MFP Copier Blog

Twelve Days of Selling "Day 10"

Art Post · 12/13/1410:31 AM

Todays agenda was to get an oil change and two new tires on the car. Reason being, that I was going to the Stratix Corporate Holiday event at Headquarters in Wyomissing, Pa.

Just about noon time I arrived the office, and went right to work on my CRM. I was still looking to identify existing accounts that had may have a possible upgrade path before the end of the end.

Three hours goes quick, right! Before I knew it, the clock was on 3PM, and since I had a three hour ride I needed to get out of Dodge because the snow had just started to fall. My last phone call of the day was to a net new account that I had quoted a wide format to almost a year ago. I'm like a dog with a bone, and don't won't give up. I scheduled an appointment for next week. Nice way to end the short day.

Thirty minutes into the trip to Corp, I encountered heavy snow for the next two hours. Which is always fun when you're driving with eighteen wheelers barreling down the interstate. Once I was within 30 minutes of the office, the snow had stopped and is was clear cruising to the office.

I arrived about 6PM, checked into the Hotel, cause there was no way I was going to travel three hours home that night. Event was awesome, got to relax, get some food, have a few drinks and talk with good people.

Amount Still Needed: $74K Amount Sold this Month $115,000

-=Good Selling=-

12 Days of Selling

The Twelve Days of Selling "Day 11"

Art Post · 12/10/1410:58 PM

Another day of wind, cold and rainy weather along the coast. My first appointment was about an hour away, to present pricing for one of the new production systems.

Pricing is tentative so there was not even an inkling of securing an order. It was the first time I've ever presented a price for more than $150K for one system!! Everything was good, we kicked the can down the street and will be scheduling a demonstration for the client.

My second appointment was another color production system, however, this one bombed out on me. Thus, it was off to the office to do some additional hunting in my CRM.

Twenty some emails, twenty some phone calls and I got nothing. I prepared the paperwork for the two orders from the previous day and then went back to my CRM to see what other candidates I could find. Also forgot about a small order that I had and updated those numbers

Just about 4:30PM, I was able to connect with a net new customer that balked at buying last spring. This go around ended up a little bit better and the prospect was extremely interested in one of the systems I was offering up. Not a sale, but, another prospect to add to the growing list. I was ok, that I ended up with something. I keep reminding my self that each new day brings the potential for a new dollar (year kinda corny, but something I tell my self).

Tomorrow, maybe a lost day, since I need to travel to corporate for our Holiday event. But before I go for the three hour ride, I'll need to get a couple of new tires and an oil change. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone will return an email or a phone call!

Amount Needed $74K Amount Sold $111,500

-=Good Selling=-

Health care industry is No. 1 for cyberattacks

Art Post · 12/9/1411:00 PM

The FBI has warned that cyberattacks are on the rise - and health care companies are often the target hackers seek. An attack that took place in August on Community Health Systems Inc., the No. 2 publicly traded U.S. hospital group, compounded concern for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, according to Reuters. The history of cyberattacks on companies has been littered with examples of lacking security, and it seems as though the heath care sector is now infamous for it.

The attack on Community Health

The FBI has been observing new hackers and intricate malware targeting health care systems and facilities. The information being compromised includes intellectual property like medical device and equipment development data, according to Reuters.

The attack on Community Health by an Internet bug dubbed Heartbleed took advantage of an unpatched network system to break in. Heartbleed managed to compromise patient names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers. Community Health hasn't gone into any detail about the specific attack. However, Security Affairs said rumors indicated the attack was focused on a piece of equipment that hosted the company's network. Reuters additionally mentioned that David Kennedy, an expert in healthcare security, supported that notion. The Washington Post pointed out that hackers could have multiple uses for medical records, from stealing a person's identity to selling a patient's information on the black market. This access to information violates HIPPA privacy and security rules to an extreme.

"If you have someone's medical records - with their name, Social Security number and everything else - you can commit any other kind of identity theft," Sam Imandoust, a legal analyst at Identity Theft Resource Center, told The Washington Post.

Cybersecurity in the health care industry

Why is there such an increase of cyberattacks on the health care industry? An additional article written by Robert O'Harrow Jr. for The Washington Post pointed out that the sector is far behind in cybersecurity.

"I have never seen an industry with more gaping security holes," said Avi Rubin, a computer scientist and technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, as quoted by the news source. "If our financial industry regarded security the way the health care sector does, I would stuff my cash in a mattress under my bed."
O'Harrow highlighted the Peace Corps' use of an open-source electronic records management system called OpenEMR that is extremely susceptible to hackers. Another medical center, the University of Chicago, uses Dropbox for new residents through iPads with only one username and password, according to the article. This is especially risky because the username and password are published online in a manual.
The source added that only after a Post reporter listed these vulnerabilities in detail were any changes made. "The doctors and technicians I spoke with seemed mostly well aware that their systems are vulnerable," Rubin told The Washington Post. "[Health care] is an industry with the least regard, understanding and respect for IT security of any I've seen, and they have some of the most personal and sensitive information of anyone."

The Identity Theft Resource Center recently published a report that showed U.S. health care organizations suffering a breach of 7.9 million records with 301 in total this year. This is an increase from the 4.6 million records compromised in 2013. In the report, health care was the highest affected among the industries studied, with the business sector only suffering 231 attacks in 2014.

"There are basic, basic, Security 101 vulnerabilities we identified. I'm concerned that at some point the hackers are really going to begin exploiting them. And that's going to be a scary day," computer scientist at North Carolina State University Laurie Williams told the source.
These vulnerabilities can be avoided only when the health care industry takes cybersecurity more seriously. The Food and Drug Administration published guidance on cybersecurity in 2005, which is obviously outdated in terms of the advances hackers have made. The FDA is responsible for overseeing medical devices, which is what makes the agency important in terms of the direction to take regarding cybersecurity in the health care industry.

The FDA recommended medical facilities allow their vendors to direct them in cybersecurity. However, O'Harrow noted that vendors often tell hospitals they cannot update FDA-approved equipment, which opens a hole in their systems for cyberattacks. One example of that hole being infiltrated was when a research hacker was able to hack into a glucose monitor that was linked to the Internet, the article pointed out.

When thinking about cybersecurity for any business, health care-related or otherwise, it's important to not leave any doubt as to what can be compromised. Hackers were able to get into something as simple as a glucose monitor, which means other seemingly harmless devices and technology, like business email, should be a top priority for security. Email encryption software and secure email service can ensure that corporate email is safe from cyberattacks and does not suffer the same infiltration the health care industry has faced.

David Bailey is Senior Vice President at Protected Trust.

Protected Trust is a sponsor of the Print4Pay Hotel. I urge members and readers to visit their site to see their full line of products and services. More and more we need to provide well rounded strategic solutions for our customers. Protected Trust offers some unique solutions that can help us in our day to day efforts. Check them out here.

12 Days of Selling

The 12 Days of Selling "Day 12"

Art Post · 12/9/1410:53 PM

Yesterday, I blogged about the end of the year, how many selling days I have left and the need to add two additional selling days to see if I can hit my number. I Want It All, I Want It NOW!

I woke up to a nasty nor'easter here along the Jersey Coast, instead of trying to get in at 8AM, I figured I would go through my emails and wait at least an hour before traveling to the office. It DID NOT matter! Traffic was horrible, roads flooded, accidents. I finally arrived about 10AM and it was off to the races.

My first order of busy was to continue to identify existing accounts that may have the potential to upgrade, and then to follow up with some additional accounts to see if they would make the move.

I identified at least five accounts, called all five and none were available. My nest step was to send them an email outlining my intentions and their potential savings with hardware and or features that would save them time.

All of this brought me to about 3PM in the afternoon, I was also working on pricing for a Pro C7100x and had a discussion with another account in reference to a C651. All of this amounted to nothing.

However, at 3:30PM I followed up with an existing account for a wide format system. He wanted to keep his existing system, but, his existing system was a ticking time bomb because it was a W3600 with XP PC and plotbase. I got creative and we cut a deal, total revenue about $11K.

Twenty minutes later, I had an response to one of my five emails, stating "ok lets go with the new system, and get me the paperwork". Geesh, that was nice and those two orders will help. Tomorrow, I'm off to two appointments for two production systems, and then more phone calls and emails.

Amount still needed $75k, amount sold so far $110,500

-=Good Selling=-

I Want It All, I Want It NOW!

Art Post · 12/8/1410:03 PM

With just thirteen days left in the month and the year, I find myself $70k short of securing a spot to our Presidents Club trip in 2015.

However, I still have eleven selling days left to the month. Thus, the way I think of it, is that I still have half of the month left to hit the number. I'm also thinking I can add two Saturdays and increase that number to 13 days.

Saturday, WTF, why are you going to work on a Saturday? said the little voice inside my head. After 33 (or is it 34 years) of down the street sales I still have the desire to make things happen. I can't and won't wait for things to happen, and you'll never hear me say that I'm defeated and I'm going to quit. My momma did not raise of quitter.

You see, I grew up on the wrong side of town, got mixed up with the wrong people more times than I care to remember. I grew up angry because someone had given up on me, and in my younger days, well, let's say I didn't give a dam about anyone or anything. I later found out, the hard way, that the life style I was leading was not the path I wanted to follow in life. When I finally got things straightened out, I made a promise to myself that I would never ever give up on anyone or anything every again.

Sales, is what you make of it. "The harder you work the luckier you get", was someone my old dealer principal always used to tell me. Funny, he always stated that line just after I had turned in a large sale, or busted my quota for the month or the quarter. I liked hearing that, it brought a sense of accomplishment and acknowledged that he knew the time and effort that I put into my job. You can work hard and have nothing to show for it on any given month or quarter, however if you always work hard you'll find yourself having banner months, quarters, years and careers.

Hmmm, 13 days, seems like it may be an unlucky number, but, I'm sure I'll find a way to make it my lucky number!!

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago Second Week of December 2004

Art Post · 12/7/1412:47 AM

When I first posted this last night, I got mixed up with the dates, thinking yesterday was the 7th, Well, it actual was because it was 1AM in the morning. It was good to see that Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten and we owe what we have to the Great Generation.

Canon Press Release's

12/7/04 7:29 PM

Topic by Guest

Just got the email today that the Print 4 Pay Hotel is now on the Canon Imagerunner Press Release email list directly from Canon USA. I will post these as soon as I get them, the Print 4 Pay Hotel will be the one source of timley information for all of

Ricoh Aficio 1022 sc codes 541,542,546

12/14/04 7:32 PM

Topic by kade85

I have an aficio 1022 in the field that has been throwing intermittent fuser codes. I have updated all firmware replaced,entire fuser unit and installed a line filter/surge protector.It was doing it about once a week now it does it quite frequently in...

Need Ricoh 1018 Print COntroller and NIC

12/9/04 8:10 AM

Topic by Mike N

If anyone has a Ricoh 1018 Print Controller and NIC available, could you please let me know. Thanks, Mike

Ricoh 1170L Fax (Savin SF-3810)

12/9/04 2:36 PM

Topic by Guest

Has anyone had any experience forwarding with this machine. I have a customer who wants to have a copy print and then forward another copy to another fax. Seems like it should do it. I just haven't sold a stand alone fax in years, but this...

Sharp 355N

12/11/04 1:48 AM

Topic by Flying_birdman

I need intelligence on this product versus the 2035. They are currently priced about 2k less than my similiar configuration. Thanks for the help.

Kyocera Holds Grand Opening

12/12/04 7:45 PM

Topic by Guest

December 10, 2004 08:44 PM US Eastern Timezone Kyocera Holds Grand Opening for North American Solar Product Manufacturing; Tijuana Celebration Includes Elected Officials and Industry Leaders from Mexico, the U.S. and Japan SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec

Xerox Technology: Copying Pages from Bound Books

12/7/04 8:28 AM

Topic by Guest

Xerox Technology: Copying Pages from Bound Books Inside Innovation at Xerox: a Periodic Glimpse at Work in Progress; Xerox Scientists Crack the Mystery of Copying Pages from Bound Books without Damaging the Spine. ROCHESTER, NY, Dec. 2, 2004 - If you've

RE: NEW POLL, Document Management Software

12/12/04 8:34 AM

Reply by jswinberlin

I agree with Jim and Vince, if we want to bundle it we can still do it, it just won't come from the manufacturer. I think sometimes when software is bundled the seller is less likely to look for better options. The only benefit would be if Ricoh was

Can HP Protect Its Printer Kingdom?

12/7/04 7:36 PM

Topic by Guest

other bets appear much more challenging. A year ago, as HP ratcheted up competition with the likes of Xerox (XRX ) and Canon (CAJ ), it vowed to snatch 10% of the $24 billion market for digital copiers. So far, HP says it has gained a couple of percentage

Print Audit announces Print Audit South Africa

12/8/04 6:35 PM

Topic by Guest

distributors such as Toshiba, Oki Systems, Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, Danka and Pitney Bowes.

RE: Leads in Florida

12/13/04 8:44 AM

Reply by Boston Mike

Comerxia, Inc. http://www.comerxia.com WHAT IT DOES It provides e-commerce technology and services that enable U.S. retailers to access international markets. EVENT 11-30-2004--Announced the appointment of a new Senior Vice President of Global Sales and

AWSOME, AWSOME

12/14/04 4:42 AM

Topic by Junior

winning recipies. I know for a fact that we all at Nashua enjoy you site and hope to even grow the Ricoh brand stronger because of this. Thanks again. I would also like to wish you all happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. Regards Junior Franchise Manager

Great work

12/14/04 4:42 AM

Topic by Junior

Savin GSA

12/10/04 4:03 PM

Topic by Guest

Does anyone have a copy of the Savin GSA pricing? If not, how about the Ricoh pricing? It is amazing when you can not get what you need in your own dealership.

Gestetner DSC338 network setup

12/14/04 4:52 PM

Topic by ricohrick

I have a prospect for a DSC338 they have a hard wired PC network and a wireless Mac network. I think it will work if I add a access point and install the wireless option, but hopefully someone smarter than me can help. Thanks Ricohrick

SDM with XP SP2

12/8/04 10:47 AM

Topic by Ted

Does anyone know how to make SDM for Admin work with XP SP2? I have done the things listed in the Ricoh White papers, but it still doesn't work. Has anyone figured out a work around that they can explain to me in an email or a post on this site? Thanks

Kyocrea follows Rioch's Lead!

12/8/04 7:30 PM

Topic by Guest

been on an aggressive growth incline for the past two years under the leadership of Peter Morisco, vice president of sales, Copystar division, who now accounts for a significant portion of Kyocera Mita Americas U.S. dealer sales. This transition will

P4P Polls, final tabulations

12/8/04 10:01 PM

Topic by Guest

Over the next few days I will be posting the tabulations from our "on-line polls". Here are the first two: When asked: "Would you like to have Ricoh Product Managers monitor the P4P messages boards. 56% yes 25% No 19% Do Not Care When asked: How do you

NEW POLL, Document Management Software

12/9/04 9:31 PM

Topic by Guest

Medical Manager

12/7/04 4:46 PM

Topic by jswinberlin

Does anyone know if Ricoh Family Group products will print from this vertical market software? There are a lot of local medical offices using this and Medical Mastermind. My customer is using Medical Manager and it is using Wordperfect as a word

RE: 1515MF Poll

12/8/04 9:31 PM

Reply by John Roof

Carolina Wholesale to get one. Funny how Ricoh still supplies the wholesalers first before the dealers.

RE: Sharp 355N

12/13/04 8:45 PM

Reply by Guest

with the Sharp line and it just makes me steam when a question like this goes unanswered for a couple of days. There are a few us us who do most of the answering of questions and the rest of you sit back and go along for the ride. This site works because

-=Good Selling=-

What I Want from Ricoh for Christmas

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas"

Art Post · 12/7/1412:31 AM

For each of the past three years, I've included a small ditty about Christmas traditions. I've also included an awesome picture of mans best friend with a Santa's hat. Enjoy!!

In Quebec Province, celebrations finish on January 6^th, with the “Party of the King”, known there as “Fete du Roi”. During this time, in various homes slices are cut from a cake and given to Family members. As they eat, they keep awareness for a bean that has been baked into the cake. The lucky one, who finds it, is crowned King or Queen for the day. In many parts of French Canada, a meat pie is served on Christmas Eve, called “Tourtiore”, which consists of pork, potatoes and onions. Canada's traditions and customs.

This year marks the fourth blog of "What I Want from Ricoh for Christmas". After all of my wishes for last year, Ricoh did come through with the stapleless finisher and the envelope press. I'm going to be relentless and keep asking for a few of the same things, and hope that this Christmas will be the Best Ever!

I'd really like to see at least ONE Ricoh lead for Monmouth County this year. I'm really not sure why I haven't received any in the last year.
Oh please, can we get an upgrade for the W3601 wide format system? It's been four years since the last upgrade, and if you can do that can you please add USB/SD scan & print?
The ability to browse to any folder from the MFP, having this feature would surely increase sales and help in my efforts to get Presidents Club for 2015!!!
Deliver me with a Segment 5 monochrome A4 MFP with the cost per page model of Segment 4 A3 MFP. I could garner so much net new business and I'd be able to buy that new car that I need.
Thinking about it, I could also use another Envelope Press, however, this one would have to work with the MP C8002, have a stout envelope feeder and a fiery. You can get rid of the copier part and the document feeder if you want.
A bookletmaker for MP C6502 and the MP C8002 that will work in tandem with the GBC Pro Stream puncher, not the Plockmatic that hurts my wallet.
Please, oh please don't force me to buy Plotworks anymore with the wide format systems.
Hi Speed Network Scan Station that will scan at 100 image per minute plus along with a 220 page document feeder and the ability to scan2email, scan2folder and scan2cloud (I really want this one the most)
Pricing & Launch, can you please launch the Ricoh Pro C7100 series already!! If you can deliver that to me before the 23rd of the month, I'm sure I can write and order for you. It would also get me a spot in this years Presidents Club! Please, please I really want this now!!
I want a full color digital Label Press, something just like the Graphhtec LCX 1000. Just think about all of the consumables that you'll sell breaking into this new market!!!

What a wish list right? Please feel free to add your wish list for Ricoh, or any other manufacturer sometimes the best ideas come from those of us that are in the trenches day in and day out!!!

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas" last year

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas in 2013"

To Ricoh "What I Want for Christmas" 2012

-=Good Selling=-

Stolen Container of KonicaMinolta Bizhubs

Art Post · 12/2/1410:57 PM

I love getting emails, in fact I never opt out from anyone. I'll do a quick glance, see if anything is interesting, if so, I'm gonna click an if not, I'm gonna move on. People get so upset about receiving emails, geesh get a grip!

Case in point, I received a BTA update and one of the headlines read "Stolen Konica Minolta MFPs". Yes, I clicked through and I'll betcha a lot of others did also. Seems a container (64) KonicaMinolta Bizhubs 601's were hijacked back in 2012.

Seems that some of these systems have been found in the marketplace. Hmmm, wonder if they were hijacked out of Jersey?

But, the story of the swiped copiers brings back memories from my early days in the copier industry. Back in the eighties, we were not authorized for any brand of copiers. When we first started the dealership, we would truck on up to Scotch Plains, NJ and buy Minolta copiers from an Authorized Dealership. Back then the term "skating machines", meant that a non authorized dealer was buying from an Authorized Dealer and that was a BiG NO NO!

The dealer that we bought the copiers from stripped the serial number from the outside plastic cover and then ground away the serial number that was located on the inside of the copier. Thus, the "skated" copier could never be tracked back to the dealer. We were also informed that we could never ever ask for manufacturers support, the dealer we bought the systems from would help out, but would never escalate a severe issue to the manufacturer.

All of this makes me wonder how these systems were found. Did someone forget to rid the system of the serial numbers? Did someone not think that someday some other dealer or direct branch may be called to service the system? Maybe they just plain forgot about the serial number that's in the software of the system?

I also wonder if the thieves actually knew they had stolen a container of copy machines. Can you imagine when they opened the container and found out they had copy machines? Oh to be a fly on the wall.

I'm sure the culprits will be caught, hoping to hear more about this in the near future. Here's the link for the BTA story

-=Good Selling=-

"Pamper the Sweet Tooth in Wartime"

Art Post · 12/1/148:36 PM

The information below was derived from a pamphlet that I found while cleaning out the attic. The pamphlet was printing in 1941 and was titled "800 Ways to Save and Serve", which was designed to help Americans with the World War II effort.

"Pamper the Sweet Tooth in Wartime"

Saving sugar means more sweets for your boys at the front. You can save, without discomfort, if you remember these waste-savers;

1. Stir the sugar thoroughly in your tea or coffee.

2. Try using less sugar with beverages, fruits, puddings and sauces. (You maybe surprised to find you really like them better that way).

3. Sweeten fruits after cooking.

4. When sweetening cooked fruits, add a few grains of salt.

5. Save the syrups from canned fruits for sauces on hot puddings and deserts.

6. Sweeten beverages with molasses, corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey.

7. Eliminate waste when measuring molasses by greasing the cup lightly.

8. When stewing rhubarb, cover with boiling water and let stand for five minutes. Drain and cook as usual, but with much less sugar.

9. Before adding sugar to any stewed fruits, let them boil for ten minutes first. You'll need less sugar.

10. In making tapioca pudding, add orange marmalade to the pudding in place of sugar. This adds delicious flavor, too.

11. You need much less sugar to give iced tea or coffee the desired sweetness, if you dissolve sugar in hot water beforehand. None will be wasted at the bottom of the glass or remain dissolved in the iced drink.

In replacing sugar called for in a recipe, don't substitute entirely with liquid sweetener. Use half sugar, half liquid sweetener. For 1/2 cup granulated sugar substitute as follows:

1/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed;

- or 3/8 cup honey (reduce liquid by 1/2; add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; deduct 1 teaspoon baking powder);

- or 3/4 cup molasses (reduce liquid by 1/2; add 1.2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of molasses; deduct 2 teaspoons of baking soda);

-or 1 cup corn syrup (reduce liquid by 1/3);

- or 3/4 cup maple syrup (reduce liquid by 1/3);

-=Good Selling=-

Series of New Blogs @ The Print4Pay Hotel

Art Post · 12/1/148:21 PM

Since this Sunday will mark the 73th anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor. I thought it would be neat to re-post some blogs I did a few years ago on the old google blog site.

Years ago I found a book that my parents had put away, it was a paperback book that wrote about how citizens of the US could help with the war time effort and how to tighten their belt and due more with less.

My Father served in the South Pacific campaign, he passed away many years ago, however left me a legacy of books, photographs, post cards and a journal or two.

December 7th, 2016 will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor. Seems like the 75th will be a big event, I hope that there are some of the Greatest Generation will be there.

Art

The past, present and future of cybersecurity

Art Post · 12/1/148:03 PM

Protecting enterprises with cybersecurity tools has been a long process, one filled with failed attempts, confusion and human error. Furthermore, many new infrastructure-as-a-service offerings are attempting to provide IT departments with high-levels of visibility across IT environments, despite the majority of modern systems being comprised of both on-premise and cloud-based data centers. Add in the popularity of bring-your-own-device policies, and IT departments have a lot of ground to cover. The good news is that nowadays there are plenty of cybersecurity solutions from third-party data center security services to end user anti-malware and virus prevention software. However, it has not always been this way. Fortunately, with a retrospective of the cybersecurity industry, many decision-makers and IT leaders can put the future of the practice into perspective.

On Dark Reading, Amit Yoran, the recently introduced new president of RSA, explained that cybercriminals have been around for a while now. In his 20 years of experience working in the incident response sector of the Department of Defense, Yoran wrote that he has seen well-designed systems fail, solid security programs manipulated and circumvented by hackers and cybercriminals plan strategic campaigns against the strongest systems for data protection. Every step of Yoran's journey through the cybersecurity industry has been marked by breaches, leading to an era in which hackers are winning the war.

The greatest failings

There certainly has not been a lack of data breaches in the past 10 years alone. Information is Beautiful created an interactive infographic detailing all of the security failings since 2004, starting with the America Online breach that occurred that year. According to the source, a software engineer from the company stole 92 million screen names and email address and sold them all.

Then, in 2006, TJ Maxx experienced the largest retail data breach to date, as hackers gained access to a store's wireless network and made off with credit and debit card information belonging to 94 million individuals across 2,500 locations, including company affiliate Marshalls, Information is Beautiful reported. The intrusions get worse from there.
The biggest credit card scam in history took place in 2008. Heartland, an independent payment processor, lost 130 million records, and the company ended up paying $110 million to settle claims. In 2012, a hacking ring targeted banks, payment processors and retail stores, making off with 160 million credit and debit card numbers, 800,000 of them containing banking information. This attack went on for eight years before it was discovered. More recently, Adobe experienced a data breach in which cybercriminals gained access to customer IDs, encrypted passwords and sensitive data related to credit and debit cards. This affected 152 million of the company's customers, according to the source. About a year later, it was discovered that hackers found their way into eBay's IT systems and databases, making off with employee and customer data belonging to 145 million individuals.

Does a checkered past lead to solutions?

The abundance of data breaches seems to have inspired organizations to implement some security measures, but many of them are either rendered pointless due to end users' failures or simply not adequate enough to address the ever-growing sophisticated threat landscape. Employees, for example, are lacking in their protection attempts. Dark Reading cited a Microsoft study that determined 10 percent of Windows 8 users are running expired antivirus software.

"Running expired antivirus software can give people the impression that it is still protecting them even if it hasn't downloaded updates in a while," Tim Rains, director of cybersecurity and cloud strategy at Microsoft, told Dark Reading. "However, data from our latest report indicates that running expired antivirus software is nearly as unsafe as having no protection at all."

This obviously puts enterprises at risk of becoming the latest victim of a data breach. However, organizations are not taking the appropriate steps, either. Yoran wrote that businesses are using antivirus software as well and only "modestly" improving upon old intrusion detection solutions. He added that a lack of visibility is also causing lapses in security. As attacks increase in sophistication and cybercriminals take their time, a compromise in security is inevitable. Essentially, organizations need to improve visibility into their corporate data centers as well as integrate cutting-edge technologies in existing systems.

The best way to attain the most optimal and innovative security technologies and reduce costs and complexities would be to work with a third-party security provider. Much like any other as-a-service solution, these companies take stress off IT departments and guarantee that offerings can scale based around the pervasiveness of threats. Third-party security providers will be able to constantly monitor data centers and corporate systems, and with this complete visibility, threats do not stand a chance. Once detected, if hackers even get through firewalls, the dedicated team of security professionals can stamp out the intrusion before any damage is done.

David Bailey is Senior Vice President at Protected Trust.

16 Tips to Help You Sell More Production Print Systems #5 of 16

Art Post · 11/30/147:28 PM

Eat, sleep and breath, something we do every day and we don't give it a second thought, it's just something that we do.

If you want to be successful with selling Production Print Systems, then you need to know the specs of your competitions equipment inside and out. Luckily there's not that many players in this market when compared to all of the systems that are available for the general office.

One exercise I try and do every three to four months is to make a spreadsheet of the current models. Once I've defined what those models are, I'll search the brochures on the web and then print them out (or download them). I will then read every brochure from front to back several times.

In my spreadsheet, I will then list the best specs and features for the model that I sell. From there, I'll match up all of my competitors specs. I try and do a short list of maybe 15-20 specs, this creates my cheat sheet. I'll always keep one in my dropbox account and then another paper based one in my portfolio.

From time to time, I'll read through it and get acquainted with the specs for each model. Either one or two nights before a production appointment I will cram the specs over and over.

A scenario like this will come up quite often. You've meet with the prospect, he or she has given you all of their requirements for a new system. You've made many notes, the other shoe drops and the prospects states, "well we're also going to look at xyz & abc system". Ah, so you don't know the specs on those systems and you're left with "ah, ok, I'll call you in a week". Knowing the specs of these systems can change this outcome to. "right, I understand however you mentioned that one of your requirements for a new production system was the need that the system would print two sided on 360gsm stock. The models that you are intending to look at do not support 360gsm for auto two sided printing/copying, why are you entertaining those devices?

Push comes to shove, and you may have smoked out an object or better yet you may have enhanced your value because you know the competitors specs better than the sales person that presented them.

Do the work and the sales will come.

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago First Week of December 2004

Art Post · 11/30/1412:51 AM

At 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stood before Congress and gave what is now known as his "Day of Infamy" or "Pearl Harbor" speech.

In this speech, Roosevelt declared that December 7, 1941, the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, would remain "a date which will live in infamy." That particular line has become so famous that it is hard to believe the first draft had the phrase written as "a date which will live in world history."

Note from Art: I'm concerned that the war that my father fought in will someday be lost in history. Sometime in the near future there will be no one alive from the Great Generation, and my fear is that those brave men and women will be forgotten by the general public. We need to honor those who fought forever.

Xerox Is Dreaming In Color

12/3/04 4:54 PM

Topic by Guest

mass-market copiers that handle both color and black and white. Ricoh (RICOY ), Toshiba (TOSBF ), and Konica Minolta are competitive, too. And Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ ) hopes to move its corporate clients to multipurpose office machines with brilliant

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Introduces

12/2/04 8:32 PM

Topic by Guest

December 1, 2004 - Konica Minolta Business Solutions Introduces Its Next-Generation Fax Systems The FAX2900 and 3900 Deliver Faster Fax/Copy/Print Speeds and Color Scanning Capabilities RAMSEY, N.J. December 1, 2004 Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S

Canon Press Release's

12/7/04 7:29 PM

Topic by Guest

Xerox Corporation continues to execute

12/2/04 8:48 PM

Topic by Guest

125 awards worldwide. Xeroxs investment in color technology continues to deliver, with color revenue up 20% through the end of the third quarter. Revenue from color is expected to increase at about the same rate in 2005. For Xerox, revenue per color page is

copy connect ricoh 551s

12/5/04 3:17 PM

Topic by pcb0960

anyone out there knows how to copy connect the 551? TIA Patricia

Xerox Technology: Copying Pages from Bound Books

12/7/04 8:28 AM

Topic by Guest

Can HP Protect Its Printer Kingdom?

12/7/04 7:36 PM

Topic by Guest

Students shine in Schools Environmental Art Compet...

12/2/04 8:26 PM

Topic by Guest

Students shine in Schools Environmental Art Competition Students from Sustainable Schools put their artistic talent to the test in this years Ricoh Environmental Art Competition. The judges deliberated for two hours to decide the winners and

Medical Manager

12/7/04 4:46 PM

Topic by jswinberlin

RE: Whta's a Universal Copier Printer?

12/3/04 10:14 PM

Reply by v-tec

You mean to tell me I can Xerox and print from the same machine??? Thats remarkable!!!

RE: wireless 2035e

12/6/04 12:59 PM

Reply by Jay

No issues. The Ricoh card is 802.11b only so you will need a compatable access point.

-=Good Selling=-

Color Cost Per Page for 2 Cents, Are You Crazy?

Art Post · 11/30/1412:35 AM

Many years ago while I was on my way to sales call, I would travel south on Broad street in Red Bank, New Jersey. Located on the northbound side was a copy center, and every day when I passed that shop, I eyed a purple neon sign that touted "Copies for 3 cents per page". Geesh, I thought, how the heck can that shop make money at 3 cents per page?

Back then, I was a novice in the copier industry and fully didn't understand the total cost per page. You know, when you factor in the lease cost of the copier (if any) and then the cost of service and supplies. This particular shop was smoking with volume, and I remember that volume to be somewhere in the 200-300K per month. If we take 300,000 and multiply by .03 cents, the shop was generating $9,000 per month just selling copies. How much money did they make, honestly I have no clue, but I do know that this shop was in business for many years.

Recently, I did a review for a company that had a late model color system from another vendor. They did not have a contract for maintenance and supplies. Thus, anything and everything needed for the copier was time and materials.

I offered to do a cost analysis for that prospect, thinking that the maintenance/supply agreement would produce value. The prospect agreed and gave me all of the bills for maintenance, parts and supplies for the last three and a half years. The prospect averaged just about, 4,100 pages per month in color, and 2,500 per month in black. The total of the invoices amounted to $5,800 or so, the monthly cost was about $141 per month. When I matched the prospects volume to the maintenance/supply agreement pricing I was stunned!! The cost for all inclusive maintenance and supplies would cost them $143 more per month than what they were already spending!

All of this, got me thinking, that maybe the time maybe right for to charge the same cost per page for black & color pages. I would tend to think that this model could be very popular and have many selling and accounting advantages. I'm thinking along the lines of 3 cents for color and for black. This would eliminate the complicated billing process of charging different prices for color & black. In addition, the invoicing to the end user would be simplified with one meter read and one cost per page charge.

Now, some may say, no one will pay 3 cents per page, and I would say, well who in the heck wants to pay 7 or 8 cents a page for color. The additional profit on the black would offset the lower cost in color. Could this be a model for every customer? I doubt it, however, could it be a plan that could be offered for many customers? I think so.

We need to perpetuate the cost per page model, we want customers to use our systems to make prints, copies and fax. Would it be obscene to think we might see an increase in the amount of color and black pages if the model is adopted? Could we even adopt a model for two cents per page?

Plenty of things to think about.

-=Good Selling=-

Happy Thanksgiving from the Print4PayHotel

Art Post · 11/26/144:49 PM

I am thankful that the end of my month was Monday! Could not have been better timing moving into the Thanksgiving Holiday, the extra time will give me a chance to wind down for a bit and get recharged for the final push for end of the year business.

I'd like to wish all of our members that celebrate Thanksgiving, a safe and great Holiday with family and friends. I'd like to thank all of the Print4Pay Hotel sponsors for believing in what I do on the Print4Pay Hotel.

In addition, I need to thank my wife. She is the one who puts up with the insane amount of hours that I work in my day job and night job. Not that she reads this, but I need to thank her also.

Everyone have a safe, happy Thanksgiving!!!

Art