Thursday, November 13, 2014

Top All-in-One Printers for Small Businesses

May 8, 2014 by Annie Pilon In Product Lists 5

If you haven’t shopped for a printer recently, the models currently available for small offices might surprise you. Prices have decreased substantially over the past 5 to 10 years, yet devices have gotten better and the print quality much higher. You can find a good quality printer that does color printing for under $200.

We recently looked at printer lines suitable for small offices. We define a small office as having up to 5 people, with modest levels of usage. So that means these devices are suitable for a home office, or for a small business that does not require high volumes of printing and is satisfied with moderate printing speed. In other words, these printers are not for businesses that routinely print many thousands of pages per month and require high speed and high-volume paper feeders. Instead, the typical small office needs a printer that balances economy with convenience and features.

Also, most small offices get benefits from having several functions in one device. All-in-one printers include printing, scanning, copying, and faxing capabilities in one device, thereby saving space and money. That is why they are called “all-in-one” or multifunction devices. Today these are very popular among small businesses.

What’s more, today’s top all-in-one printers pack a surprising amount of technology in them. Simply put, printers are getting smarter — and they do more. Some of the printer lines below offer sophisticated features like wireless connectivity, printing directly from mobile devices, ability to download photographs directly from a camera, touch screen menus, and access to documents stored in the cloud. Look for more of these kinds of advanced technology features to become standard in the near future.

Today’s machines generally are more energy efficient than predecessors. You can leave your printer on all the time, but with power-saving mode it will use little power, and it won’t take forever to warm up when you finally do need it, either.

For most small offices, we recommend an inkjet device — versus a laserjet. Compared to a laserjet, inkjets in general are:

smaller and lighter
less expensive to buy
better at printing photographs and documents containing images, than laserjets
suited to relatively low volumes. If your printing volume is low, then low speed and capacity won’t be a negative. But if you need to print thousands of pages in a day, or regularly copy or scan long documents yet the document feeder only holds 30 pages, this can get old, fast.

If you need professional quality printing, such as for printed brochures and signage, or for occasional high-volume print jobs, we recommend your local print shop for those.

And of course, with visuals so much a part of today’s documents, you’re going to want a color printer, not just black and white.

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of buying ink. Ink for inkjet printers can be expensive, and may add hundreds of dollars of cost per year even for a very small-volume office. Consumer Reports has tips for saving on ink costs.

Take a look at the options below. They are listed by company name in alphabetical order.

Top All-in-One Printers for Your Small Business

Brother Business Smart

Brother Business Smart printers range in price from about $170 to $250. Basic features include touch screen displays and color printing. As you might expect, extra features come with the higher priced models. These printers all offer wireless connectivity with computers and mobile devices. You can also access documents from online accounts like Facebook, Picasa, Google Docs and Evernote and print them from the Web directly on these printers.

There’s another unique feature that comes with the Business Smart printers line. That’s the ability to customize your printer by creating different shortcuts for the functions you use most often.

Canon PIXMA

Canon’s PIXMA line handles basic printing well, and specializes in printing photos and graphic documents. Canon also has four different PIXMA printers under $100. So this is a consideration depending upon your budget. Overall, prices range from about $70 to $150. The bare bones model still offers photo printing and editing options. The higher end models offer higher resolutions and other added features.

Epson WorkForce

This line of all-in-one printers includes some options that are compact and basic. But there are also printers with more versatility and features for a slightly higher cost. Prices range from $100 to $200, so it depends on the specific features you are looking for in your printer and your budget.

Each of the four models has mobile and wireless printing options. They can also print black and white documents at much higher speeds. But, like all the printers you’ll find on this list, they also offer color printing. The pricier models have LCD screens and additional features like automatic two-sided printing and energy efficiency.

The less expensive models have fewer features and lower print speeds. But, on the plus side, they are more compact for a home office or small business office.

HP Officejet

HP’s Officejet printer line is solid and proven, and ranges in price from about $100 to $400. You get basic features like wi-fi compatibility and duplex printing on all of these. The higher priced machines give you higher printing speeds, better resolution, and some more advanced features, most notably additional Web functionality.

Kodak Hero

Not all of the devices in this Kodak series have faxing capabilities, but they all print, scan, and copy. Some models also have features specific to photo printing like a separate photo tray for photo paper. All models include basic features like wireless and two-sided printing. Kodak doesn’t sell its Hero line of printers on its website, but popular retailers like Walmart carry them starting at $100 for the base model.

Kodak came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2013 after reorganizing. The focus now is on providing businesses with solutions.

Lexmark MS310/410 Series

Lexmark offers a series of three printers that are affordable and functional for most small offices. They range from about $200 to $400 in price. So they can be more expensive than some other available models in our listings. But they include features like LCD screens, mobile printing, dual core processors and built-in memory to handle complex documents.

Ricoh Multifunction

Ricoh carries 25 different all-in-one printers with color printing. The devices vary in printing speeds and offer different specialties and even the ability to handle varying paper sizes. However, many are built for larger businesses and volumes and the prices reflect that. The SP models tend to be the most compact and still offer wireless printing and sharing capabilities. Prices for those models start at around $350.

Xerox WorkCentre

The Xerox brand at one time was almost synonymous with copiers (ever heard of “xeroxing” something?). Today, Xerox tends toward the higher end when it comes to all-in-one devices, compared with some of the other manufacturers. For example, its WorkCentre 6605 model pictured above can handle up to 80,000 images per month, but sells for nearly $1,000.

However, Xerox does offer some less expensive, color multifunction devices starting at around $450. Still, most WorkCentre models are better suited for higher-volume offices.

First Phones Under the New Microsoft Lumia Brand Arrive

Nov 12, 2014 by Joshua Sophy In Technology Trends 0

The first two phones under the new Microsoft Lumia have arrived — Microsoft Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 Dual SIM.

Microsoft recently announced that it was replacing the former Nokia Lumia brand with its own Microsoft Lumia beginning with the company’s next Lumia phone release.

The name change follows Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division — the phone and tablet part of the Finnish company’s business.That acquisition was announced in late 2013.

The devices come out this month and will be available in bright green, bright orange, white, dark grey, cyan and black.

But perhaps more important are the price and features:

Both phones will run Windows 8.1
Both will integrate apps for Skype, Office, OneDrive, OneNote, and Cortana — Microsoft digital online assistant
Both will feature a wide angle 5 megapixel front facing camera
Both will feature a large (960 x 540) 5-inch qHD display
Both will run on a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and have 1GB of RAM, the Verge reports.

In fact the only real difference between the two devices is the addition of a second SIM card so personal and word data can be kept separate, an increasing trend these days.

Microsoft had been playing things close to the vest with its latest devices under the Microsoft Lumia brand.

Just prior to the release, the company teased consumers with a partial photo and the briefest information about the upcoming release date on its Nokia Conversations website.

The company was also promoting the hashtag #MoreLumia on social media to encourage chatter on the new smartphones.

Finally, the company released a video promoting the new smartphone but it reveals even less about the new devices. Get a glimpse below:

Cost of the new phones is expected to be between $130 and $137. And the devices are expected to be out sometime this month.

Microsoft has already re-branded many of the existing Nokia apps and is in the process of re-branding global and local Nokia websites and social channels.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Smartphones have given today’s mobile workers the ability to not have to worry about having everything they need before they get moving. Which is great, until they end up in a conference, airplane, or other no-reception zone without the crucial One Thing I Need. Good smartphone and tablet tools don't just provide access – they think ahead and plan for contingencies, like a personal assistant. They’re the tools that can make your job a whole lot easier.

Which apps do this? We happen to have seven of them, linked and ready for installing. The best part: all of them, except one category, are free, and the one that isn’t free is notably less than a hamburger.

1. TRIPIT

TripIt is a personal assistant for travel, especially if you give it access to your email inbox and let it scan for tickets and itineraries. Afterward, you literally don’t have to do anything except open the app to see all the details: your confirmation number, your departure time, the address of your hotel, the distance to the conference center, and the website of the restaurant you’re supposed to eat at Friday night. Open it up at least once before you journey and TripIt will hold your travel details for offline viewing, in case you don’t want to spring for WiFi on the plane. (iPhone/iPad, Android)

2. QUICKOFFICE

There are all kinds of mobile business apps that claim to work well with Microsoft Office documents, but only so many offer only read-only access. Those that do offer editing tools often want to tie you into their own cloud storage schemes. Not QuickOffice. This app was recently acquired by Google, but it still works as a utilitarian open, edit, and save solution for quick views and adjustments. We’ve talked about the importance of information mobility, and this app provides a great way for mobile workers to access documents on the go. (iTunes, Android)

What other trends in today’s new world of
work are driving your business?
Find out with this free webinar!

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3. POCKET (OR INSTAPAPER)

Which app looks and works better is a matter of taste, but both Pocket and Instapaper do their jobs remarkably well. That job: take blog posts, news articles, and other content on the web (including everything at WorkIntelligent.ly – shameless plug), strip it down to just the text and necessary images, and save them to your device for reading when you have time. Big offices used to have such “clipping services” way back when, but they didn’t let you choose your favorite font. (Pocket: iTunes, Android; Instapaper: iTunes, Android)

4. AGENDA (OR FANTASTICAL)

It’s odd how unhelpful the default calendar on an iPhone or Android can be. With how much design has gone into the OS of each, how can something as simple as a calendar cause so many headaches? Why can’t you just get an agenda view of everything that’s happening today when you start it up? Why does entering the time and date of an event feel like unlocking a bank vault? My own fix is Agenda Calendar 4, which makes smart guesses about when you want to schedule things, shows your day in a well-designed glance view, and generally gives you more information and links from an event than Calendar. If you frequently use the iPhone’s Reminders function, you might instead try Fantastical 2, which ties directly into the iPhone’s alerts and reminders systems. (Agenda: iTunes, Android; Fantastical: iTunes)

5. CHROME

Chrome is Google’s own browser. Your iPhone already has the Safari browser, and your Android phone likely has its own default browser. So why would you bother to install a browser that shows the same web pages as either of these? One big reason: if you use Chrome on a desktop computer and sign in on both your desktop and phone with your Google account, you can see and open any tab you had open on your desktop browser when you left it. Or just start typing in a few words from the page you already went to into Chrome’s search bar, and Chrome should come up with it. It feels magical (and maybe a bit creepy). (iTunes, Android)

6. CLOUDCUBE (ANDROID ONLY)

Maybe you already feel backed up, cloud-connected, and ready to grab your files from anywhere. So cloud-connected, in fact, that you sometimes have a hard time remembering in which cloud you stored that certain file, and where you have room to put that next big one. CloudCube works with all the notable syncing services: Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box, SugarSync, and more. Move files between clouds, see what’s inside each account, and even sync folders between your Android device and your services of choice. (Android)

7. IFTTT (IF THIS THEN THAT) (IPHONE ONLY)

Wouldn’t it be neat if every time you took a screenshot of your iPhone, that screenshot was automatically saved to where you want it? Or if every time you completed a Reminder on your phone, it emailed the appropriate person to let them know, automatically? Or if you could see, on your phone, every photo you’ve been tagged in from Facebook? With IFTTT (short for If This Then That), that kind of two-step, non-thinking action is entirely possible. The hardest part is thinking up the “recipes” that you want for your phone, but after playing with the website a bit, you should get a real sense of just how many things can be done without your having to even think about it. Be sure to install this iPhone app so you can take full advantage of that set-and-forget productivity. (iTunes).

What other business apps do you consider critical to getting the job done either while on the go, or at the office?

7 Business Apps Every Professional Should Download

MOBILEKevin Purdy

DEC03

Friday, August 1, 2014

July 29th, 2014 | 6:00 am

Leading People Through a Crisis

By, Jessica Titlebaum

Captain Chelsea “Sully” Sullenberger spoke at the Options Industry Conference this year in Austin, Texas. As the keynote speaker, he talked about emergency landing US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River and keeping safe all 255 aboard. One of the things he said about handling the crisis was that, “You can manage many things, but people deserve to be led.”

A crisis in the office may not feel much different than maneuvering a plunging plane. The same goes for any crisis; you have to look at the situation from a bird’s eye view, trust your team, confidently communicate to the parties involved and rely on the processes you already have in place to get you through, safely and successfully.

Get Out of the Way
Cynthia Zeltwanger is the Executive Director of the Paulson Institute. She currently oversees daily operations and workflows of the Institute’s staff in the United States and China.

Prior to joining the Paulson Institute, Zeltwanger spent 17 years at FIMAT USA, a subsidiary of Societe Generale. FIMAT merged with Calyon Financial in 2008 to form Newedge Group, where Zeltwanger was global chief operating officer. At FIMAT, Zeltwanger held roles such as; chief executive officer and managing director of the Americas as well as general counsel.

In 2003, while at FIMAT, the Northeast coast and Midwest parts of the United States as well as the Canadian Province of Ontario experienced a widespread power outage.

“During the blackout, we had the option to support the New York office from our Chicago office; however, the electrical back up for that particular office was also on the East Coast,” she said. “We couldn’t communicate between the offices and we knew it was only a matter of time before clients got a whiff of what was going on.”

While in New York, Zeltwanger had to trust her employees in Chicago to control the situation.

“My manager was in Chicago and I had to trust that he had it under control. I knew the New York office had a lot going on and sometimes, the best thing to do in a crisis is get out of the way.”

One of the things she learned while handling the blackout was not to micromanage, but to delegate work.

“We dispatched information and let the employees make the good decisions we knew, they knew how to make.”

First Steps and What to Avoid
While Zeltwanger believes you should delegate work in a crisis, the first thing she recommends is getting all of the facts.

“First, find out what is happening,” said Zeltwanger. “There after I would get multiple people’s opinions. Make sure you are not just listening to one person with one specific view on the matter.”

She said that it is important to move quickly when faced with a crisis, but make sure you have all of the facts.

“Also, determine how time sensitive the problem is,” said Zeltwanger. “While you should be timely in your decision making; don’t be ready, shoot, aim.”

Take enough time to figure out how you will calmly approach the crisis. Be steady and directive with the people around you.

“If you can’t provide information immediately, give them the plan from what you do know. Don’t just go into a room and avoid everyone,” she said. “People will make up stories because of the lack of information.”

Communication
Zeltwanger suggests providing enough information so people know you are working on getting the answers.

“Let people know you are aware of the problem and working to fix it,” she said.

She believes that communication is essential and if you can’t give them information, give them enough so they know what to do at that moment.

“Be honest too. Information is going to change but they won’t trust you if you have not been honest,” she said. “It’s hard to spin a story in a crisis anyway, because you don’t know what information will be coming out next.”

Practice Firedrills
Andrea Goodkin is a partner at Laurus Strategies, a human capital consulting and global employee benefit organization that provides services for clients across the entire employee life-cycle; from selection and onboarding, rewards and retention, development, engagement and workforce productivity. She leads the Human Capital Consulting practice and manages about 20 employees.
When a crisis arises in Goodkin’s office, it most likely revolves around people.

“When I am dealing with a crisis, it frequently means something happened and someone can’t get to a client meeting or to where they need to be,” said Goodkin. “Whether you are in the middle of a natural disaster or your flight was cancelled, the most important thing to remember is to stay calm.”

Goodkin has learned that if you have a meeting on Tuesday morning, you should fly out on Monday night. She has also learned that the last person out of the office never carries critical materials.

She suggests making sure the current situation is not tied in with other possibilities for mishaps.

“We never operate solo and always have a back-up plan,” said Goodkin. “We have communication plans so it’s clear who to call, what resources to go to and a structure to accommodate a crisis.”

Goodkin believes these safeguards have to be part of the company’s DNA.

“You have to prepare for crisis management in advance and play out the ‘what if’s?’” said Goodkin. “It’s wonderful when someone creates a process and activities to manage an emergency and the best time to test that process is when you are not experiencing a crisis.”

Goodkin also advises to leave room for flexibility.

“As humans there are many things we could do to mitigate disasters but we all too often cut corners and don’t leave room for flexibility, which is critical when managing a crisis,” said Goodkin.

Establishing Solid Relationships
“Having solid relationships also helps on many levels,” said Goodkin. “We are in the people business and when we are faced with a crisis, we rely on our relationships.”

She explained that having good relationships means building a team that you can trust to carry the assignment through to completion even in a crisis. Further, she has also learned that good relationships are crucial when interacting with the parties involved.

“You need to have a trusting relationship with the person you are working with so they don’t shut down,” said Goodkin. “You also need to have collaborative conversations with them to put a good plan in place.”

Calm, Cool and Collected
Both Goodkin and Zeltwanger believe staying calm, cool and collected is the best way to navigate a crisis.

“When dealt with a crisis, you have to do a thoughtful change of course and manage that change in a reasonable way,” said Goodkin. “Do not overreact.”

While managing a crisis may be challenging, leading people through the crisis is how we achieve professional growth. A leader should prepare for emergencies by putting processes in place, they must rely on their relationships, gather all of the facts, exude confidence and if needed, get out of the way.

A crisis can rile you up but if you follow these tips, you can ensure a soft landing!

Thoughts From The Marketing Beagle