THE TECHNOLOGY &WORKPLACE MAGAZINE FOR SMES & PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS WWW.BUSINESSINFOMAG.UK ISSUE150 CYBERSECURITY Ross Brewer explains why it’s time for a new approach to cybersecurity PAGE 24 WORKPLACE How to create a workplace that’s more inclusive and better for all PAGE 20 COMPUTING Panasonic introduces the ultimate Toughbook PC PAGE 31 Turn down the heat How one small change can have a positive impact on the road to net zero
2 0 2 2 At each event there will be a prize for Overall Highest Score for the Day, Longest Drive and Nearest the Pin. At the final event the top 6 players from the first three rounds will play for Overall Golfer of the Year 2022. All other players will still be able to play for Overall Highest Score for the Day, Longest Drive and Nearest the Pin. The PrintIT Reseller and Technology Reseller Golf Society is open to everyone; Resellers, Dealers, VARs, System Integrators and Vendors – the maximum number of players being 72 at each event. The top two players from each of the first three events will play to become the Overall Golfer of the Year 2022 at the final event taking place at the Warwickshire. The Golf Society is open to everyone no matter what your handicap is... so don’t be shy. Come and join us. & The four events for this year... The First round took place at Belton Woods Golf Resort on the 12th May. The Third round will take place at Wyboston Lakes Resort on the 14th July. The Second round took place at The Welcombe Golf Resort on the 9th June. The Final round will be played at the Warwickshire on the Kings Course on the 22nd September. The is cost per event is £99 per player or £396 per four ball + VAT. SPONSORSHIP If you would like to discuss the opportunities available, please call Martin on 01732 759725 or Paul on 07887 944433, email [email protected] If you would like to join us at any of the events please email [email protected] or call Paul on 07887 944433 PLAYED PLAYED
IN THIS ISSUE 04 What’s New A round-up of new products for work and home 08 B ulletin The rise of the workday consumer 14 M anaged Services How Apogee Corporation is expanding its offering to meet changing customer needs 16 I T Services Microsoft ModernWorkplace underpins rapid growth for Manchester MSP Everything Tech 18 C ollaboration Jeff May explains why meeting equity really does matter 20 Workplace Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum, offers her top tips for making workplaces better for all 24 Cybersecurity Why it’s time to replace Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt with an evidence-based, data-driven approach 28 Cybersecurity Jeremy Hendy on what the Government and businesses must do to strengthen the cyber resilience of UK SMEs 30 Job without… Glenn Merritt, Managing Partner of Intuita, highlights the six things he couldn’t do his job without 31 Computing Panasonic launches the ultimate Toughbook 32 Office Design Sustainability is a defining feature of the Bee House collaborative workspace at Milton Park in Oxfordshire 34 Month in Numbers The world of work in numbers Editor: James Goulding 0780 308 7228 · [email protected] Publishing Director, Social Media &Web Editor: Neil Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Advertising Director: EthanWhite 01732 759725 · [email protected] Group Sales: Martin Jenner-Hall 07824 552116 · [email protected] Art Director: Nick Pledge 07767 615983 · [email protected] Advertising Executive: James Trim 01732 759725 · [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 2022 Kingswood Media Ltd. ISSN 1464-8814 Design: Sandtiger Media – www.sandtiger.co.uk FOR THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS VISIT: WWW.BUSINESSINFOMAG.UK “ ” Comment Kingswood Media Ltd., 10 Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT Tel: 01732 759725 • Email: [email protected] BUSINESS INFO GET YOUR FREE COPY To make sure you get every issue FREE, as soon as it is published, just visit www.businessinfomag.uk, click the ‘FREE Registration’ button and add your details to our mailing list. @BinfoMag facebook.com/ BinfoMag If you no longer wish to receive Business Info magazine please email your details to [email protected] In our interview with Aurelio Maruggi, CEO of Apogee Corporation (see page 14), he describes the transformation occurring in workplaces up and down the country as a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity that he aims to take advantage of by diversifying Apogee’s service offering and becoming a trusted advisor to customers in a time of change. The opportunities for technology providers are considerable and our profile of Manchester-based MSP Everything Tech on page 16 highlights how profitable change can be for businesses that have expertise in the technologies and solutions that customers now demand. The success of companies like Everything Tech shows the extent to which businesses of all sizes are embracing technologies that support new ways of working, including Microsoft 365 and Azure Virtual Desktops. Many people – not just Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg – have reservations about hybrid working, and on this month’s Bulletin pages we cover O.C. Tanner’s 2022 Global Culture Report, which highlights some of the challenges presented by remote working, particularly in relation to office friendships and personal connections.While everyone is still finding their way in this new world of work, it seems clear that the technologies that helped businesses survive the pandemic will also give them the flexibility to accommodate any working culture that eventually does emerge from this period of transition. In the meantime, many businesses are taking advantage of this fluidity to repurpose their office space and create a more engaging environment for employees. This is not purely down to changing working practices but is also influenced by labour/skills shortages and the need to attract talent and retain existing staff. Research by facilities management company ISSWorld Services shows that employee engagement is now the Number One priority for global organisations, with environmental sustainability and talent attraction also rising up the rankings (see page 8). On page 20, Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum, urges employers to make the most of this opportunity by creating workplaces that are better for everyone. She offers numerous tips on how to create a more inclusive environment for people with disabilities and encourages businesses to engage all employees in the discussion to ensure everyone’s needs are taken into consideration. However we end up working, the offices of the future will hopefully be more welcoming spaces than they are today. James Goulding, Editor, [email protected] 03 magazine
businessinfomag.uk magazine 04 Network roll out Altnet provider Digital Infrastructure, which in December 2021 announced £100m of private investment to support its goal to deliver FTTP connectivity to 80 towns and 1,000,000 properties by 2027, has announced new locations in the roll-out of its next generation full-fibre network. These are Oundle, Maltby, Dinnington, Hyde, Hattersley, Heysham, Skelmersdale and parts of Rotherham and Lancaster. As well as building its network, Digital Infrastructure provides full-fibre broadband under the BeFibre brand and is already offering a choice of four broadband packages with speeds of up to 900Mbps to customers in Brentwood,Worcester, Clacton on Sea, Crewe and Nantwich. Always-on sanitiser To help alleviate concerns about the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, NB Data is introducing the HiHo Solutions S.O.H. Pure Air & Surface Sanitising System. Its micromist atomiser technology sanitises the air and surrounding surfaces, making any interior space clinically clean, fresh smelling and safe from COVID-19 (whilst in continuous use). Available in various sizes, the S.O.H. Pure can sanitise a room in just a few hours. www.nbdata. co.uk/brands/ hiho.php Enterprise mobility solutions provider Spectralink is bringing the benefits of cloud-based collaboration tools to ‘deskless workers’ in healthcare, manufacturing, retail and logistics by integrating its DECT devices with Microsoft Teams SIP Gateway. Mahendra Sekaran, Vice President of Teams Engineering at Microsoft, said: “Spectralink DECT integration with Microsoft Teams SIP Gateway enables Teams users to use their DECT devices as another Teams endpoint, while getting access to all of Teams collaboration capabilities. Frontline workers rely on these devices to get their work done, and this new integration allows them to stay connected with their colleagues while on the go.” www.spectralink.com/microsoft Precise locating New from Reliance Protect, the Pulse+ keyfob-style personal safety device combines proven technology from the company’s Ultra ID device with new features to ensure those in need are helped as quickly as possible after activating an alarm. For example, the latest 4G technology enables Pulse+ to make alarm calls and send a user’s location in parallel, rather than in sequence as with traditional lone worker devices, while built-inWiFi locating technology ensures more accurate positioning of lone workers within buildings. Chris Allcard, LoneWorker Services Director at Reliance Protect, said: “While GPS is a great location finding technology when used outdoors, its capabilities are significantly restricted when a device is used indoors. At best it will give an inaccurate location position and in many cases will not provide a location position at all. At this point, older technology lone worker devices have to rely on sending a previous last known location. Pulse+ utilises both GPS andWiFi locating technologies to quickly generate accurate location positions regardless of whether the user is indoors or outdoors.” https://www.relianceprotect.co.uk/loneworker-devices/pulse-3/ Teams on the go Gotta scoot Sharp Consumer Electronics is bringing out a range of e-scooters and an accompanying app, Sharp Life, that lets users keep track of battery levels and distances travelled, lock/unlock scooters remotely and control headlights, gear settings and other functions. Both the EM-KS1 and the EM-KS2 incorporate a folding function and hanger that enables them to be easily carried and stowed away when not in use, as well as a USB charging port built into the handlebars for powering/charging a smartphone. The EM-KS1 (£399.99) and EM-KS2 (£549.99) have top speeds of 25 km/h and 35 km/h respectively and a maximum load of around 120 kg, compared to the industry standard of 100 kg. www.sharpconsumer.com WH AT ’ S N E W INNOVATIONS Orange without the squash OGIO Europe has released its Pace Pro backpacks in limited edition desert orange. OGIO launched the Pace Pro range in navy blue and black last summer and now plans to introduce a series of eye-catching colours and designs for its backpacks, brief packs (a modern take on the traditional briefcase) and pouches (a cross-body bag). www.eu.ogio.com
01732 759725 05 magazine Bluetooth cut Snom is reducing the price of its flagship IP phone functionality with the launch of two new variants (the D385N and D785N) that come without the largely unused Bluetooth functionality. It is also introducing a new entry-level model with colour screen, the D713, for use in large hotels and public spaces such as entrance lobbies, hospitals and call centres with hundreds or thousands of workstations. Florent Aubert, Head of Product Management at Snom, said: “Adapting our two flagship devices, while maintaining the customary range of functions, has enabled us to get even closer to our customers by offering them exactly what they want from both models – and at an unmatched price.” www.snom.com Sound thinking EPOS has launched new Meeting Room Solutions designed to reduce the cognitive overload that can occur when the human brain has to process what is being said by people who are physically present and those who are participating remotely via speakerphone. EPOS says the effort required to do this can make it hard to maintain focus and increases stress levels. Its Meeting Room Solutions, like the new EXPAND 40 Series Bluetooth speakerphone for small-tomedium-sized meeting rooms, incorporate EPOS BrainAdapt technology which uses unique algorithms and acoustics to support the brain’s natural way of processing sound and reduce cognitive load. eposaudio.com/meeting-room Going mobile Enreach is moving into the mobile market with the launch of its own SIM and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) products for small and medium-sized businesses.With Enreach Mobile and FMC, SMEs can give employees a single number on which they can be reached wherever they are, with a choice of plans to meet different needs. Enreach Mobile and FMC are designed with mobile-first businesses in mind, with unified communication solutions built directly into the fixed voice and mobile cores, which eliminates the need for an additional app. Mobile numbers, calls and call recordings can be integrated into CRM, ERP or vertical solutions. Give yourself a lift The Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse for Business, a new addition to Logitech’s Ergo Series of ergonomic products, has been specially designed for people with small to medium-sized hands. Available in right- and left-handed options, it features a distinctive 57-degree vertical design that takes pressure off the wrist; a contoured shape and soft rubber grip for all-day comfort; and wireless connectivity via Bluetooth® Low Energy or Logi Bolt – Logitech’s secure, proprietary protocol based on Bluetooth Low Energy. The £69.99 carbon-neutral mouse is made with varying amounts of post-consumer recycled plastic (54% or 70% depending on colour – rose, off-white or graphite). Logitech.com/workdesk. Winning design The mobile phone-sized MAXHUB UC-M40 has been awarded a Red Dot Design Award in the product design category. Featuring a 360° field of view, the all-in-one camera comes with intuitive controls, a one-tap mode for instant meetings and advanced features like AI auto-tracking and twodirection simultaneous voice tracking. global.maxhub.com Desk booking Evoko has added a stylish desk booking solution to its range of smart workplace products designed to help employers make the switch from fixed workstations to hot desking and bookable desks. Accessed via an app or a dedicated hardware device, Kleeo makes the desk booking experience effortless for employees, while providing employers with anonymised data on space utilisation. The device itself features a builtin presence sensor and four light colours showing a desk’s status. meetevoko.com INNOVATIONS Charging into the gap EV charging software platform Monta and charge point manufacturer CTEK are working together to provide a complete EV charging package, from charge point installation and management to payment and customer support. By making it easier for businesses to install, manage and gain revenue from company EV charge points, they hope to address the current shortage. Sales of plug-in cars grew by 280% between 2019 and 2021, but the number of public charge points increased by less than 70%. www.monta.com Snom D385N/D785N ISSUE 150
businessinfomag.uk magazine 06 INNOVATIONS Nice to Meet you Fast growing interactive display company Avocor has been introducing its Google Meet Series One all-in-one video conferencing devices to potential customers in the US and Europe via a series of roadshows and tradeshows including ISE 2022 in Barcelona and InfoComm 2022 in Las Vegas. Developed in collaboration with GoogleWorkspace to bring meeting equity to in-person and remote participants, the Series One Desk 27 combines the functions of a 27-inch desk monitor, laptop docking station and digital whiteboard, through integration of the popular Google Jamboard app, while the wall-mountable 65-inch Board 65 is designed to bring teams together for more efficient and intuitive collaboration. For mobility, sharing and the ability to set up spontaneous meetings anywhere, there is the option of a purpose-built stand. Both devices recently won Red Dot design awards, for design excellence and ‘Best of the Best’ respectively. www.avocor.com Carbon neutral conferencing Collaboration endpoint specialist Konftel has secured official Carbon Neutral status for the third year in a row by measuring 2021 greenhouse gas emissions, purchasing verified carbon credits to offset those emissions and by implementing plans to further reduce its carbon footprint in 2022 and beyond. To this end, it has made a commitment to halve the use of polythene bags in Konftel 800 conference phones and Konftel Cam20/ Cam50 cameras in 2022, to increase the renewable energy ratio at its main contract manufacturer’s facilities by 10% and to reduce car commuting by staff by 40% through hybrid working. AustinWhitman, CEO of Climate Neutral, said: “Konftel and our other Climate Neutral Certified brands are leading the global shift to a net-zero economy by doing what all companies should be doing immediately: measuring, offsetting, and reducing their carbon emissions. Our label helps consumers identify these brands.” konftel.com Live ESG scores 360 Law Group has launched a framework that enables any organisation to measure its ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) performance. Based on confidential questionnaires completed by employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholders, the ESG Barometer scores an organisation’s performance and identifies areas of concern, updating both elements as survey responses are completed. Robert Taylor, CEO and General Counsel of 360 Law Group, said: “Sustainability is all too often an ambiguous or subjective term based on self-reporting.We have developed an accessible tool that delivers an effective and objective ESG framework against which organisations can be held accountable.” The first 20 surveys are free; prices for the next 20 start at £100 (ex VAT). https://www.360esg.uk Versatile laptop Dynabook has extended its Satellite Pro C40 range of budget-conscious business laptops with a new 14in model featuring AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 series processors with Radeon Graphics. A combination of AMD Ryzen processors, up to 32GB of DDR4 memory in two configurable slots, SSD storage options of up to 512GB and an 11.5-hour battery life helps the Satellite Pro C40D-B deliver outstanding performance at an entry-level price. Throw in its slimline design, low weight of 1.52kg and anti-bacterial coating and it is easy to see why Dynabook is positioning this as an versatile device for use in the office, at home or on the move. https://uk.dynabook.com/laptops/ satellite-pro/ Clearly cleaner Drytac, an international manufacturer of selfadhesive materials for the print and signage markets, is hoping to generate demand for its antimicrobial clear surface protection film amongst consumers and small businesses by offering it in packs of A4 cut sheets on Amazon. Drytac claims that surfaces with SteriTac are 99.9% cleaner than unprotected surfaces, with protection lasting up to 15 years even with intensive cleaning. www.drytac.com Flexible friends Visa is offering business card holders access to discounted IT support services from NerdApp, the on-demand IT support platform that connects businesses with local IT technicians. A new partnership between the two companies will give users of Visa Premium and Classic Business Cards in the UK, Ireland, DACH and the Netherlands instant online access to verified IT support technicians and the ability to schedule on-site visits, paid for on an ad-hoc basis, prepaid or on a 12-month subscription. NerdApp CEO KelvinWetherill said: “This partnership will enable us to reach even more businesses and help them tailor their IT support to their individual needs and budgets.” Nerdapp.com KelvinWetherill Robert Taylor Avocor Google Meet Series One ISSUE 150
01732 759725 magazine 07 INNOVATIONS Communicate like a pro Kensington is introducing an ecosystem of software and accessories that enables users to optimise how they appear on camera when in the office, at home or on the road. In addition to Kensington Konnect video conferencing software, which allows users to customise webcam configurations for different environments, apply different video effects (e.g. black and white, cool or warm) and adjust display settings, the Kensington Professional Video Conferencing series includes a variety of plug-and-play accessories, such as high-resolution auto-focus webcams with omni-directional microphones, a ring light and mounting systems for microphones, webcams and lighting. www.kensington.com/en-gb/ Music to your ears The plug and play Poly Sync 10 USBpowered, portable speakerphone converts any home office into a personal conference room. Compatible with all major collaboration applications (and certified by Microsoft and Zoom), the all-in-one unit features a two-microphone steerable array that focuses attention on the speaker’s voice and a Hi-Fi quality speaker and power amplifier that doubles as a music speaker. Other standout features include touchsensitive controls with clear LED indicators for controlling calls, IP64 dust and waterproof resistance to prevent damage from spilt water or coffee and USB-A and USB-C connectors. https://www.poly.com/us/en/products/ phones/sync/sync-10 Hub and speak New from MAXHUB, the in-house brand of interactive flat panel display manufacturer CVTE, the UC S10 Pro communications hub is designed to overcome many of the pain points associated with virtual meetings and collaboration. Features include oneclick wireless screen-sharing of up to four screens; HDMI 2.0 4K camera output; intelligent face recognition, a 120° field of view and auto-framing to ensure visibility of all meeting participants; crisp audio with built-in noise reduction, echo cancellation and voice pickup over 8 metres; and an 8W speakerphone. https://maxhub.com/en/ucs10-pro Cloud-first devices HP is launching half a dozen new devices designed for cloud-first computing, including HP Elite Chromebooks and peripherals, HP thin clients (desktop and mobile) and updates to the HP Thin Client OS and HP Cloud Endpoint Manager, which gives IT teams a better way to manage growing fleets of HP thin clients. The new solutions meet growing demand for purpose-built cloud endpoints which, combined with virtualised desktops and applications, provide hybrid workers in mission-critical roles with resilience, performance and security. New models include the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook Enterprise, HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook Enterprise, the HP Elite c640 G3 Chromebook Enterprise, HP Elite t655 Thin Client, HP Elite mt645 G7 Mobile Thin Client and HP Pro mt440 G4 Mobile Thin Client. www.hp.com In your own time NEC has expanded its UNIVERGE BLUE portfolio of cloud-based services with the launch of a virtual event service, UNIVERGE BLUE MEETWEBINAR, and a new connector that enables users of on-premises NEC phone systems to take advantage of cloud-based services, such as video conferencing, calling, team chat and file sharing, while maintaining their existing infrastructure. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE adds cloud-based functionality to existing NEC phone systems via desktop and mobile apps, enabling customers to migrate to the cloud at their own pace, adding the tools hybrid workers need to communicate and collaborate while keeping their existing phone system and phone numbers.When a business is ready to move fully to cloud-based UC, it can do so with zero downtime and no interruptions. UNIVERGE BLUE MEETWEBINAR provides a complete set of webinar tools and capabilities, including integrations, analytics, polling and customisation, with easy joining from any device. www.univergeblue.com Built for speed Brother has launched a new range of A4 desktop scanners fully compatible with Kofax software for converting scanned pages into searchable and editable text/ PDFs. Built for high volume applications where speed and accuracy are vital (e.g. healthcare, retail and legal), the five-strong ADS4 range has scan speeds of up to 60 pages per minute, the ability to scan up to 100 sheets at a time and a daily duty cycle of up to 9,000 pages (up from 5,000 on the previous range). Other features include USB 3.0 and Ethernet connectivity, a touchscreen display, ultrasonic multifeed detection and adaptive TWAIN print drivers. Three of the models are compatible with Barcode Utility software, which allows barcoded documents to be scanned and routed automatically to secure folders. www.brother.co.uk/desktop-scanners Brother A4 Desktop Scanners ISSUE 150
BULLETIN businessinfomag.uk magazine 08 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT HAND TOWEL RECYCLING Kimberly-Clark Professional is encouraging businesses to reduce the environmental impact of their washrooms by extending its RightCycle Programme to include used hand towels and old dispensers, as well as PPE. Since its launch 10 years ago, the recycling scheme has diverted over 1,500 tonnes of previously hard-to-recycle, non-hazardous PPE from landfill and incineration. By extending this scheme, Kimberley-Clark is hoping to give hand towels and dispensers a second life as recycled products. To be eligible for the RightCycle Programme for hand towels, any UK organisation must be using, or switch to, Kimberly-Clark Professional hand towels. The RightCycle Programme for dispensers is open to UK organisations with more than 100 customer-owned dispensers. www.kcprofessional.co.uk DIGITALWORKFLOWS CLA ON THE BUTTON As part of its digital transformation strategy, the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) is replacing an inefficient, paper-based system for logging details about copyright-protected material scanned or copied by staff in the education sector with a new digital process. A CLA Copy Button added to the PaperCut MF print management solution widely deployed in schools, colleges and universities across the UK is expected to increase the volume and quality of data collected, leading to more accurate and faster royalty payments to content creators, while also saving time for school staff and CLA administrators. Each time a school staff member makes a copy or scans using a Multifunction Device (MFD) with PaperCut MF, they select the CLA Copy Button, scan the document and enter the number of people the copy is for. This information is sent securely and in real-time to the CLA. Previously, they would have had to complete a data label with information on the source material, including its International Standard Book Number, the number of pages used and whether they were copied or scanned, before placing the form in a box next to the MFD. This would periodically be emptied by CLA staff who would post the paperwork to the CLA office for processing. www.papercut.com OFFICE DESIGN POWER TO YOUR PEOPLE With the debate about the pros and cons of hybrid working still raging, 69% of companies say they have no plans to reduce office space, according to a survey of 100 global customers by workplace and facility management company ISS. At the same time, 62% of all businesses, including down-sizers, are repurposing their offices to take account of changes in workplace priorities that have seen employee engagement become the number one imperative for global businesses, with sustainability and talent attraction also gaining in importance (see table). The 31% of businesses that plan to reduce their office space are investing most in upgrading their workplaces to support employee engagement, collaboration and innovation and to make their offices an attractive destination for employees and new recruits. Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Group CEO at ISS World Services A/S, said: “Power in global labour markets has shifted to employees after many decades in which it favoured employers. Right now, we are seeing a lot of companies redefining their offices to accommodate hybrid working patterns and personal preferences, focusing both on the physical place that people work in and the experience that people get when they come to the office.” He added: “There is no ‘one size fits all’ model when it comes to planning the workplace of tomorrow because the workplace must match each individual company and its employees. One thing is for sure, though: predictions of the death of the office have been greatly exaggerated. Instead, we are witnessing workplaces being repurposed on a global scale.” www.issworld.com WORKPLACE PRIORITIES: 2022 VS. 2020 Rank – 2022 Rank – 2020 1 Employee engagement 1 Operational efficiency 2 Operational efficiency 2 Employee engagement 3 Environmental sustainability 3 Employee productivity 4 Attract talent 4 Cost savings 5 Employee productivity 5 Environmental sustainability 6 Cost savings 6 Attract talent 7 Diversity & inclusion 7 Operational compliance 8 Operational compliance 8 Diversity & inclusion 9 Reduce employee turnover 9 Reduce employee turnover BULLETIN MAILING RETURN TO SENDER Children’s clothing rental service thelittleloop is reinforcing its commitment to sustainability by using reusable mailing pouches to send and receive items to and from its customers. Founded by mum-of-two Charlotte Morley and supported by a £140k investment from Dragons’ Den stars Steven Bartlett and Deborah Meaden, thelittleloop enables parents to rent clothes for growing children and return them when they no longer fit. Versapak’s Single Seam Mailing Pouches complement the company’s sustainability and business ethos. Made from an anti-microbial material they can be reused more than 2,000 times and come with a tamper evident locking system and security seal to ensure contents reach customers in perfect condition. thelittleloop sends out its branded bags with a spare T2 security seal inside for the customer to use when sending items back. www.versapak. co.uk
The small but mighty OKI C650 Colour Printer that does not compromise on cost effectiveness, productivity or efficiency. Available for every type of business. www.oki.com/uk
businessinfomag.uk magazine 10 WORKPLACE Simplified Deployment Scalable architecture Automation of product & feature updates Secure end to end encryption Regional hosting facilities for GDPR compliance Multi-site national & international deployment challenges are a thing of the past Truly serverless, no more server operating system license fees, upgrades or patches Tangibly lower TCO Simple SaaS subscription options To find out more contact Vision today! 08449 808 700 www.visionplc.co.uk enquiries@v sionplc.co.uk Less infrastructure, lower power consumption, environmentally friendly All the benefits of effective managed print & document services... With none of the infrastructure overheads or dependencies! Moving to the cloud but still hosting your own print management / content management software?
01732 759725 magazine 11 BULLETIN FILING SHELF AND SAFETY Rackline, a leading UK manufacturer of shelving, mobile storage and racking solutions, has secured a place on the NHS Supply Chain framework until October 2024. As a trusted supplier of office, furniture and storage solutions to the National Health Service, Rackline is not required to tender to win projects but can supply its products and services directly. Jeff Hibbert, Sales Director at Rackline, said: “Being an NHS approved supplier gives our clients the peace of mind that we’ve been sanctioned for all the important factors such as competitive pricing, quality, health and safety and also for the supply of a range of suitable products.” www.supplychain.nhs.uk HUMAN RESOURCES BIGGING UP SMES With more than half (52%) of SME employees saying they would prefer to work at a big corporation and almost a third (32%) planning to leave their current role in 2022, Sodexo Engage has produced the SME Guide to Loyalty and Engagement. This explains how SMEs can counter the perceived drawbacks of working for a smaller company, such as lack of flexibility (cited by 45%), lower salary (43%) and increased risk, by accentuating the positives. According to Sodexo’s survey of SME workers and managers, these include more likelihood of recognition (cited by 91%), a family feel (42%), a better work-life balance (42%) and better company values (36%). Almost three quarters (74%) of SME employees say they would be more inclined to stay in their role if they were rewarded on a more regular basis. Download Sodexo Engage’s SME guide from https://bit.ly/3KoAyij WORKPLACE HOWTOWIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE COLLEAGUES The office remains vital for nurturing friendships and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce, claims O.C. Tanner in its 2022 Global Culture Report. In its study of 38,000 employees and executives in 21 countries around the world, 63% of UK respondents said they find it more challenging to form new friendships with colleagues when working remotely; 58% said that the office is where most of their new friendships are formed. Nurturing a diverse and inclusive workforce is also easier when people are face-to-face, with 71% of U.K. workers admitting that it’s easier to make personal connections with other generations and people of different backgrounds and beliefs when working in an office environment. The same percentage value unplanned, spontaneous encounters with colleagues as a way of fostering workplace culture, collaboration and innovation. Octanner.com SME GUIDE TO LOYALTYAND ENGAGEMENT The secret to success: How the right people strategy can help SMEs thrive in a changing world MARKETING THE RISE OF THEWORKDAY CONSUMER The blurring of lines between work and life during the pandemic has given birth to what Microsoft Advertising calls Workday Consumers, people who freely switch between employee, personal and consumer modes throughout the day. Microsoft believes this is a permanent shift, citing research conducted with Forrester Consulting showing that 60% of global consumers now complete a mix of work and personal tasks during working hours, with 59% considering both to be of equal importance. Nearly half (42%) of UK consumers now spend more than 1 hour on personal tasks during worktime. The most common activity is researching products/services they are considering purchasing (56%), with 11% of respondents spending more than 3 hours on this each working day. Over the next 12 months, 44% of consumers expect to increase the number of online purchases they make during working hours. Microsoft Advertising points out most brands and advertisers have not recognized the significance of this trend and have been slow to target theWorkday Consumer. More than two thirds (67%) of global advertisers surveyed rated their own brands as novices or intermediates in building in-depth understandings of different personas; 60% say their companies don’t consider working ‘mode’ or ‘mindset’ when developing target personas, suggesting they are yet to tap into the opportunities presented by theWorkday Consumer. about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/insights The Workday Consumer Has Logged In A FORRESTER CONSULTING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PAPER COMMISSIONED BY MICROSOFT, FEBRUARY 2022 TRAINING BECOME A DATA EXPERT Certification provider CompTIA is launching a data analytics qualification with a view to bridging the UK’s data skills gap. In a recent CompTIA survey, 60% of companies said they have increased their focus on data to understand customers better, but an investigation from the UK government revealed that 46% of businesses have struggled to recruit for roles that require data skills. At the same time, 70% of workers expressed interest in data skills training and almost half (46%) stated that the need for data skills at work has increased. CompTIA’s Data+ certification helps organisations translate data into good decisionmaking by enabling decision-makers to mine, analyse and interpret data in a clear, consistent way. In the future CompTIA plans to introduce other data-related certifications covering data science, systems and foundational knowledge. https://www.comptia.org/certifications/data
businessinfomag.uk magazine 12 BULLETIN SUSTAINABILITY GREEN SHOOTS Research conducted to mark the launch of the first ever Amazon Launchpad Sustainability Accelerator highlights the value of sustainability to start-ups at a time when investors are paying more attention than ever to the subject. Key findings include: n startups with a strong sustainability profile can attract a 16% higher valuation from investors; n 70% of early-stage investors are requesting more detail on the sustainability strategy of startups before they decide to invest; n 83% of investors want to invest in more environmentally sustainable startups in the next 12 months; n 85% believe startups perform better in the long-term if they have sustainability built into their business models from the outset; n 59% of early-stage investors in Europe have declined an investment opportunity in the last year due to sustainability concerns. The Amazon Launchpad Sustainability Accelerator, delivered in partnership with EIT Climate-KIC, the EU’s climate innovation initiative, has grown out of Amazon Launchpad , which since 2015 has supported the launch of over 2,200 startups in Europe. It is based at Amazon’s London HQ and will help 12 start-ups, chosen out of 1,200 applications, to grow and scale their businesses through a support package worth more than £30,000, including an equity-free grant; AWS Activate Credits and Amazon Advertising credits; expert mentorship; a tailored curriculum; and strategic account support. All Accelerator participants will complete a Climate Impact Assessment by Impact Forecast to help ensure their products are quantifiably more sustainable than existing solutions. MENTORING GOING FOR GROWTH Eighteen new early-stage tech start-ups have joined Manchester’s Enterprise City Exchange scale-up support scheme, delivered with the support of Tech Nation. They will join 13 existing members now entering a second term on the six-month programme. The third cohort of Exchange start-ups from the healthtech, proptech, edtech, fintech, agritech and e-commerce sectors will be hoping to scale, secure funding, grow operations and expand their teams during the course of the scheme. They will be following in the footsteps of PixelMax, the 3D virtual workplace business, which raised £2 million and reached an £8 million valuation while on the programme; My First Five Years, an early-years edtech start-up that secured £1.4 million in investment; and Sparkbox, a data analytics and business intelligence start-up, which raised £1.5 million to support its next phase of growth. www.enterprisecityuk.com/exchange LAW BECOME A DISCRIMINATION FIRST RESPONDER In a UK first, Valla, the online legal platform that helps workers resolve employment issues by representing themselves, has launched new training to help people become ‘first responders’ when they see or hear about racism, sexism or other discrimination at work. Valla co-founders Danae Shell and Kate Ho decided to set up Discrimination First Aider training after conducting hundreds of interviews for their DIY legal platform and realising that people often don’t fight workplace discrimination because they don’t have anyone to turn to in the critical first few days after an incident. Danae Shell said: “I know from experience what it feels like to hear about shocking behaviour at work and not know how to help.We’ve created this training for everyone who has ever seen something go wrong at work and has felt helpless to stop it.” Discrimination First Aider training, covering the basics of equality law, how to spot issues as they arise and how to support someone going through workplace discrimination, costs £39 for individuals and £99 for businesses. Valla, which launched its first selfrepresentation kit in February 2022, meets growing demand for affordable legal services by simplifying legal paperwork and allowing people to collect evidence, generate forms and send letters themselves without paying for a law firm.When they need legal advice, people can share their case with a lawyer on Valla’s platform at a fraction of the usual price. www.valla.uk valla.uk/discrimination-first-aid-training RECYCLING SECOND LIFE FOR PPE A partnership between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Imperial Health Charity and Britain’s biggest PPE manufacturer Globus Group could see millions of face masks and other items of PPE recycled into new products for the NHS including operating theatre clogs, plastic bed pans, medical scrubs, disposable syringes and even prosthetic finger joints. Every year 6 billion items of PPE, including around 1 billion face masks, are distributed in the NHS for use by doctors, nurses and hospital staff. This number increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Imperial College Healthcare getting through more than 9.8 million Type IIR surgical face masks in a single 13-month period. Over the next 18 months Imperial College Healthcare and Globus plan to explore ways to collect used PPE across the Trust’s five hospital sites and evaluate the potential for plastic materials to be recycled and repurposed into new products for use in the NHS. Dr Bob Klaber, Director of Strategy, Research & Innovation at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “This partnership with Globus Group is one of the first to address the growing issue of plastic waste in hospitals across the NHS arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.With increased PPE usage becoming the new normal in hospital settings, managing waste is a problem that isn’t going away. It’s more important than ever that across healthcare we’re doing everything we can to reduce our environmental impact. The project will explore the feasibility of efficiently collecting and recycling masks used in our hospitals. If the proof of concept can be demonstrated and shown to be effective then the model could be adopted more widely.” https://globusgroup.com
BUSINESS BRIEFING 01732 759725 13 magazine UCC Coffee, the world’s 5th largest global coffee company, has today announced the launch of their e-commerce website, UCC Direct, which allows small businesses and consumers alike to purchase a large range of UCC branded coffee, hot beverages, and side products in bulk. Primarily targeted at smaller businesses and workplaces, UCC Coffee Direct provides a gateway to access best-selling coffee brands and some very special deals on coffee and coffee machines. It is geared specifically to the independent sector, with lower minimum order quantities, offering greater accessibility for small businesses or anyone wishing to benefit from the economies of ordering in bulk. This means smaller operators can now enjoy all the benefits of online ordering in an easy-touse platform. Recognising that great tasting coffee is a must for customers and priding themselves on providing exceptional, fresh coffee at great prices, UCC have UCC Coffee launch brand new e-commerce website – UCC Direct launched the site following a surge in popularity for distance ordering via a small portal, Gala Direct, during the lockdown in 2020 which has continued following the pandemic. By signing up to UCC Direct, customers can benefit from a vast range of products from coffee and machinery to beverage syrups and accessories, including: n Brands such as Lyons, Award-winning Orangutan and Grand Café n A broad variety of formats – Coffee bags, beans, roast & ground - as well as teas and hot chocolate FRESH COFFEE, DIRECT FROM THE ROASTERY n Great deals on end-of-line coffee machines, grinders and more n Coffee equipment cleaning supplies n Highest quality wholesale coffee n Ethical sourcing & sustainability - certified coffees, including Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade Foundation Visit UCC Direct at www.ucc-coffee-direct.co.uk
businessinfomag.uk magazine 14 At the beginning of May, Apogee Corporation, an HP Company since 2018, announced that it was investing an additional £250,000 in employee training as it continues to accelerate its transformation from a managed print services provider into a managed workplace services provider. The investment in role-specific coaching, mentoring and the Apogee Learning Academy eLearning platform is part of a company-wide drive to support employees at every stage of their career at Apogee.With a particular focus on upskilling in IT and compliance, it will also strengthen Apogee’s in-house capabilities as it expands its service offering to include managed IT services, as well as managed print and document services. Apogee was starting down this road when the pandemic struck, and the long-lasting changes to technology infrastructure and working practices that have followed have only reinforced CEO Aurelio Maruggi’s conviction that the company’s future lies in diversification and more strategic relationships with its 11,000-plus customers, many of which, like Apogee, are embarking on digital Service appeal transformation projects of their own. “At the onset of the COVID pandemic, we realised that work wasn’t going to be the same and that there was an opportunity for us to continue to provide clients with what I like to describe as the single most important product that Apogee delivers, which is peace of mind.We realised there was an opportunity to provide peace of mind beyond print – to understand the customer’s environment; to understand the journey they are on, be it towards digital transformation or more automation; to provide a range of possible solutions that the client can rely on to drive that digital transformation; and, even more importantly, to support those solutions with hardware or software that we are able to put together, configure, deliver to the client and support throughout its lifecycle,” he said. In addressing these concerns, Apogee has continued to expand its offering beyond managed print, introducing a range of additional services that in some cases were developed to help customers overcome specific challenges associated with lockdowns and remote working, as Maruggi explains. “We currently have three categories of service. One is managed print services. The second is what we call Outsourced Document Services, where we produce medium to high volume print on behalf of customers at our two production centres, one in the City and one close to Manchester, supported by our own delivery services. “In March to May 2020, to meet customer demand, we added scanning services to our Outsourced Document Services. During the pandemic a lot of clients redirected their physical mail to our production centres, where we open the envelope, check the contents and scan documents to a cloud-based repository or to an employee for processing. “We also have a hybrid mail service, which was particularly valuable during Covid and still is for hybrid workers. Hybrid mail gives every worker the equivalent of a printer driver on their desktop or laptop that enables them to send a document to one of our production centres for printing, along with the address and type of postage required. There, it is professionally printed, put in an envelope, franked and delivered to the addressee, saving a lot of time and inconvenience for hybrid workers who no longer have access to a franking machine. “Our document services business has been experiencing double-digit growth and we expect it to continue to grow steadily. A lot of medium to large companies in our customer base still have internal reprographic centres where they do high volume production printing and more and more of them are keen to outsource that work and redeploy the resources and investment from their reprographic centre to IT or other parts of the organisation. “The third area is what we call Managed IT Services. This covers a very broad spectrum of technologies and services and the approach we are taking is not to boil the ocean all at once but to identify areas of IT that have closer adjacencies to the services that we already provide in managed print. “So, at the beginning of last year, we started providing device-specific services. In the case of desktops or laptops, for example, we would identify the right device for the client’s needs; configure it, or image it as it is called in the PC world; deliver it to the right location after the device has been Apogee Corporation is making an additional six-figure investment in training as part of its expansion plans. James Goulding reports Aurelio Maruggi MANAGED SERVICES
01732 759725 15 magazine MANAGED SERVICES Longer term we expect there to be a 15% to 20% reduction to pre-Covid print volumes. That is not a massive reduction, but it is a material reduction.” That said, Maruggi does not expect Apogee’s managed print services revenue to decline, but rather to be flat, as the company competes for and wins new contracts and identifies new opportunities in print. “There will be some decline in the print volume and the print fleets of existing accounts, but this will be offset by areas of growth for us, primarily in the public sector. Apogee historically has been under-represented in central and local government but over the last two years we have secured positions on virtually every large public sector framework, giving us an opportunity to grow with public sector entities in a significant way. And there are still growth opportunities in the enterprise space. The majority of these cases go to tender and every time there is a tender process we have an opportunity to present ourselves and to present the new capabilities that we have built within Apogee. “In the SME space, what we call commercial, most growth will come through acquisition.We did an acquisition at the beginning of last year and we may look to make a few acquisitions down the road in order to expand our SMB client base. Organic growth is mostly coming from mid-tolarge corporations and public sector, where our primary competition is from vendors’ direct sales, not other resellers.” Core strengths While Maruggi has confidence in the resilience of Apogee’s core business, he expects managed IT services to be the company’s main engine of growth in the future, thanks in no small part to the strengths the company has developed over its 25 years as a provider of managed print services. “Our company has only two assets: customers and employees.We have in excess of 11,000 clients that we serve every single day with managed print. That is the biggest strength we have, the relationships with those clients and the trust we can build in understanding their customer environment, understanding their journey and helping properly tagged; provide remote monitoring and remote support throughout the device’s lifecycle; provide break and fix services if needed; and, last but not least, provide end of life disposal.We include everything from defining the right device to managing its end of life all in a single contract similar to what we do in managed print services. “This is our starting point in managed IT services, but this year and going forward we will be launching additional services in the areas of security, cloud services and eventually networking services,” he said. Lower print volumes Although Apogee is still in the very early stages of its transformation – print still accounts for more than 90% of revenues – its Outsourced Document Services and Managed IT Services have already proved to be valuable additions to its offering, especially during lockdown when office closures severely disrupted the company’s established managed print services business. “In the darkest days of Covid, overall print volumes of our installed base were 50% to 60% lower than pre-Covid levels, and even now, we are experiencing anywhere between a 25% and 30% reduction in the pre-Covid print volume,” explained Maruggi. “Volumes have dropped significantly because with hybrid working more employees are choosing to spend Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday in the office, with Mondays and Fridays devoted to flexible or remote working. In addition, digital transformation and more automation have transformed certain processes from a reliance on printed paper to become more digital. them through their transformation. “The second asset is the people associated with the infrastructure we have put in place. Every single day we serve in excess of 150,000 devices distributed across the UK, Ireland and Germany, where we have a small presence.We have a very well distributed workforce that’s able to reach out to any client in a matter of hours and provide what they require – in the past on their printing devices and in the future on any IT device; it could be their desktop, their laptop, their conferencing solution, their servers and so on. That is a significant asset. “Our network, backed up by support from our call centre to our distribution centre, which configures and moves literally thousands of products every quarter, means we are able to deliver a solution to a client, wherever that client is and however many offices they have. And in the hybrid world the number of offices is growing in a more than exponential way because the client can say ‘I want 1,000 PCs and I want 100 delivered to my office and the remaining 900 to be delivered to my employees at their home addresses’.” On this basis, Maruggi says he is positive and confident about Apogee’s ongoing business transformation and the opportunities it presents. “The kind of transformation that we are seeing around us in workplaces is a great opportunity, almost a once in a lifetime opportunity.Where there is transformation, there are problems and risks and people wanting peace of mind.We want to be a trusted partner to our clients so that however big or small the problem they face, we understand it, come up with the right solution and then stand behind that solution. That is our commitment to our clients,” he said. www.apogeecorp.com
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