Managed.IT - issue 59

10 01732 759725 BULLETIN Carbon-neutral MPS HP is inviting businesses to offset the carbon impact of printing through a carbon- neutral Managed Print Service (MPS). As well as optimising a printer fleet to improve resource efficiency by 13% and cut paper waste by 25%, HP will estimate total carbon emissions from the HP MPS solution and offset 100% of the associated greenhouse gas emissions by investing in sustainability projects. www.hp.com Cybersecurity top reason to switch MSP Nine out of 10 SMBs (91%) would consider moving to a new IT service provider if it offered the ‘right’ cybersecurity solution. For the 700 decision-makers surveyed for the second annual ConnectWise SMB State of Cybersecurity report ‘right’ includes having confidence in an MSP’s ability to respond to security incidents (68%) and having confidence in an MSP’s ability to minimise damage or loss (58%). Just over half (52%) of respondents say they lack the in-house skills needed to deal with security issues, with 49% regarding cybersecurity expertise as an added benefit of working with an MSP. Yet, only 13% of SMBs say they regularly have cybersecurity-related conversations with their MSP. www.connectwise.com Time to reskill, warns WEF The ‘future of work’ has already arrived, accelerated by Covid-19, claims the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its third Future of Jobs report. This predicts that automation and a new division of labour between humans and machines will displace 85 million jobs in medium and large organisations by 2025. With more than 80% of businesses fast forwarding plans to digitise work processes and deploy new technologies, WEF says data entry, accounting and administrative support roles will be particularly hard hit. More than four in 10 businesses (43%) say they plan to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, compared to 34% that plan to increase their headcount. Digitisation will also support a significant expansion of remote working, with employers identifying the potential to move 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. However, there will still be net new jobs, with 97 million new roles emerging in the care economy, in fourth industrial revolution technology industries like cloud computing and artificial intelligence, in the green economy and in content creation. Employers expect to have to reskill and redeploy 46% of current employees within their own organisation in the next five years. MPS providers optimistic despite falling print volumes Print has been hard hit by the effects of Covid-19 and, not surprisingly, 62% of UK Managed Print Service providers surveyed by Quocirca for its 2020 State of the Channel report reported a decline in print volumes in 2020. Even so, most are optimistic that things will improve next year, with 66% expecting a revenue bounce-back in 2021 driven by opportunities for growth in cloud services, contactless printing and support for home printing. Around one third of MPS providers globally say selling MPS offers new opportunities to provide value-added services (34%), to build longer term customer relationships (32%) and to sell non-print related services such as IT services (29%). Half of UK MPS providers now also offer managed IT services. https://print2025.com/reports/quocirca-state-of-the- channel-2020/ The Future of Jobs Report 2020 OCTOBER 2020 CreatingOpportunity fromAdversity TheStateofSMBCybersecurity in2020 VansonBourneResearchCommissionedbyConnectWise Covid protection By the book ExaClair has added a Track & Trace Log Book to its Guildhall notebook and filing range to help businesses capture staff and visitor information needed for the NHS Test & Trace system, including name, contact number, date, arrival and departure times, group size and on-premises contacts. www.exacompta.com/trace Clean hotels Rydoo has added a Clean & Safe tag to the hotel booking function of its business travel and expenses app, Rydoo Travel, enabling users to view safety information provided by listed hotels, including their cleaning practices, physical distancing measures and food & drink protocols. www.rydoo.com Who’s available? Xerox’s new Team Availability App helps businesses manage a flexible workforce by monitoring the availability and location of employees. Xerox says that unlike other attendance management tools, which need to plug into IT infrastructure and can take weeks to implement, its GDPR- compliant SaaS offering is ready in just hours. The Team Availability App is available on the App Store and Google Play Store. xerox.com 4G boost for old phone boxes Vodafone is using old phone boxes in towns across the UK to boost 4G coverage at a time of rising data volumes. Miniature 4G roof units with a signal radius of 200 metres are being used to provide 4G in busy areas of Brighton, Edgware, Edinburgh, Guildford, Harrow, Oxford and Polzeath and Sennen Cove beaches in Cornwall. Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone UK, said: “Our network has never been busier as more people rely on their smartphones and expect a fast, reliable connection. Across the UK, we see old phone boxes being used as libraries, shops and even aquariums. With our technology, they are returning to their roots.”