MFP Copier Blog

Email is a part of everyday life. It should come as no surprise, then, that it is widely used in corporate environments. Many believe that email will not be around for much longer due to the adoption of social media, text and instant messaging and other unified communication system features. However, a recent report from Osterman Research suggested the contrary, but also found that email will evolve in many ways to deliver increased ability to collaborate. The changing status of email calls for more security and protection of employees' personal information and corporate data.

Email is very much alive, as Osterman Research's study discovered that a typical email user sends an average of 30 emails during a typical workday and receives more than three times that. When expanding those numbers to a yearly level, the researchers identified that companies with over 5,000 employees send and receive more than 165 million email messages. Email is not even close to dying, as 52 percent of surveyed professionals stated that they send more emails now than they did 12 months ago and 44 percent of survey respondents told researchers that they dispatch the same number of emails compared to a year ago.

If email is used less, its contents become more important

Some organizations are trying to reduce their use of email in the enterprise environment. PC Magazine reported that the multinational corporation Atos made plans three years ago to reduce its need for email. The experiment worked, as the company decreased the number of sent and received emails by 60 percent. Rather than sending confirmations and asking enterprise-wide questions, email at the firm is only used for the most important tasks.

By reducing the number of emails, the importance of what they contain will increase - and, in turn, create challenges associated with protecting the information contained within. Atos CEO Thierry Breton told PC Magazine that the enterprise lowered the number of internal emails received per employee every week to around 25. Now, Breton stated that email is used for human resources and legal matters. The topic-specific reliance on email means that email encryption will not only be more common, but almost become a necessity.

The reliance on encrypted emailalso affects enterprises that do not reduce their internal email rates. The Osterman Research report found that email is used for sending attachments by 94 percent of users and for sharing files while on a call for 60 percent of users. This suggests that collaboration tools are falling by the wayside next to email. Because of email's prevalence in the average employee's life, it is far more productive, efficient and secure to send an email with an attachment than to upload a file to a database before emailing the respondent anyway.

Finding a middle ground between security and productivity

Whether business leaders decide to cut down on email or not, the effect that email has on business is profound. From collaboration to communication, email will stick around for a long time. However, as email's use becomes more focused on important business matters, the means to protect the documents and messages attached will only become more crucial to the short- and long-term success of an organization. After all, email encryption is already popular across healthcare and finance industries in which (HIPAA) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance is required.

As encrypted email grows as an enterprise trend, security features need to be complemented by easy-to-use tools. This will ensure that employees remain productive while corporate and personal data remains safe. The best way to simplify email encryption would be through integration with existing clients. Employees will be less likely to forget to perform encryption and more likely to remain HIPAA-compliant during collaboration and communication with co-workers.

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.

The above title is from a survey I published a few days ago on this site. 

With the new MP C03 series color system, dealers have the option to buy a "smart operation panel", this operation panel would replace the existing operation panel that the system ships with. 

The "smart operation panel" is pretty much a locked down (maybe not for long) android tablet. There are many benefits to the having the new smart operation panel for the end user, and the dealer.

At this point in time, when a dealer buys the new smart operation panel, there is no credit given for the old operation panel.  The thought from Print4Pay Hotel members is that the old operation panel (which is still new), would then be discarded, saved in case one is needed in the future or forgotten about in a dealers inventory.

Which leads me to sustainability!  We know that Ricoh is BIG on sustainability, BIG on the environment and BIG on conservation! 

Which Leads Me to Questions:

• Did Ricoh not think about what would happen with existing operation panels once they were replaced with the new smart operation panel? 
• If Ricoh is truly a sustainable company, then why wouldn't they offer a rebate back for the existing operation panel so they could be used again? 
• Maybe the cost is too high to have the operations panels shipped back to the far east, entered back into inventory and re-used? 
• Should the new color 03 series should be shipped with no operation panel and the dealer can choose which panel they need when they order the system?

Just seems like a BIG waste of resources for a company that care so much about the environment. Click here to take the survey. Should Ricoh Offer a Rebate for the old Color GUI for the MPC 03 series When Dealers Buy the New Smart Op Panel?

-=Good Selling=-

The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series title since 1918—and break the "Curse of the Bambino"—by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 3–0 in the fourth game of the 2004 World Series of baseball.

Canon Sales Multifunction Copiers

          11/1/04 10:22 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          to intensify because other copier manufacturers such as Ricoh Co. (TSE:7752) and Fuji Xerox Co. are planning to market similar systems. (Nikkei)

 

Canon unveils $30 mln campaign Ad 4 copiers

          10/25/04 9:32 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          machine maker and faces growing competition, particularly in color copying. Don Dixon, principal analyst at research group Gartner Intelligence, said Canon is seeking to stave off competition from Ricoh (7752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and a revived Xerox

 

Fuji Xerox to Boost Direct

          11/1/04 10:25 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Fuji Xerox to Boost Direct Sales in China , 11.01.04, 4:56 PM ET Jiji Press English News Service Shanghai, Nov. 1 (Jiji Press)--Japanese copier maker Fuji Xerox Co. plans to increase its direct sales in China as the Chinese government is set to

 

Competitive Info Toshiba 3511

          10/27/04 6:37 PM

 

          Topic by jswinberlin

          that these machines are not good in "high" volume black and white environments because of the image cycle. Does anyone have experience with the 3511 and now if it goes into an image cycle like the Ricoh B2C machines? Or any other competitive info? I plan to

 

Ricoh & USPS PRESS RELEASE

          10/28/04 9:29 AM

 

          Topic by Guest

RICOH RECOGNIZED BY UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE FOR OUTSTANDING SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE West Caldwell, NJ, October 28, 2004  Ricoh Corporation, the leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced that Ricoh has been selected as a 2004 United

 

Canon posts record Q3 profit

          10/28/04 9:51 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Canon posts record Q3 profit of 102 bln yen on strong digicam sales in Europe , 10.28.04, 10:46 AM ET AFX News Limited TOKYO (AFX) - Canon Inc, Japan's top manufacturer of office equipment and cameras, posted a record profit for the third quarter to

 

Ricoh Adds "Embedded Software Architecture"

          10/26/04 10:29 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          October 25, 2004 - Ricoh Adds "Embedded Software Architecture" And Expands Its Developer Program West Caldwell, NJ, October 20, 2004 - Ricoh Corporation, the leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced the introduction of its Embedded

 

RE: Competitive Info Toshiba 3511

          10/27/04 8:17 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          my customers have learned to live with this and are happy with what they purchased. Toshibas version of e-cabinet I have no experience with the Toshiba 3511. Have you tried pricing the NEW 2228 (Ricoh), keep in mind this is the same engine as the 38 and

 

RE: Software and Driver Update for 240W

          10/22/04 9:36 AM

 

          Reply by JasonR

          The 300 DPI driver is on the Ricoh TSC site for download.

 

When we catch Osama...........

          10/29/04 7:52 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Now that Osama has resurfaced, what should we do with him once we catch him? I say we handcuff his hand to a pole in and then set the building on fire (and make sure he has a sharp clever). Once he cutS off his arm to get out, we then Cuff his leg to

 

Change is accelerating!!!

          10/27/04 11:28 AM

 

          Topic by Old Glory

          could actually be stimulating but trust me, it will. You will begin to get excited about using what you learn with accounts you may currently be talking to. Whether it is a new launch package, or book or Ricoh training, or whatever, it all has relevance

 

New Color-Enabled imageRUNNER C5800

          10/27/04 7:30 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Canon U.S.A. Expands Industry-Leading Office Color Portfolio with New Color-Enabled imageRUNNER C5800 Wednesday October 27, 11:40 am ET Advanced Color Multifunction Engine Broadens Imaging Choice for Corporate Enterprises Seeking to Integrate Color into

 

Rioch launches GBC in AUS 4 1060/1075

          10/26/04 5:31 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Ricoh launches exclusive in-line finishers  Unique to Ricoh, the StreamPunch Inline Punch System by GBC, and the Ricoh Booklet Making System by Plockmatic are designed to save businesses time and money by bringing specialist document finishing in-line

 

RE: Ricoh Product Managers

          10/22/04 10:29 AM

 

          Reply by Old Glory

          My first thought was that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by having them monitor the site. However, everytime one of us gets "pre-launch" info, someone from Ricoh may get in trouble for letting it out. That would be a bad thing.

 

RE: Ricoh AP 206 change fuser

          10/22/04 3:23 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          I was told by a ricoh tech at Ricoh support that this message is generated on the board after so many print cycles and you need to do some button pushing on the power up cycle does anyone know this sequence as Ricoh wants to charge me a fortune to look

 

RE: Ricoh Product Managers

          10/25/04 8:43 AM

 

          Reply by Old Glory

          . Ricoh can trace back to the DSR based on the territory the posting rep was from and he/she gets in trouble for spilling the beans and the pipeline dries up.

 

RE: Ricoh Product Managers

          10/25/04 10:42 AM

 

          Reply by Jay

          I have the same concern as Jim. I don't want to have my "inside" sources at Ricoh dry up because they saw ME  post pre-launch material

 

RE: Ricoh 551 Scanner

          10/25/04 2:57 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

the 551 and 700 are famous for this.  The M.C.U. board and scanner motor must be replaced as a set to take care of this problem.  There is a bulletin on Ricoh's T.S.C. website.

Security threats are growing in abundance as more health organizations choose to host large quantities of patients' personal and medical information in data centers, locally and across the country. A recent study from McAfee discovered over 31 million new samples of malware in Q2 of 2014 alone, bringing the total number of threats to more than 250 million. However, that is just malware. There are too many threats to expect a healthcare providers IT department to have the ability to prevent all of them.
The lack of adequate security should come as no surprise. Community Health System recently lost approximately 4.5 million people's personal data. The worst part is that the data breach was caused by the Heartbleed bug, and the healthcare provider, let alone patients and employees, did not know about the vulnerability or attack until months later, after Heartbleed stopped generating media coverage. Now, many are worried that Shellshock will have similar consequences.

What is "Shellshock?"

Discovered about a week ago, Shellshock is the name given to a pair of vulnerabilities in Bash, a shell program found on Linux, Unix and OS X systems. InformationWeek reported that the exploit has a Common Vulnerability Scoring System score of 10, meaning that it should be taken very seriously. Additionally, the difficulty of exploiting Shellshock is considered to be low.

The result of both ratings has led to many hackers and cyberterrorists using Shellshock-designed malware at increasing rates. The Verge cited a report conducted by CloudFlare, a web-optimization company tracking the vulnerability, which said that the company alone has blocked approximately 1.1 million Shellshock attacks in its first week. The source also reported that attackers are sidestepping traditional computers and directly targeting Network Attached Storage devices, which are basically large hard drives commonly used in organizations' data centers. If successful, the cyber criminals can access any information on any devices connected to networks.

More bad news

While a patch for the source code was created, it requires users to apply it then recompile and redeploy the binary, which is hard for an average employee. That only applies to computers, however. InformationWeek reported that about 10 percent of personal computers run Linux or OS X, and many need to consider Shellshock's effects on the plethora of servers and Internet-connected devices used in hospitals and other health clinics. This applies to medical devices, cameras, network appliances and a lot more electronics. To fix those, the original manufacturers will need to send fixes as the scope goes far above an end user's knowledge.

Another problem is that the effects of Shellshock probably will not be immediately apparent, similar to Community Health Systems and Heartbleed. These vulnerabilities and malware are just the start of a new series of threats, InformationWeek reported. The source also noted that the healthcare industry is at the most risk to attacks like Shellshock and Heartbleed due to its reliance on embedded operating systems.
The cost of an attack could be massive if the results are anything like experts have seen with Community Health Systems. The alternative would be to replace all of the devices used in healthcare settings to prevent intrusions through the vulnerability. That is unlikely and could incur fees just as severe as an attack. Furthermore, many of these healthcare IT departments already have a lot on their plates with electronic health record system implementation, along with all of the other issues and concerns in the industry.

Two solutions

So, if replacing devices is costly, where do healthcare providers go from here? How do they prevent any Shellshock-based attacks? The first approach would be to seek out help from security experts. Finding a company that specializes in data center protection can go a long way toward preventing any similar threats in the future as well as ensure that NAS devices are protected from Shellshock in the short term. Those experts will have the know-how and ability to layer firewalls or set up proxies in an attempt to lead cybercriminals away from personal data.

Knowing that thousands of systems were vulnerable to Heartbleed, it should be expected that one intrusion attempt somewhere was successful. If Shellshock-based malware did happen to find its way into a healthcare provider's network, then having a security and data management service will at least give patients and employees peace of mind that another similar attack will not compromise any information or systems.

The other solution, which in reality should be combined with the former advice, is that IT administrators should brief other IT employees on improved security practices. InformationWeek reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will be offering guidance to healthcare providers later this month and addressing the issue of Shellshock. So, in the meantime, it is important to ensure that steps are taken to protect medical devices from succumbing to attacks. If IT administrators do not know where to begin, they can even considering seeking advice from security organizations.

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.

I picked up a connection on LinkedIn last week where the person was asking for advise about cold calling for copiers.  Gesh, I thought this is right up my alley!  I contacted that person and had them put the thread here on the forums section of the site. 

I posted one short response and am hoping that others will chime in to this thread.  I then though about all of the cold calling threads we've posting over the last 11 years.  Thus, I created a search link for cold calling.  WOW!, there were more than 100 threads related to cold calling. 

Many of these threads brings me back to the days before companies starting locking there doors and using access cards. Enjoy the threads below!!

Copier & MFP Sales Tips

Phone Sales

Sales Reps Come and Go?

Ten Tips to get the DM to Take Your Call "Selling Multifunctional Copiers"

100 calls a day, 240 minutes talk time a day, 4 opps per day

These are just a few of the theads, however, while posting these threads. I put a little more thought into how I've been conducting my cold calling in recent months. 

My goal is to find out who the DM is for the office technology and that's about it, depending on the situation I may ask if that person is available while I'm there.  At times if there is a company that is a paper intensive account, I will stop in while going to or leaving an appointment.  But, for the most part, I have pre-planned cold calls. Those would be accounts that are already in my CRM and I've not been able to make any head way from my calls. 

You need to make cold calling fun, be energetic, be fun, and have a sense of humor when speaking with the gatekeeper!

-=Good Selling=-

The Boston Red Sox top the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, and win the series after being down 3-0, winning four straight games in the greatest comeback MLB playoffs history. The Red Sox continue on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Japan's Canon to take full control

          10/15/04 10:47 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Japan's Canon to take full control of Niigata Canotec , 10.15.04, 10:37 AM ET AFX News Limited TOKYO (AFX) - Canon Inc, Japan's leading maker of digital camera and copiers, said it has decided to take full control of Niigata Canotec Co Inc, a software

 

Kyocera Launches KM-2550

          10/18/04 11:36 AM

 

          Topic by Darren ....

          approximately 120 pounds. Additional products for the workgroup, include the KM-1650 for $2,995, the KM-1815 for $1,170 and the KM-2050 priced at $3,545 (MSRP). ABOUT KYOCERA MITA AMERICA Kyocera Mita America, Inc. ( www.kyoceramita.com/us ), headquartered

 

Ricoh 350 please help

          10/18/04 8:11 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Can anybody tell me how to fix a machine that has red wrench, door open and no display. This  happens even after I have remove the finisher, lower feed unit and any thing else that would load the machine. I replaced the dc power supply that did not...

 

Canon U.S.A. Imaging Systems Group Selects

          10/19/04 10:10 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Canon U.S.A. Imaging Systems Group Selects VeriTest for Alliance Partner Compatibility and Interoperability Certification Program Tuesday October 19, 1:28 pm ET Lionbridge Expands Relationship with Leading Imaging Organization to Include Certification

 

Ricoh recognizes Ricoh as 1 of the Best

          10/20/04 5:23 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          and look forward to future endeavors and building on our business relationship."  -- Thomas Salierno, President, Ricoh U.S.  Siemens Dematic Postal Automation L.P. of Arlington, TX  (Developed DIOSS EC - Delivery Bar Code Sorter I/O Subsystem Expanded

 

Ricoh 551 Scanner

          10/21/04 5:33 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Here is one for you Ricoh gurus. Scanner drive Shaft screw snapped this was the problem when I arrived. I replaced the shaft when I made a copy to test the machine the top 1/3 ofthe page was blank except for a inch and half square of lines. Every thing

 

Xerox Profit Rises on Printer Sales

          10/21/04 10:43 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Xerox Profit Rises on Printer Sales Thursday October 21, 2:14 pm ET By Franklin Paul NEW YORK (Reuters) - Xerox Corp. (NYSE:XRX - News) on Thursday said third-quarter net income rose 39 percent as it cut costs and the sales of its more-profitable color

 

Ricoh Product Managers

          10/21/04 10:52 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

 

 

Copier's broken & so am I

          10/20/04 5:33 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          paper? Kodak, IBM and General Electric all turned him down. Eventually, of course, Carlson started Xerox, and by 1960 the revolutionary Xerox 914 was breaking down in offices all over America. Sure, it was so dangerous that it came equipped with a fire

 

RE: Software and Driver Update for 240W

          10/22/04 9:36 AM

 

          Reply by JasonR

          The 300 DPI driver is on the Ricoh TSC site for download.

 

RE: Software and Driver Update for 240W

          10/20/04 6:46 AM

 

          Reply by bandit41076

          also works. As a last resort, there is a 300 dpi windows driver avialable through Ricoh tech support - talk to your field tech support from Ricoh to get the driver.

 

Software and Driver Update for 240W

          10/19/04 9:58 AM

 

          Topic by John

          Bandit, Do you or anyone else know when Ricoh is going to release the update? I was told any day now by presales connectivity. Acrobat is giving us a headache and I was told this will take care of those issues. Help.

 

RE: AF1515 Scanning

          10/15/04 11:45 AM

 

          Reply by Darren ....

          My scanning gripe with the 1515 .... the FAX 4410NF is basically the 1013/1515 machine without a flatbed ... correct?  Why does Ricoh not put color scanning on the 1515MF?  If they can do it on the 4410NF, Samsung can do it VERY inexpensively for the

 

RE: 240W Cutting Off PDF Print

          10/18/04 10:03 AM

 

          Reply by Guest

          This may be a dumb question, but where do find the 300dpi winprint driver? It's not on the install sw and there are no downloads from Ricoh. Thx

 

RE: AF-1515 Scan to Email question?

          10/19/04 2:14 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          I think most ISP's block this...essentially what I was told was the Ricoh's are seen like they are relaying and therfore look like Spam generators by the ISP... Like I said last time I tried the diagnostics avail / error reporting out of the Ricoh wasn't

 

RE: BIZHUB 350

          10/20/04 10:50 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          Reply post from the AF League) Yes, the Bizhub does do better color, it is 8 bit. If you position the Ricoh product as a black and white copier that does color you will have a better chance then if you try to compete toe to toe. Price is always an issue

 

RE: Ricoh Product Managers

          10/22/04 10:29 AM

 

          Reply by Old Glory

          My first thought was that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by having them monitor the site. However, everytime one of us gets "pre-launch" info, someone from Ricoh may get in trouble for letting it out. That would be a bad thing.

 

RE: Ricoh AP 206 change fuser

          10/22/04 3:23 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

I was told by a ricoh tech at Ricoh support that this message is generated on the board after so many print cycles and you need to do some button pushing on the power up cycle does anyone know this sequence as Ricoh wants to charge me a fortune to look....

 

-=Good Selling=-

Many years ago we started "seeding" accounts with small A4 MFP's.  We would offer them after the sale for cost when we leased a larger A3 device.  Cost was under $400, thus at the signing of the lease we would ask the customer if they needed any additional small MFP's for high level execs or maybe they needed one in their home office.  Since most of the leases were 60 months, we were able to offer these for just and additional $8 per month. 

We moved many of these units, and sure enough a lot of those units were upgraded to even larger A4 or A3 devices.  We were sowing the seeds for additional placements.

So, lets that this a step further.  Production Printing is BIG, and even getting BIGGER from what I see.  Production Printers can range from a low of $30k and in many cases top $100k per system. 

Let's face it, when you find an account that has just purchased or leased a Production Printer, you'll be following up for many years before that lease is due to expire.  You also run the risk that your contact may not be with the company for the duration of the lease.

My plan, is to start seeding Production Print accounts with color niche products. Those color niche products could be a color envelope press, color digital print system that can print on 500gsm substrate, label press, folder, shrink wrapper.  Pretty much something that they maybe buy or lease before they are ready for the next Production Print system.

Once I'm in the door with one of my products it will be much easier to keep tabs on the current lease, hear about the performance of the system and the service. 

I believe that if we want to be successful with Production Printing, then we need to look at additional digital equipment that puts ink or toner onto substrates.  We'll develop more opportunities, better relationships and offer more value to the customer than just the dealership of direct that offers Production Printers.

There are some incredible products on the market now, that has the sizzle to get you that first appointment. In addition we'll see more opportunities with additional color digital devices to capture additional clicks. Heck, if you're the creative type you could create your own niche digital print systems.

-=Good Selling=-

Let me first state that the current line of Ricoh wide format LED systems are excellent when it comes to reliability and print/copy/scan quality. 

Personally, I would love to see Ricoh stay in the LED wide format business. 

The W3601 press release was on March 20th, 2011 and is still a current  model that I sell.  However, in five months the W3601 will be four years old!!! There's no large screen display, no USB scan or print, no mobile print, no ICE, and I could go on and on.  But, I want to stay on topic for us.

1)  I've asked many people in the wide format business and some Ricoh folks about replacements for the aged W3601, W5100  or W7140. Everyone has told me that they have not heard of anything on the horizon.  I would tend to think that something would be in the pipeline after four years! Maybe, it's just a BIG secret and they will WOW us?  I'm thinking maybe we shouldn't get our hopes up.

2) There may be a 24 inch version of the CW2200 coming soon, however, how in the world will that help with W3601 customers that are now coming to term or are at term with 36, 48 and 60 month leases. Our upgrade path is what?  Another W3601 with Plotworks?  OMG

3) We are subsidizing Ricoh's deal with PLP for Plotworks with increased cost. Think about this, a customer just wants a W3601 to make copies, or a customer just wants a system that will copy and scan.  Guess what, they still get Plotworks and we still have the higher cost.  Most customers don't need Plotworks, but in order to remain competitive there are those of us that have had to sacrifice margins in order to keep a current customer!

4) Years ago, Ricoh Wide Format was it's own division with Ricoh Americas.  Today, wide format is lumped in under PPBG (Ricoh Print Production Group). Does that make any sense at all?  Tell me, when was the last time you heard from someone at Ricoh who cared about your wide format portfolio? 

5) HP Page-wide Printing for Wide Format Printers is coming to a town near you by the end of the second quarter of 2015.  The Page-wide system will be a game changing event for customers that need to upgrade older LED plotters and want some color. Who doesn't want color? 

Can we put our faith in Ricoh that they will protect our wide format portfolio? Ricoh seems to be focused more on Print Production Systems, Business Color and their MDS (managed document services), and that's not a bad thing.  I understand that LED wide format revenue is not a top priority. 

I would love for someone to tell me there is NEW product on the way!!!

But, for those of us that make our living with wide format, do we stay on the cruise to nowhere, or do we get off at the first port and make something happen!!!

-=Good Selling=-

Much of the news related to information governance has related directly back to security and data breaches in recent years, and for good reason as a wealth of organizations have fallen victim to theft and exposure in that time frame. First and foremost, information protection needs to become a more common goal for a wider variety of industries in the coming years, otherwise the economic damages of identity theft and fraud will only continue to move on an upward track.

With this in mind, businesses should also remember that sound data management practices - even those that have little or nothing to do with raw protection against breaches - will generally yield positive results when it comes to the cyber security arena, as well as many more in general operational performances. Security is just one piece of a much bigger puzzle that includes matters such as compliance, governance, disaster recovery, analytics and much more.

When a business takes a proactive and comprehensive approach to data management, the chances of excelling in the market will be far higher, as information remains the lifeblood of any organization. Now that powerful analytics tools, as well as data center services that include managed cloud solutions, are readily available for corporate consumption, the opportunities to progress into the modern era of IT and information management are relatively boundless.

To ensure that the business is taken care of from a security and management perspective, leveraging solutions from a robust vendor, such as one that can offer everything from email encryption to data center protection, will generally work to the advantage of the adopting company. Before competitors begin to excel and leave a business in the dust, it is the responsibility of firms to take the initiative and get more advanced capabilities into play.

Going back to the basics

Chris Poelker, writing for Computerworld, recently explained what the four pillars of data management entail, affirming that a synergy between technologies and management frameworks are critical to get the job done. Remember, data center management is not only rooted in the equipment's prowess contained therein, but even more so contingent upon the ways in which employees are managing the information that is passing through and being stored in these environments.
According to the author, the first pillar is known as provisioning, which essentially covers all of the ways in which information is stored and accessed from a management perspective. Creating frameworks that maintain efficiency and consistency across a wide range of users and access to generation end points will help to ensure that the data management strategy is working to the benefit of the company, rather than creating excess complexity over time. He noted that this pillar should contain virtually everything that pertains to raw storage materials and utilities.
Next, Poelker stated that protection should be involved in the basic planning of data management procedures, working to integrate security-related tools such as encryption and verification directly into the strategy. This pillar has become one of the most important, as he added that it is also the area on which companies appear to be spending the largest sum of budget in the modern era.

Moving right along, the author went on to explain that replication represents the third pillar of data management, and that both IT functions and information need to be covered by these practices. Replication can help to ensure that IT service delivery and information governance work together in a holistic and consistent fashion, leading to more efficient and productive performances without putting any data at risk of loss.
Finally, Poelker stated that recovery is the fourth pillar of data management that companies need to keep an eye on, and this is a matter that also impacts the continuity of a given organization. By focusing on the creation and execution of strong data-related disaster recovery strategies, organizations will be safer when a major event strikes.

Seeking out assistance

Even when a company has a large IT department filled with skillful professionals, data management can still represent an area of strain and frustration for all involved. Configuration, integration, service delivery, information governance and several other tasks cannot and should not be solely placed as an IT department's responsibility, as this will be simultaneously ineffective and inefficient for a variety of reasons.
Instead, leveraging managed data center services can help companies to free up their IT departments for more strategic matters, all the while maintaining stronger performances due to a greater degree of support coming from the outside. Organizations might be surprised at just how financially and operationally advantageous this approach to data center management has become, especially when looking at the benefits related to fewer security issues and service disruptions that come with expert care.

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.

Every week I look to Wikipedia to see what was going on in the world ten years ago.  Every week according to Wikipedia the War in Iraq dominates every day and every week. So, since I'm tired of reading about war, I thought I would pull something from the archives for us.

Xerox releases 12 new color and monochrome MFP devices and Canon launches new imageRUNNER Pro 125VP and imageRUNNER Pro 150VP, 125 page-per-minute (ppm) and 150 ppm(ii) black-and-white printers (respectively) for high volume Print On Demand (POD), Central Reprographic Department (CRD) and transactional print environments.  Read the threads below!!!

Xerox Sets Standard for Speed, NEW Products!

          10/7/04 8:25 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Xerox Sets Standard for Speed, Functionality with New Wave of 12 Office Products Tuesday October 5, 8:00 am ET  WorkCentre Pro C3545 Advanced Multifunction System Redefines Office Color at Fastest Speeds in Its Class NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct

 

Savin 4022 / Ricoh 2022

          10/12/04 5:09 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          The back side leading edge has toner on it and fades out as you get to the trail edge. if you run multiple copies it is only on the first copy. I have noticed that if you look at the drum prior to making copies there is a coating of toner on the drum....

 

The new Xerox 180 Highlight Color

          10/12/04 8:10 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          At Graph Expo 2004, Xerox Corporation demonstrated what it calls the world's fastest cut-sheet, highlight color printing system, operating at 180 ppm (nearly twice as fast as the previous Xerox speed benchmark of 92 ppm). Xerox showcased the new product

 

BIG NEWS 4 HV USERS!  Canon-branded carbonless pap...

          10/12/04 8:14 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          SUCCESS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 2004-- Further expanding its already extensive line of Canon-branded specialty print media, Canon U.S.A., Inc., the nation's market share brand leader in black-and-white and color laser copier/printer solutions

 

RayxM

p4p newbie

 

trc

Senior P4P'er

 

Chuck

Elite P4P'er

 

RE: SDM for Admin & XP SP2 Question

          10/8/04 2:24 PM

 

          Reply by jswinberlin

          Ted: I ran into the same thing. I ended up having to go to a pc that doesn't have sp2, but I know this isn't the solution. I think Ricoh is going to have to update the software.

 

RE: shady salesman

          10/8/04 11:45 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          the situation and believe salesperson in question should "pony up" and take care of those who take care of him. When selling for Ricoh, we sales people get to accumulate points for products and or gift certificates. Share the wealth if not with the dollars

 

RE: SDM for Admin & XP SP2 Question

          10/10/04 6:19 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          This was posted on the Ricoh UK site Thank you for using Ricoh products. Microsoft have announced the release of Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Security Enhancement). It is available for download from the web and will be delivered automatically to

 

RE: Scanning to Mac

          10/12/04 8:57 PM

 

          Reply by Darren ....

          The 2535 would be the Ricoh 1035

 

Need Your Help!

          10/8/04 8:29 AM

 

          Topic by Guest

          Can someone please email me a copy of the warranty card from a Ricoh Laser Printer (could be savin, lanier, gestetner). Please! art@p4photel.com Thanx

 

life is good

          10/8/04 4:16 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          ALL RICOH GURUS, HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND, I'm going to go see the NC State Wolfpack take care of the Tarheels. There's nowhere like Wilmington nc

 

Data Overwite Security Security

          10/10/04 6:28 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          compressed with Ricohs unique compression method, it is virtually impossible to restore it to its original state. To double security, the data can be erased. To this end, Ricoh presents Data Overwrite Security Unit. Safeguarding your MFP Whenever pages are

 

P4P Vendor Sponsered Training Seminar

          10/11/04 10:28 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          , VircoSoft, Sentryfile, Idatix, Memory Experts, Print Audit, Ricoh may be able to have training and solution seminars. I think this can be pulled off depending on how many members would commit. We could also have a round table with P4P members and discuss

 

RE: Leads in California

          10/10/04 6:05 PM

 

          Reply by Boston Mike

          President of Marketing Peter J. Strand Corporate Controller Kurt E. Albershardt Co-founder and Director of Network Engineering John M. Greathouse Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Development OFFICE(S) CallWave, Inc. 136 W. Canon Perdido St

 

RE: AF1515 Scanning

          10/15/04 11:45 AM

 

          Reply by Darren ....

          My scanning gripe with the 1515 .... the FAX 4410NF is basically the 1013/1515 machine without a flatbed ... correct?  Why does Ricoh not put color scanning on the 1515MF?  If they can do it on the 4410NF, Samsung can do it VERY inexpensively for the....

 

-=Good Selling=-