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Whether you’re replacing existing devices or starting from scratch, choosing office equipment for your law office involves making a series of critical decisions. You’ll be using your office equipment for several years, and it’s essential to make the right choice. Here’s how to map out the process. 1. Begin with the Right Provider If you’re interested in products from a particular office equipment manufacturer, you can go to their website to locate a vendor in your area. Choosing a vendor with established technology partnerships means you’ll have access to certified technicians, OEM parts, and a solid reputation for delivering support after the sale. Remember that no matter how satisfied you may be with your office equipment, if you’re not happy with your technology provider, that’s a problem. 2. Research Their Commitment to Support In today’s always-on, social-media rich environment, it’s not difficult to find out how committed a potential office equipment provider is to customer service. Check online reviews to find out how others view their experience and also check the company website for references from local business leaders. The company website may also address their commitment to fast response times, first-call completion, and preventative maintenance to keep equipment operational and reduce downtime. 3. Find Out What Other Services They Offer You’ll get more from your office equipment if you can add a suite of supportive services. Some of the most beneficial include: Managed print services — Solutions to optimize your print-related workflows, keep unnecessary printing in check, and enhance print security. Document solutions — Workflow solutions like electronic document management and cloud services to help your law firm deploy paperless processes.

Threats from hackers are nothing new, but there’s a threat that outdates them by decades, and it’s still hanging out at your office. Paper Problems You’ve done everything possible to address data security, including switching from paper to digital document management solutions. Nonetheless, we’re still a long way off from an entirely paperless world, and businesses depend on their office printing equipment for situations that demand a hard copy. How your employees handle printed documents can have a significant bearing on your company’s overall security status. Here’s how to keep risks to a minimum. SECURE YOUR OFFICE EQUIPMENT — Office equipment vulnerabilities can put your company at risk of a catastrophic security breach. Hackers have learned how to exploit unprotected office printers and copiers, entering networks and gaining access to stored information. Long before anyone is aware of their presence, thieves can install malware and viruses and gain unlimited access to confidential information. Your first line of defense is to work with your office equipment provider to set up secure passwords and data encryption solutions to protect your network and stored data. TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES —Are your employees aware of the right procedures for printing, handling, and destroying confidential documents? To find out, spend a day or two looking in recycle bins, printer trays, and desktops. Check for documents with printed financial data, HR details, sensitive company correspondence, etc., and then begin a formal training program to help employees follow better security procedures. TRACK PRINTING —Managed print solutions that keep tabs on employee printing habits can solve many of your company’s print-related security problems. Research shows that when employees are aware that office equipment includes print-tracking software, they print fewer documents and think twice before printing sensitive information.

Printing may be your organization’s last great unmanaged task, but there’s a way to get it under control. Print Audit Managed Print Solutions help companies reduce unnecessary printing, eliminate redundant devices, and bring costs back in line. How Much Do You Spend? If your company has never experienced a managed print assessment, the answer to the above question is probably a lot more than you should. On average, companies undergoing a thorough cost analysis of their print infrastructure discover annual costs as high as 3% of revenues, and document-intensive organizations can spend much more than that. How Much Would You Rather Spend? Printing costs often go undetected, and for many companies, there’s little time to do anything about it. If you’d like to see your print budget stay in line with your expectations, Print Audit Managed Print Solutions can provide the way forward. Print Accountability— Do you know who’s printing what and why they’re printing it? Print Accountability shows exactly how your printers are being used, and with new rules and limits in place, you can get start paying for business-critical documents only and stop footing the bill for the rest. Supply issues— Is your supply closet bursting with too much toner—much of it outdated or for devices you no longer own? Or perhaps your closet doesn’t hold much of anything, which could be the source of those project stand-stills you’ve been facing lately. Either way, a better solution is to allow Print Audit to monitor your devices and send supplies when you need them. Print Audit Managed Print Solutions gives you one less thing to worry about, and we’ve only begun discussing the benefits. One thing is for certain—with your print environment finally under control, you’ll have more time to spend on the business at hand.

It’s universally acknowledged that most of us could accomplish more in a workday, but no matter how hard we try, there’s still more to do at the end of the day. Perhaps the key lies not in working harder but in finding ways to use our time better by eliminating distractions. Check out these solutions for getting more from your workday. Turn it off. Everyone wants your attention, and these days, it’s easy to get virtually tapped on the shoulder all day long. Turning off social media, text, email, and voice notifications and setting aside a scheduled time to deal with them is an easy way to tune out interruptions. It’s true—multitasking is impossible. Our minds aren’t capable of giving our full attention to competing tasks. If you’ve ever tried to listen to someone on the phone while also listening to someone else, you know how impossible multitasking really is. To get more from your day, focus on just one task at a time. Take a break. Your mind and your body both need a break. Schedule yours and then stick to your commitment. To give your mind a real break, go outdoors and look around instead of down at a screen. Try out some new office services. What’s slowing down your productivity? Are there office services you could tap into to free up time for mission-critical tasks? Managed Print Services providers can take over management of your printers and even improve your print-related workflows, saving both time and money. Other office services like Document Management, and office services customized for your industry almost always provide a fantastic return on investment.

Your company may have vastly different office equipment requirements than one in another industry. Instead of trying to make do with the wrong equipment, try contacting your office equipment and services provider to find something that meets your industry requirements. Healthcare The document-intensive healthcare industry also requires robust print security solutions to protect patient health information. A printing solution with built-in data encryption and pull-printing features can help your employees keep confidential documents safe from unauthorized users. Manufacturing Your office equipment needs may vary depending on the products you manufacture and the systems you use to distribute them. A multifunction system can help you scan and route information directly to a document management system. For professional in-house labels customized for your products, a digital label press is a perfect solution. Law Firms Law firms have substantial document printing requirements, even with a well-established paperless solution in place. Network laser printers and a dedicated scanner designed with speed and high volume capabilities can keep up with your demands. Banking Keeping information confidential, organized, and readily available for your customers is a challenging task for the banking industry. When customers require printed documentation, a multifunction system that protects sensitive information is a perfect solution. The copy, print, and fax features save space and improve productivity, and scanning capabilities allow you to quickly route customer documents for faster loan approval processes and more. Non-Profits You need a cost-effective way to produce your pamphlets, newsletters, and reports. A multifunction printer provides an in-house solution for your printing requirements and also helps you capture and route information to your document management solution.

Most business leaders have heard that Print Audit’s Managed Print Software can save companies big money off their current print spend. Depending on their usage, some organizations see reductions in the 30% to 40% or higher range. While the savings are reason enough to implement Print Audit Managed Print Software, workplace productivity is also a core benefit. Managed Print’s Productivity Benefits What’s standing in the way of your company’s productivity? An unmanaged print environment is often a significant source of workflow bottlenecks. Here’s how to tell if a managed print strategy from Print Audit could give productivity a boost for your office. 1. An untrained employee is responsible for print management. If you haven’t engaged the services of a managed print provider, then someone within your organization is taking care of this for you. Since there’s much more to managing a complicated print environment than meets the eye, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. Here’s how: Training: Your employee doesn’t have the specialized training to uncover and address hidden costs. Time: When your employee is putting out print-related fires, they’re not performing core duties. Costs: Managed print professionals know how to select the best equipment and supplies for your requirements. You won’t overpay for features and supplies you don’t need or miss out on those you do. 2. There’s no proactive approach to printer maintenance. A proactive approach to your equipment means less downtime, lower costs, and a staff that can access your devices when they need them. 3. Your IT team takes print-related helpdesk calls. In some organizations, IT helpdesk calls are print-related as much as 25% to 50% of the time. Put your IT team back to work on your network by letting managed print experts take care of your printers.

Going paperless has so many benefits for the modern business that it’s a wonder everyone hasn’t made the transition. While conducting business completely without paper isn’t a reality just yet, there are a variety of digital document solutions that can get your company very close. Paperless Benefits Here’s how too much paper is impacting your organization and how you can implement paperless document solutions to gain some fantastic benefits. 1. Paper is difficult to track. Recent surveys point out that knowledge workers spend as much as two hours a day attempting to find documents, and much of the time their search is unsuccessful. Keeping tabs on paper documents can be a job unto itself, and every one of us has misplaced a critical document a time or two. Solutions like document management eliminate paper files by converting and storing everything digitally. Employees can locate any document or file they need in seconds by entering data into a keyword search. 2. Paper makes workflows more time-consuming. No matter how efficient your employees are, paper-based workflows are slower than document solutions that feature process automation. Instead of printing and copying documents and hand-carrying or mailing them to recipients, the next person in the process receives an electronic notification along with the corresponding file. The benefits include saved time, fewer process and manual data entry errors, and lower costs. 3. Paper is nearly impossible to safeguard. You can take every possible step to protect paper documents from theft, loss, or disaster and it still wouldn’t be enough. To safeguard your documents and your business, choose electronic document solutions that provide backup and recovery and off-site storage.

Do your employees store critical files on their laptops or mobile devices? When employees create and store documents on their devices, they’re creating a host of problems for your organization. Document Management Solutions It’s just a matter of time before a critical file goes missing because of inadequate storage solutions. Here’s why office services like Document Management and Cloud Services are a better solution than employee-created file storage hierarchies. 1. You need access to your business-critical files. Imagine a scenario where your team requires a critical file to close a business deal that’s essentially make-or-break for your company. Unfortunately, the file is stored on a laptop belonging to an employee who is out of the office for the day. Unless you can get your hands on their laptop and password, that file and the deal that accompanies it are both hopelessly out of reach. By using professional office services, your files could be accessible at any time and from any employee with the proper credentials. 2. You have the laptop, but you can’t find the file. Anywhere. Let’s assume you have access to both the laptop and files in the above scenario. Unfortunately, no one understands your employee’s creative file storage system, and you need the file immediately. Once again, a critical business deal could go completely off the rails. A Document Management System eliminates the common crisis of files gone missing. Users simply scan documents, and the system saves and stores information based on captured metadata. To locate a file, users conduct a keyword search, and the file is available in seconds.

You’ve invested in state-of-the-art office equipment, and you want it to last well into its expected lifecycle. Without the proper care, however, your office equipment may need replacing much sooner than your budget can handle. Read on for some simple tips for keeping productivity moving forward by getting the most from your copiers and printers. 1. Follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. Your office imaging equipment came with an owner’s manual, and you should familiarize yourself with the manufacturer’s basic care tips. If you can’t locate the printed manual, you should be able to find it online. In other cases, the touchscreen interface may have care instructions included; look for them in the menu. 2. Keep your office equipment clean. Your laser printers, copiers, and document scanners get a substantial workout every day, and regular cleaning is a must. Tell-tale signs that cleaning is overdue include smudges or lines on your documents and frequent paper jams. Clean the scanning glass and document feeder regularly by using a manufacturer-approved cleaner applied to a soft cloth. To avoid damage, never spray liquid cleaner directly onto your equipment. Clean paper dust from paper trays and feeders using a soft, dry cloth. Move dust away and out from document-entry areas. Carefully dust outside parts with a clean, soft cloth. 3. Pay attention to your paper. Overloading paper trays or using paper that’s been exposed to moisture is a paper jam in the making. Use the guideline on the inside of the paper tray to avoid overfilling. Store paper in a cool, dry environment. Avoid using low-quality paper that may produce more fibers and dust than better quality copy paper.

Has your organization scheduled a managed print assessment yet? As a tool for understanding your actual costs, an in-depth Print Audit assessment can be a real eye-opener. Here’s how to tell if a managed print assessment would benefit your organization. You have no detailed analysis of usage. When employees have little to no oversight of their printing decisions, the disadvantages will show up in your bottom line. A Print Audit managed print assessment can make business leaders aware of individual and departmental usage. You’ll finally have the right software to uncover printing abuses and wasteful habits. And if your employees unknowingly print to high-cost copiers and printers, you’ll find that out as well. Effective for as many as a few to thousands of printers and workstations, Print Audit managed print assessments provide insightful reporting tools to begin correcting out-of-control print spends. You have no accurate system for recovering printing costs. Print Audit managed print software can help your organization recover the untracked documents that are driving up your expenses. PIN numbers and codes assigned to projects and clients help facilitate accurate charge-back processes. Simple automated billing solutions mean no client-generated prints slip through the cracks. Easy integration with your existing accounting platform means you won’t need to purchase additional software solutions. You have no way to inform employees of the cost and impact of individual print jobs. Would you like your employees to be more aware of the impact their printing decisions have on your business? Print Audit provides managed print tools that inform employees of costs, environmental impact, security rules, restrictions on color usage, and when duplexing is a better option.