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VOX POP
Tony Wills:
“We believe that while
the cloud has been accepted by most
organisations as an option for IT provision,
many companies are yet to fully embrace
the benefits that this offers. We feel that it
is only a matter of time before momentum
grows to a tipping point where cloud is
accepted as the default proposition for
accessing IT services.
“If you are in the business of print
provision, you ignore the cloud transition
at your peril. While cloud services will only
ever be an element of print provision, it
will be the glue that makes the solution
work in the most effective way. By offering
a cloud printing capability, you will be
able to offer the total solution to your
customers and prospects.”
Matt Goodall:
“The cloud itself is not
important to our revenue stream. However,
the ability to be able to work with cloud-
based products is important, and will of
course affect our revenue.”
Gary Downey:
“Cloud services are a
fundamental part of the infrastructure we
have built to support our clients, which
in this market is an important factor in
winning new business as well as retaining
it, so it’s very important to current and
future revenues.
“In addition, clients are increasingly
interested in how we can integrate the
managed print services and equipment
we provide into their own cloud-based
infrastructure to support their operations
and document processes effectively.”
What impact has the cloud
had on service delivery?
David Lockie:
“Service delivery is now
a 24/7 operation. Online document
management systems, for example, enable
clients to manage their documents at any
time of the day or night – editing essential
documents at a time and place that suits
them and immediately affecting production
output through changes made and
approved through the cloud.
“We are now able to spend more
time focussing on servicing the clients’
requirements and future needs than
maintaining the validity of existing
documents through traditional change
management processes.”
Simon Hill:
“To increase productivity
and reduce costs, customers demand
solutions that speed up business processes
and make the documents they work with
more effective. As such, service delivery
solutions must deliver easy to use digitised
documents, in conjunction with cloud-
based ‘anytime, anywhere’ access, in order
to deliver effectively against customer
service expectations where consumers and
workers expect immediate service.
“In this capacity the cloud plays a
critical role linking remote users who
connect through mobile devices to the
organisations they do business with.”
Mark Smyth:
“Training has been required
for our Professional Services team in
particular. They have quickly embraced
many cloud applications as part of our
Managed Printing Solutions offering,
which they have become proficient at
implementing and supporting within new
and existing clients.”
Tony Wills:
“An effective cloud solution
significantly improves roll-out times and
access to printing services across an
organisation. There is no delay waiting for
a customer’s IT department to facilitate
a fleet refresh or upgrade, and the fixing
of any print-related issues can be more
effectively handled by our work control
department or help desk. In summary,
response times improve and customer
stress levels reduce.”
Matt Goodall:
“We have had to
take account of differing settings and
connections for cloud-based services.
On occasions, this can cause an issue
if a connection is lost. The other main
consideration is that of problem resolution
when services fail: where does the
Cloud capable A4 desktop device
Sharp has launched a new compact high performance A4 colour MFP, the MX-C301W, with
sophisticated productivity features, including cloud capability.
Group Product Marketing Manager Tom Primett said: “This new A4 MFP is among the smallest devices in its
class, but punches well above its weight with features more commonly found in an A3 MFP.”
With optional Sharp OSA installed, the MX-C301W enables users to connect to Cloud applications, such as
Sharp’s collaborative storage and workflow service Cloud Portal Office, via the 7in colour LCD touch screen.
Other features include wireless LAN, so that users can print directly from Wi-Fi enabled devices,
including smartphones and tablets; 3GB of memory as standard; and an internal 250GB hard drive.
“With cloud capability, high data security and all the print, copy and scan options you would expect,
this device is our most complete A4 MFP to date,” said Primett.
Print features include 30ppm output in colour and black and white; a first copy out time of 7.4 seconds
in colour and 6.3 seconds in black; 18 seconds warm-up time; a 300-sheet paper capacity, expandable to
800 sheets; and a USB port for USB direct print and scan to USB memory.
Matt Goodall,
service director
Office Evolution
Mark Smyth, operations director, Vision
continued...
...continued
...cloud
services will
only ever be
an element
of print
provision...
