Editorials

bizhub PRO C65hc Receives EDP Award for Brilliance in Digital Color

<p>Ramsey, N.J. – July 27, 2009 – Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider of advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop, today announced that the bizhub PRO® C65hc was awarded the European Digital Press (EDP) Association Award for its dependable color and productivity, and brilliance in digital color.&#160; The EDP jury, consisting of experts in engineering, journalism and independent consulting, chose Konica Minolta’s innovative printing system for its unsurpassed color reproduction as the best full color light production print system in the marketplace.</p> <p>Featuring revolutionary High Chroma toner (HC toner) developed by Konica Minolta, the bizhub PRO C65hc color production print system provides an unprecedented number of colors and exceptionally bright color saturation for graphic arts companies, commercial printers, advertising agencies and other creative groups.&#160; In particular, users will benefit from the large sRGB coverage area along with the facilitated sRGB color workflow. Additionally, the bizhub PRO C65hc reproduces a color gamut extremely close to the sRGB color space and also produces a far greater number of colors than any other device currently on the market. What you see is what you print (WYSIWYP) is the maxim for the new HC toner, making complicated conversion processes from sRGB into CMYK more accurate.</p> <p>The bizhub PRO C65hc stands out from other products in its class due to its unsurpassed color quality, its impressive media flexibility and comprehensive inline finishing options.&#160; The system processes up to 65 color letter-sized pages a minute and easily manages media of up to 300 gsm.&#160; To facilitate selection, the bizhub PRO C65hc comes in different configurations, targeted to the most frequent customer finishing requirements.&#160; In addition, HC toner requires lower fusing temperatures than conventional toners while also producing lower C02 emissions.</p>

eCopy Launches All-New PaperWorks Desktop Document Imaging Application

<p><i>By <a href="http://www.buyerslab.com/news/viewarticle.asp?article=57845">Jamie Bsales</a>, Associate Editor, July 24, 2009</i></p> <p>eCopy, Inc. is continuing its quest to help close the workflow divide in the workplace—where digital documents follow one path and paper documents follow another, often much slower, route—with its latest software solution. eCopy PaperWorks is a desktop document imaging solution that helps users scan paper documents, merge them with other digital files, modify the documents and connect them to back-end repositories and line-of-business applications. </p> <p>PaperWorks replaces the company’s eCopy Desktop offering. It augments the <a href="http://www.buyerslab.com/bliq/search_media.asp?mediaID=56009"><b>eCopy ShareScan Suite</b></a> and <a href="http://www.buyerslab.com/bliq/search_media.asp?mediaID=56011"><b>ShareScan Essentials</b></a> network scan-capture and routing solutions, which integrate with many leading MFPs and enable users to easily scan paper documents and integrate them into more than 100 leading business applications, such as enterprise content management (ECM) software, document management repositories, fax software, collaboration platforms and more. While PaperWorks can be used as an adjunct to ShareScan (and is included in both ShareScan bundles), ShareScan is not required to take advantage of the desktop software’s features. </p> <p>“ShareScan handles distributed front-office capture and connects to business and enterprise applications,” explained Tim Durant, vice president, Business Development Worldwide for eCopy. “PaperWorks handles the document processing piece of the puzzle: working with documents to scan, merge, modify and connect.”</p> <p>PaperWorks is a desktop document imaging application that falls on the software continuum between simple scan-capture solutions (such as Sharp’s Sharpdesk) and full-blown document management applications (such as Xerox DocuShare Express). Rather than just scanning a file and dumping it to a folder, where it then has to be opened with another application, PaperWorks allows users to work extensively with digital applications. They can use the PaperWorks interface to capture paper documents from any desktop scanner or network MFP; combine already-existing electronic files (such as Microsoft Office files and e-mail) with scanned documents, faxes and more; view, edit, mark up and manipulate files; and create secure, searchable PDFs of the new documents. And thanks to eCopy’s expertise in connecting to back-end applications such as Microsoft SharePoint, users can deliver and retrieve files via PaperWorks to workflow, document management, communication and other business applications. </p>

Practical Steps to Enhance Information Security

<a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003935200Medium_1.jpg">... title="iStock_000003935200Medium" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="116" alt="iStock_000003935200Medium" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003935200Medium_thumb_1... width="128" align="right" border="0" /></a> <p><b></b></p> <p> When one thinks about threats to organizational security, the words <i>hackers </i>and <i>computer viruses</i> come to mind. In this world of network attacks, printers, copiers and fax machines are easy to overlook. These systems can store trade secrets, financial and medical information, and valuable information like customer lists or pricing schedules. Loss of this information could be devastating.</p> <p>The good news is that there are practical steps you can take to improve the security of your printers and copiers.</p> <p><a name="OLE_LINK4"></a><a name="OLE_LINK3">1. <b>Track Printing Access</b></a></p> <p>Output tracking technologies can keep a record of which documents are printed. You can access the printing logs to see what documents an employee has printed. Your staff will know that the company is monitoring information security thus creating an environment where employees are hesitant to steal information through the printer. </p> <p><b>2. </b><b>Encrypt Hard Drives on Multifunction Systems</b></p> <p>When you scan a document on a multifunction system the scanned image is stored on the device’s hard drive before it is sent off to an email address or network folder location. New security technologies can encrypt documents on the multifunction system’s hard drive and make sure files are erased after they have been transmitted.</p>

Streamline Your Business Processes to Improve Productivity and Profit

<p><a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003593355Small_0.jpg"><img title="iStock_000003593355Small" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="139" alt="iStock_000003593355Small" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003593355Small_thumb_0.... width="206" align="left" border="0" /></a> Are you looking for ways to improve and streamline your business processes? A great place to start is to evaluate your current business practices.</p> <p>A business process is a structured series of steps that produces a repeated outcome. Accounts receivable—what happens from the time you generate an invoice until you get paid—is the most common business process. These paper and digital documents are the vehicles by which information flows through your business regardless of what industry you are in.</p> <p>Technology will improve your business and streamline the flow of information to:</p> <ul> <li>Increase Profits</li> <li>Enhance Competitive Advantage</li> <li>Improve Customer Service</li> <li>Ensure Regulatory Compliance</li> </ul>

Ricoh Embraces SOA Technology To Expand MFP Functionality

<p><i>By <a href="http://www.buyerslab.com/news/viewarticle.asp?article=57133">Jamie Bsales</a>, Associate Editor, July 8, 2009</i></p> <p>At IBM’s Impact 2009 conference, Ricoh Americas Corp. introduced its new Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) technology for MFPs equipped with the company’s ESA (Embedded Software Architecture) platform. The Ricoh SOA Portal will enable enterprise customers to leverage IBM's WebSphere software in conjunction with Ricoh MFPs to drive complex business processes right from the devices’ control panels. Ricoh is the first MFP vendor to demonstrate SOA integration.</p> <p>In an SOA environment, complex applications are built out of complementary layers of software services that can be handled by the various systems involved. So, for example, an MFP would handle the data capture and routing, while a back-end WebSphere application would handle the document processing, such as OCR functions or workflow. </p> <p>With Ricoh MFPs, the SOA solution is a Java application running on the ESA platform. The MFP does not hold any SOA components; rather, it simply is a client that makes requests to the SOA environment using the SOA standards of Web services. Ricoh reports that all ESA-equipped models introduced since 2007 will run the SOA solution.</p> <p>An Internet-like application on the MFP's control panel will enable users to easily select from a customized list of tasks or services that initiate business processes. Thanks to the bi-directional communication enabled by SOA and ESA, the required actions are pushed to the panel from the back-end system in the form of an icon that clearly represents the business process. This enables complex operations to be handled by the touch of a button, simplifying the workflow for the end user.</p>

Why Document Management Growth is Exploding

<p>For over thirty years we’ve been moving towards the lofty goal of the <i>paperless office</i>. But as the volume of computer data grows, so too does our paper usage. <a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000004077201Medium.jpg"><img title="iStock_000004077201Medium" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 5px 0px 5px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="178" alt="iStock_000004077201Medium" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000004077201Medium_thumb.jpg" width="137" align="right" border="0" /></a></p> <p>Fortunately there seems to be a valid movement toward cutting back on our paper usage with Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS). This system allows you to scan all your paper documents to create a searchable and secure filing system.</p> <p>There are several trends are driving the rapid adoption of this technology:</p> <p>· <b>Low Costs of Electronic Storage. </b>It is now possible to store 10 filing cabinets full of paper in one gigabyte of electronic storage.</p> <p>· <b>Familiarity with Computer Applications.</b> Today, everyone is trained to be familiar with common computer applications. This means adoption time and training for new applications is minimal.</p> <p>· <b>High Speed Scanners and Multifunction Copiers. </b>Documents can be scanned quickly and conveniently with sheet-fed scanners, available on most new digital office copiers.</p>

Documents Manage 6% of Your Budget

<p>Document costs increase every year thanks to the growing volume of information. These costs include everything from printing and copying to the infrastructure needed to store and retrieve critical information.</p> <p>Recent research by InfoTrends found that overall expenditures on documents were 6% of annual revenues.</p> <p>Fortunately there are several practical strategies for medium and small businesses you can employ to reduce your document costs:</p> <p><b><a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/paperandlaptopnogb_1.png"><img title="paper and laptop nogb" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="119" alt="paper and laptop nogb" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/paperandlaptopnogb_thumb_1.png" width="143" align="left" border="0" /></a> Multifunction Systems</b></p> <p>New workgroup multifunction systems can provide full color printing, copying, faxing, and scanning services in one device.</p> <p>Multifunction systems are less expensive to operate than laser printers especially when it comes to color output. These systems operate on low cost-per-page agreements that include supplies, preventative maintenance, and on-site service. The net result is lower output costs.</p> <p><b>Printer Management</b></p> <p>In many offices, 80% of document output is attributed to printing. A recent study by Hewlett-Packard showed that a properly-managed printing environment can cut printing costs by 8-42. The first step is to understand your actual printing expense.</p>

Want Production? Think Multifunction.

<p><b>What is a Multifunction System?<b><a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003106694Small_1.jpg"><img title="iStock_000003106694Small" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 0px 10px 5px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="114" alt="iStock_000003106694Small" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/iStock_000003106694Small_thumb_1.... width="150" align="right" border="0" /></a></b></b></p> <p>According to the Multifunction Products Association, a multifunction system (MFP) is defined as “office equipment for paper management connected to a PC or network that handles two or more of the following functions: printing, scanning, copying or faxing.”</p> <p><b>Everything You Need In One Device</b></p> <p>The newest generation of MFPs provides important office functionality in one reliable device with the capabilities of printing, copying and scanning in full color.</p> <p><b>Printing </b></p> <p>An MFP works like any other laser printer, but also adds the type of finishing functionality you expect from a copier including stapling and two-sided printing.</p> <p><b>Scanning </b></p> <p>Revolutionize your office and scan documents into common digital formats like PDF, .jpeg or .tiff formats. These files can be sent to email addresses or to any folder on the network.</p>

Use Color Multifunction Systems to Print Digital Photos

<h5><a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/Supplies_0.jpg"><img title="Supplies" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 15px 5px; border-right-width: 0px" height="120" alt="Supplies" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/Supplies_thumb_0.jpg" width="160" align="right" border="0" /></a></h5> <p>Digital cameras have become a necessity for businesses. They’re inexpensive, easy to use and create a message that cannot be expressed with words. Of course getting the pictures onto a marketing statement or proposal is another step that needs to be addressed. Businesses are now using color multifunction systems to print color digital photos at blazing speeds at a fraction of the cost of slow photo printers.</p> <p><b></b></p> <p><b>Personal Photo Printers vs. Color Multifunction Systems (MFPs)</b></p> <p>· Personal photo printers are slower than MFPs taking multiple minutes to print a photo compared to an MFP’s speeds of up to 45 photos per minute.<b></b></p> <p>· Most personal printers do not allow you to print on letter-sized paper, limiting you to a 4 X 6 size. MFPs conveniently let you print high-resolution photos on normal 8.5 X 11 size paper.<b></b></p> <p>· Photo printer paper is expensive and cost per photo can be from 25 to 80 cents per page. MFPs can reduce that cost.<b></b></p>

Save Money: Customize and Print Marketing Materials Yourself

<p><a href="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/brochuresthumnail_0.png"><img title="brochures thumnail" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 10px 5px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="140" alt="brochures thumnail" src="http://www.officeproductnews.net/files/brochuresthumnail_thumb_0.png" width="175" align="left" border="0" /></a> Lower your business’ costs and begin printing your marketing materials in house. </p> <p>Customize your marketing materials and take advantage of on-demand printing. This will eliminate the need for expensive bulk orders of generic brochures and the unnecessary waste of replacing obsolete brochures.</p> <p>Consider creating a Marketing library that will enable your sales and marketing employees to access marketing documents from a network folder. They will be able to open, revise and print the materials according the specific client you are working with.</p> <p>Review these suggestions and make your in-house marketing materials more effective.</p> <p>· Be sure to use a cost-effective color printer or multifunctional copier. Some systems can allow 20-page documents to be printed in less than one minute.</p>

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