Print.IT Reseller - issue 61

01732 759725 4 BULLETIN Brother study highlights opportunity for resellers Brother’s research into the latest print and scan trends, points to a clear opportunity for channel firms to supply integrated print and scan systems to support efficiency, productivity and cost control, as well as benefitting the environment. The report Paper-lite: busting the myth of the paperless office found that while almost two thirds of managers are striving to reduce paper consumption, 41% say their business prints more now than it did two years ago. The majority of managers surveyed said they couldn’t function without paper and almost three quarters of employees claimed that printing documents increases their efficiency at work. Nearly two thirds of employees agreed that scanning documents enables a more efficient way of working, and more than a quarter reported that their use of scanners had increased in the last two years. 65% of employees reported that scanning has also helped improve the quality of their work, principally by reducing clutter, supporting collaboration with colleagues in other locations, making editing documents easier and enabling them to quality check their work more easily. www.brother.co.uk Node4 receives CREST Certification Cloud, data centre and communications solutions provider Node4 has announced that CREST has certified the company as a global CREST penetration testing service provider. This certification affirms Node4’s expertise to conduct penetration testing for its customers, with the company also being Cyber Essentials and ISO27001 certified. Ian Glover, President of CREST said: “We are pleased to welcome Node4 as a CREST member and recognise that the company will consistently deliver the highest professional security services standards to its customers while delivering its business and brand objectives.” www.node4.com Sustainable technology lifecycle management BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions and 3 Step IT have joined forces to create a European strategic alliance to provide complete, sustainable, technology lifecycle management solutions internationally. This service offer, deeply rooted in the circular economy, will meet organisations’ demands for more flexible and sustainable product as a service solutions. https://leasingsolutions.bnpparibas.com , www.3stepit.com Time to rein in big tech The House of Lords Communications Committee has called for a new, overarching regulatory framework so that services in the digital world are held accountable to an enforceable set of shared principles. In its report Regulating in a Digital World the committee notes that over a dozen UK regulators have a remit covering the digital world but there is no body which has complete oversight. As a result, regulation of the digital environment is fragmented, with gaps and overlaps. The Committee recommends a new Digital Authority, guided by 10 principles to inform regulation of the digital world. Printer sales stay flat According to the latest distribution data published by CONTEXT, sales of printer hardware through distributors in Western Europe were flat at -0.1% year-on-year in Q4 2018. Sales of multifunction printers were up by +2.2% year-on-year with continued growth for both laser and inkjet MFPs (sales were up by +4.1% and +1.7%, respectively). However, this was offset by the negative performance of single function printers of which sales were down by -10.1% (-20.6% for inkjet and -7.2% for laser). Mono and A3 MFPs were still driving inkjet growth with sales +42.2% and +13.8% higher than the previous year. Laser MFP volume sales were up by +4.1% in Q4 2018 driven by the exceptional performance of consumer-targeted devices (sales up by +111.6%), primarily because the ASP is continuing to decrease. The business-targeted models, which account for 72.1% of laser MFP sales and 89.4% of revenue, registered a sales drop of -13.2%, mainly because the ASP is continuing to increase, and which suggests businesses are replacing entry- level business-targeted models with mid and high-level consumer-targeted devices. www.contextworld.com Tech workers more likely to turn whistleblowers Research by Indeed, found that the UK’s tech professionals are now more likely to blow the whistle on an employer’s misbehaviour in the wake of scandals in the sector. Almost a quarter of workers are now willing to quit their job should a similar scandal strike their company. www.indeed.co.uk Remote workers struggling to access information The M-Files 2019 Global Intelligent Information Management Benchmark Report, a survey of 1,500 office workers across multiple global regions, found that despite 85% of UK employees needing access to corporate documents and information on their mobile device, over a third claim that their organisations are unable to provide the access they need. 55% of UK employees found it challenging and time-consuming searching and accessing company document on their mobile device. Additionally, over half of respondents reported that they would be unable to use their mobile device to share and collaborate on documents or edit files and documents. Despite the reliance on mobile access, respondents name on average four different silos in which the documents and information they need are stored, including email (68%), shared drives/network folders (58%), local disks (54%), cloud-hosted files (54%), paper (48%), file-sharing apps (44%), external hard drives (41%), Microsoft SharePoint (32%) and DMS/ ECM systems (25%). www.m-files.com