-based
staff. I have seen many workplaces that have everything a flexible
workforce could desire, from touchdown points and break-out
areas to eye-catching designer furniture and the latest IT. All
too often, the only thing lacking is atmosphere. Flexible working
is rightly seen as a way to attract and retain employees. So is a
lively office environment. Almost four out of 10 respondents to
the Overbury survey said their office was demotivating, with 25%
describing it as ‘sedate and silent’. The most popular prescription
was to create more areas where staff can congregate. Yet, social
space is wasted space if there’s no one in the office to share it.
James Goulding, Editor
Comment
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Sharp has begun shipping one of the industry’s first
families of Cloud-ready A3 colour multifunctional
printers that incorporate multi-touch finger-swipe control.
Designed to raise productivity in ordinary office
environments, they feature an intuitive control interface
which will be instantly familiar to anyone who has used a
smartphone, tablet PC or Windows 8 device.
Maximum productivity:
3
10.1” fast, bright colour touch screen with multi-touch finger-
swipe control
3
Integrated Cloud connectivity
3
Wi-Fi connectivity
3
Mobile connectivity for smartphones and tablet PCs
3
Prints and copies at speeds of up to 36, 31 or 26 pages per minute in full colour
3
Scans up to 50 single-sided or 20 double-sided originals per minute
3
320GB internal hard drive (addressable as NAS) with optional disk mirroring kit
3
Dual USB ports
For further information
on our new MX-3640N,
MX-3140N, MX-2640N
models, or any of our
product range, email
www.sharp.co.uk
This is Why
12
05
19
28