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01474 824711
magazine
05
Editor:
James Goulding
0780 308 7228 [email protected]
Advertising Director:
EthanWhite
01474 824711 [email protected]
Publishing Director:
Neil Trim
07803 087229 [email protected]
Group Sales Manager:
Martin Jenner-Hall
07824 552116 [email protected]
Kingswood Media Ltd.,
4 New Cottages, Green Farm Lane, Shorne,
Kent DA12 3HQ.
Tel: 01474 824711 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
or online form. Business Info is available on subscription @ £40 p.a. to UK
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 2012 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
06
Agenda
Pricewaterhouse Coopers reveals the secret
of success in the twenty-first century
13
Scanners
How Fujitsu is making life easier for knowledge
workers. Plus what’s new in mobile scanners
19
Innovations
The best new office products and
services, including some
highlights from January’s
2012 International
Consumer Electronics
Show
28
Dictation
Why some companies
are going straight from
tape-based dictation
to dictation apps on a
smartphone
31
Paperworld 2012
James Goulding scours
this year’s stationery
and office products
showcase for signs of
innovation
41
Office Agenda
Regus trials new
business centres, and
Penson looks to the
stars for inspiration
The smartphone effect
Smartphones are taking over the world. Sales
of the devices outstripped PC shipments in
the second half of 2010 and have maintained
momentum ever since. As consumer smartphone
adoption accelerates, smartphone apps are selling
in ever greater numbers. According to a new
report from Juniper Research, more than 31 billion
were downloaded to mobile devices in 2011. By
2016, it predicts that consumers will be spending
$52 billion on apps. No wonder Pricewaterhouse
Coopers US has identified interacting with
customers via mobile channels as one of the prime
indicators of a high Digital IQ and a key attribute
of top-performing companies (see page 6).
Businesses use mobile apps, too; sometimes in
preference to existing items of business equipment,
such as scanners (see page 13) or dictation recorders
(see page 28). On the face of it, a smartphone camera
function and dictation apps are a potential threat to
manufacturers of dedicated devices. Or would be if
they provided the same functionality and performance.
Until that happens, people’s experiences of capturing
images on a smartphone are more likely to raise
awareness of the benefits of digitisation and drive
demand for dedicated personal scanners that produce
much better results. The impact of dictation apps on
recorder sales is less certain as the dictation market
is mature, with growth in sales of portables primarily
coming from users who switch from analogue (tape-
based) to digital recording.
One industry for which digitisation is a threat rather
than an opportunity is the stationery and office
products sector. According to a new KeyNote report,
the value of the UK stationery market has declined
by about one third since 2008. Based on the level of
innovation on display at Paperworld in January (see
review on page 31), it is hard to see how this trend is
going to be reversed.
James Goulding, Editor