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          Sharp’s Cloud Portal Office is not just
        
        
          another product; it’s the next stage of
        
        
          evolution of data storage and a huge
        
        
          growth area. Industry analysts IDC said
        
        
          that half of all businesses are already using
        
        
          cloud services in some form or other today
        
        
          and that this figure is predicted to rise to
        
        
          more than 90% in the next three years.
        
        
          Sharp created this file storage and
        
        
          collaboration tool to make businesses more
        
        
          efficient and to support an increasingly
        
        
          mobile workforce by making it easier
        
        
          to share information. Quite simply,
        
        
          Cloud Portal Office allows businesses
        
        
          to collaborate better. It enables users
        
        
          to securely access, upload, download,
        
        
          manage and print files; create new folders;
        
        
          collaborate and share – from any PC,
        
        
          mobile device, Sharp MFP or Sharp BIG
        
        
          PAD interactive whiteboard.
        
        
          It’s unique. Unlike MFP manufacturers
        
        
          who provide the connection into Cloud
        
        
          solutions, but no storage space or
        
        
          functionality, or storage providers who
        
        
          don’t provide integration with MFPs, Sharp
        
        
          is offering a full service – which includes
        
        
          both storage and integration with office
        
        
          products – in a single sign-on service.
        
        
          Cloud Portal Office not only supports
        
        
          end-users in better collaboration, but
        
        
          also adds real business value to Sharp’s
        
        
          resellers who have seen an overall decline
        
        
          in print volumes and cost per copy rates.
        
        
          With Cloud Portal Office, Sharp is offering
        
        
          them a potential new revenue stream.
        
        
          Access is through a single sign-on
        
        
          portal securely controlled by the IT
        
        
          department. The service is based on a
        
        
          
            Sharp’s Cloud Portal Office adds
          
        
        
          
            even more value to the company’s
          
        
        
          
            multifunctional devices.
          
        
        
          A survey conducted by Sharp of SME
        
        
          employees in UK, France, Germany, Sweden
        
        
          and The Netherlands identified a clear
        
        
          opportunity gap between what Generation
        
        
          Cloud workers are demanding in the
        
        
          workplace and what is actually being
        
        
          provided by SMEs across Europe.
        
        
          The research identified the emergence
        
        
          of a new generation of worker that’s
        
        
          moving towards a more flexible,
        
        
          collaborative working model and an
        
        
          increasingly tangible demand for more
        
        
          collaborative, flexible working practices.
        
        
          per-user subscription model and is easy
        
        
          to set-up and use, supporting companies
        
        
          with scalable workforces who can easily
        
        
          add and remove user subscriptions, when
        
        
          working on projects requiring extra staff
        
        
          over a short time period.
        
        
          It also offers flexibility in that users
        
        
          can print from any Sharp cloud-ready MFP,
        
        
          wherever they are.
        
        
          Cloud Portal Office adds a whole new
        
        
          dimension to mobile working. Anyone
        
        
          who has subscribed can use an Android
        
        
          or Apple iOS device to work on the move.
        
        
          What’s more, a uniform design across every
        
        
          mobile platform means that everyone has
        
        
          the same experience regardless of which
        
        
          mobile device they’re using.
        
        
          Sharp’s BIG PAD interactive whiteboard
        
        
          connects to Cloud Portal Office just as
        
        
          effectively as its MFPs. With BIG PAD,
        
        
          users can display presentations and other
        
        
          documents in a format that’s big enough
        
        
          for everyone in the room to see. It’s easy to
        
        
          use – users simply select the file, drag it to
        
        
          the whiteboard and open it up.
        
        
          Via  the BIG PAD’s touchscreen
        
        
          technology, users can capture everyone’s
        
        
          ideas by adding notes and comments in
        
        
          freehand before saving it all in a new
        
        
          document and securely storing it in the
        
        
          cloud.
        
        
          Meeting notes can be created and
        
        
          shared in an instant – even with colleagues
        
        
          in a different country – and anything that’s
        
        
          on-screen can be preserved as a PDF.
        
        
          All data is protected by access controls,
        
        
          powerful firewalls, state-of-the-art
        
        
          encryption technology and redundant
        
        
          fail-over systems. That means information
        
        
          is always safe, always secure and always
        
        
          available.
        
        
          All Sharp products are already equipped
        
        
          for use with Cloud Portal Office; opening
        
        
          up the service to new users is simply a
        
        
          matter of granting them a subscription.
        
        
        
          Taking office productivity
        
        
          to a whole new level
        
        
          Sharp’s
        
        
          Cloud Portal Office
        
        
          
            Editor’s Choice:
          
        
        
          
            Print IT Reseller
          
        
        
          
            What we liked:
          
        
        
          
            •
          
        
        
          Sharp MFPs already equipped
        
        
          for use with Cloud Portal Office
        
        
          • easy to set-up, use and access
        
        
          • adds a whole new dimension to
        
        
          mobile working
        
        
          • designed to support an
        
        
          increasingly mobile workforce
        
        
          • make businesses more efficient
        
        
          Editor’s Choice Awards
        
        
        
           –  01732 759725
        
        
          SHARP
        
        
          · Cloud Portal Office