MANAGED.IT 3 www.managedITmag.co.uk Read Managed.IT online... www.managedITmag.co.uk ISSN 2055-3099 (Print) ISSN 2055-3102 (Online) 04 What’s New A round-up of the month’s best new products and services 06 Bulletin The latest news and views 14 Telephony Spitfire introduces new hosted telephony solution 22 IT Services Konica Minolta adds to its Workplace Hub portfolio 24 Business Management What to look for in an end-to- end business management solution 26 Storage Western Digital Corporation repositions itself as a data technology company and industry leader 27 Mobile Working CleanSafe adopts paperless mobile working solution 28 Scanners The benefits of distributed scanning 30 Printers Brother launches new range of A3 business inkjet devices 31 Books Getting business managers and IT departments to pull in the same direction 32 Predictions What we have to look forward to in 2019 ISSUE 52 www.managedITmag.co.uk Comment Editor: James Goulding 07803 087228 •
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[email protected] MANAGED.IT is published by Kingswood Media Ltd., Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT • Tel: 01732 759725 No part of MANAGED.IT can be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. © 2019 Kingswood Media Ltd. Production Design: Sandtiger Media · www.sandtiger.co.uk The paper used in this magazine is obtained from manufacturers who operate within internationally recognized standards and which is sourced from sustainable, properly managed forestation. COMMENT Reading some of this year’s predictions, starting on page 32, you might be tempted to go back to bed and wake up again in 2020. The year of the vaporworm; the year the internet crashes; the year the skills gap widens; the year of phantom drones; the year of Brexit. What’s not to like? Behind the headlines, however, there is much to be excited about. Technological advancements like robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning and AI have the potential to transform not just the world of work, but all aspects of our lives, from driving and home automation to education and healthcare. For office workers, these new technologies can help overcome persistent productivity challenges, through the application of machine learning and the development of personal assistant- type capabilities. Just improving access to documents and corporate information could bring big dividends for the 95% of UK office workers questioned by M-Files who say they have trouble locating the most recent version of a file or the 86% who end up recreating documents simply because they can’t find the original on their corporate network. Existing technologies offer significant benefits too. As we report on page 31, the implementation of a paperless, cloud and app-based mobile working solution is saving CleanSafe two hours a day on admin and enabling some engineers to squeeze in an extra job a day, potentially adding as much as £1 million to the company’s annual turnover. Summing up the benefits of the integrated system, Finance Director Caroline Bugg says: “No more paper, no more data entry, fewer customer queries and quicker invoicing.” No wonder Brian Fortune, PFU (EMEA) General Manager Sales, advises businesses seeking efficiency gains “to look for the paper”, as we report on page 28. Of course, there is nothing new about this advice, which, amongst other things, is forcing printer vendors to diversify their offerings and develop new revenue streams. This doesn’t mean giving up on paper completely, and on page 22 we hear how, and why, Konica Minolta is combining the old with the new in its ground-breaking Workplace Hub. James Goulding , Editor
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