Print.IT - issue 49

BULLETIN PRINT.IT 7 www.printitmag.co.uk Schools could do better Organisations in the education sector are most reliant on paper and furthest away from paperless working, claims mobile data capture service provider WorkMobile. Its survey of 1,000 workers shows that employees working in the education sector are most wedded to paper (80%), followed by those in the finance sector (68%) and the construction and utilities industries (67%). One third of businesses in the education and construction and utilities sectors have still done nothing to reduce their paper consumption. www.workmobileforms.com/ research-and-whitepapers/ UK councils miss out on opportunity to cut costs UK councils are missing out on the opportunity to cut costs and improve productivity through the automation of document workflows, warns Y Soft Corporation. A Freedom of Information request initiated by the print and workflow management specialist found that while 71% of councils use workflow tools to digitise scanned documents, deployments tend to be limited to specific departments and applications, such as filing council tax paperwork or dealing with benefit requests. Y Soft argues that councils could boost productivity by extending workflow automation right across their operations. Yet, out of the 74 councils contacted, just 15% have plans to invest in workflow solutions. Only 36% plan to increase IT budgets this year. Y Soft regional sales manager Nick Parkes said: “Automated document workflows are an effective solution to combat lacklustre office productivity. Office-based admin is a notorious drain on time and resources, and digitising workflows across councils in the UK would streamline time-intensive tasks involving scanning, uploading and emailing large amounts of files.” www.ysoft.com Automate sales or lose ground to competitors Sales professionals who use a CRM system are wasting an average of six weeks a year on manual administrative tasks, claims contact centre technology provider NewVoiceMedia. According to its research, 76% of sales reps manually update CRM records after a call, spending an average of 34 minutes a day on data entry. In addition, the average sales person spends 24 minutes a day manually entering prospects’ phone numbers. Six out of 10 sales reps surveyed say their business would benefit from investment in CRM software and ‘inside sales’ technology. NewVoiceMedia warns that businesses that fail to automate risk losing ground at a time of growing investment in sales enablement technologies. In a September 2015 survey by Forbes Insights and Brainshark, 55% of executives said they were investing in technology to improve sales productivity. More than half are investing in analytics (54%) and CRM (53%) software. www.newvoicemedia.com Keep data safe To coincide with Data Privacy Day, held on January 28, 3M released the following visual privacy guidelines: n Be welcoming but cautious – encourage a business culture where employees are not afraid to ask visitors or contractors for their credentials, verify information or follow up on other security procedures.  n Lock screens – whether in the office or working in public spaces, ensure screensavers and log-ins are automatically instigated after a short period of inactivity. n Protect information on screen and on paper – make sure documents are not left lying around, routinely shred paper and use privacy filters on screens to help block out the side views for would-be visual hackers.  n Be aware in public areas – position screens and documents where they are hard to see and keep close tabs on laptops and mobile devices, even when they are not in use. www.3M.co.uk/ PrivacyFilterSample ProcessFlows extends print management portfolio Software, solutions and outsourced services company ProcessFlows has strengthened its print management portfolio with the addition of Nuance AutoStore for document processing automation and Nuance Output Manager for secure print. Used singly or in combination, both solutions can help businesses achieve compliance, cut costs and increase efficiency. ProcessFlows sales director Tim Muckart said: “We have distributed Nuance Solutions for seven years, gradually taking on new products when opportunities arise. Our partners have been asking us to distribute AutoStore for a long time, so as soon as Nuance agreed for ProcessFlows to take on the distribution we grabbed the chance. “AutoStore is a market leading offering, sitting perfectly with Equitrac, SafeCom and Ecopy. Our partners’ customers are becoming more and more aware of what else multi-function printers/devices are capable of; a device without capture and workflow is pointless. AutoStore delivers capture and workflow directly from the devices into HR, accounts, document management or healthcare systems (to name a few), optimising the investment and ultimately optimising managed print.” Muckart added: “As part of the extension to our contract with Nuance, we have also taken on the distribution of Output Manager, a hidden gem in the Nuance portfolio. I find it astonishing that in the world of compliance and GDPR, managed print partners don’t know about Output Manager. It takes print security to a whole new level, where the content of the print is scrutinised and actions taken automatically. An example might be recognising if a member of staff has tried to print (by accident or deliberately) a document that contains credit card information. Output Manager can be set up to identify credit card information and redact the sensitive information, plus notify the user and potentially management what has happened.” www.processflows.co.uk Nick Parkes