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Within the last 10 years there has been a huge increase in the popularity of remote workers in organisations.  A study carried out by the Office of National Statistics found there is currently over 4 million employees who work remotely within the UK, with this number forecast to more than double in the next few years.

Organisations see a variety of benefits from having such a workforce these include: money and time saving implications as well as a positive impact on employees health and productivity. These benefits could be seen as a direct reason why organisations are steering more towards a workforce who are spending an increasing amount of time working outside the office.

These remote methods of working  mean businesses need to invest in devices that support their employees. A study carried out by Samsung found 93% of the workforce use their mobile device to carry out work on a daily basis. Employees using a mobile device in this way have found communication and collaboration between staff has improved as well as seen productivity increase.

However, not all aspects of remote working and the use of work devices are beneficial to organisations. Devices being used that are unsecure can put organisations in particular danger from data breaches and security risks. The risks can include loosing important and sensitive information that could be costly and detrimental to your organisation.

An important step in protecting your  work devices is to invest in a security solution for your fleet which will protect against intrusion, malware and malicious threats.

The Solution

Samsung Knox is a leading mobile security solution that provides a secure environment for corporate data and apps. Privacy for your Samsung device:

Data encryption: All data is securely encrypted by default, using a government-certified encryption module.

Data isolation: Your personal data can be completely isolated in a secure place on device.

The most difficult crisis public sector organisations have had to cope with is the austerity measures that have been put in place by the Government and the impact that has had on funding. Many healthcare organisations have taken steps to adjust their financial situation by looking at ways to:

• Increase their income
• Drive efficiencies through increasing shared services and process efficiencies
• Eliminating or reducing services they offer

Healthcare organisations have looked to invest in technology to ensure that performance, particularly quality of care improves while total costs decrease. This drive for efficiencies has resulted in a sharp focus on how patient data is collected, processed and stored. The collection of patient data on paper, the inefficient and expensive methods of transporting and storing that paper and the impact it has on patient healthcare quality and overall costs have been identified as a key area to drive major efficiencies.

A drive for digital ways of working has seen healthcare take tremendous steps towards a more efficient and modern way of managing patient records. However the eradication of the use of paper in the treatment of patients has not yet been realised for many organisations and they are still grappling with the challenge of planning this complex transformation. Kodak Alaris have supported dozens of healthcare customers in their digital transformation to a paper-lite environment and helped them make progress towards their ultimate objective of a a paperless NHS.

The Challenges

Clinicians rely on accurate patient data made available in a timely manner to deliver the best patient care. If patient information is exclusively on paper it can cause problems, such as:

• Accessing patient records that are exclusively recorded on paper can be slow and lengthens both appointment times and waiting times.
• The movement of patient records can be expensive and time consuming.

Overall, historic methods of collecting patient information on paper, manually moving this by post, vans and trolleys, and storing it in large centralised stores is no longer suitable due to its overall costs and the delays it causes in patient care.

The Solution

Moving from a paper heavy approach to a digital one is a significant transformation. It requires organisations to look at how they capture information and make it digital as soon as possible, how they process that information and how they store it. With the right planning and preparation, it can have a significant positive impact on patient care and deliver long term cost savings.

Kodak Alaris along with XMA have provided their expert assistance to NHS trusts, Primary care trusts and Acute trusts through the UK and Ireland. The unique expertise in hardware, software and services have helped digitise millions of patient records reducing the time spent by clinicians finding and retrieving information necessary for patient care. Kodak Alaris solutions provide every feature you could need in the healthcare environment to improve efficiency and streamline patient care.

Utilising Kodak Alaris solutions brings a wide range of benefits to healthcare organisations:

• A quicker patient record retrieval
• Reduction in time taken to discover data within records
• Reduction in physical storage space requirements
• Reduction in logistic costs of patient record movement
• Improved staff time utilisation- more time can be spent with patients rather than looking for patient information

Imagine what’s possible when you take the complexity out of document-based processes. You can deliver a better patient experience at lower cost when you digitise routines that rely solely on paper.

XMA are passionate about delivering an outstanding customer experience. Trusted by some of the largest Public Sector organisations in the UK, we put our customers at the heart of all that we do to enable healthcare professionals to evolve and transform the way they work.

For more information on how XMA along with Kodak Alaris can help digitalise your health organisation call: 01422 444 666 Email: info@xma.co.uk

We tasked our Senior Corporate Account Manager, Raj Patel, with using a Surface Go as his main device for a full working week. We wanted to know whether the Surface Go really is as powerful and durable as it says, and whether this device really is the right one for a field worker like Raj. Let’s find out how he got on…

Raj Patel – Senior Corporate Account Manager at XMA

In early October, the marketing team tasked me with using a Surface Go for the entire week whilst out on my customer meetings. As a field salesman, I am always on the road visiting customers – and working for a company that sells technology… well, I need to be equipped with some of the best devices that we have to offer. After all, if I am trying to sell a product to a customer, being able to show the practicality of the device is one of the most important parts of my job.

As a field worker I need a device that has built-in LTE connectivity, is versatile enough to function throughout whatever task I’m doing, is light enough for me to carry on the go but also powerful enough to run the apps that I need.

So, when I was asked to test out the Surface Go for the week, I was never going to turn it down! My customers are always enquiring about the Surface Go, especially for their field workers. So, I figured that this was the perfect opportunity to really experience it for myself, and find out what it is about the Surface Go that makes it such a great device for remote workers such as myself.

Here’s what I found:

1.      Built in connectivity and protection

One of my biggest challenge as a field worker is trying to stay productive when you don’t have reliable Wi-Fi access when you’re out of the office. I need to make sure I can stay connected with both my colleagues and my customers whilst I’m on the go. The always-on Outlook connectivity really helps when it comes to staying online, which means I can also remain productive throughout the day between meetings. The built-in protection with Windows 10 security also means that when I’m working in a public place or at a remote site, I can rest assured that my data is always going to be stored safely and securely.

2.      Versatile and powerful

I can start using my device by using Windows Hello, which unlocks the device using Face ID. This means I don’t have to spend lots of time in front of the customer trying to unlock the device.

The long battery life also means I don’t have to worry about the device losing power whilst I’m on the go. I’m a busy man! So I’m always spending time between meetings catching up on emails… doing some of my admin work… and jumping on calls using Microsoft Teams. An all-day battery life allows me to get a full working days use out of it, and then I just plug it in to charge when I get home ready for the next day. Winner, winner!

3.      On-the-go portability

One of the best things about the Surface Go is arguably its slim and lightweight design. Travelling around a lot means I don’t want to carry around a heavy, bulky laptop that requires a completely separate bag! The Surface Go is so light sometimes I forget it’s already in my bag (and then I have that moment of panic where I think I haven’t packed it at all!).

When I use the Surface Go in my customer meetings, I don’t necessarily want to be using the screen to type notes. So, in more professional and formal environments I attach the Surface Go to my Surface type cover and mouse. This turns my tablet into a functional laptop in the space of a few seconds. Customers always seem impressed when I attach the accessories to the Surface Go, as they can see in front of their very eyes how the Surface Go can be used in different ways.

The Surface Go is definitely the best device for me to use when I’m on the road and travelling. As a field worker, I knew I needed something light… portable… powerful enough to last all day… and looks sleek and stylish enough to impress in my customer meetings. I would highly recommend the Surface Go, and after this week I have asked XMA if I can keep the device as I became so attached to it. I’m now the proud new owner of a Surface Go, and I couldn’t be more satisfied with it.

Speak to our team of experts today to learn how Microsoft Surface can benefit your business

With the impending deadline of January 14th 2020, the shift to Windows 10 is one of the most important topics on every IT professionals mind. Migrating is only one part of the puzzle and there are many other important things you should be considering if you are one of the many organisations who are already halfway through migrating!

 Here are the top 4 challenges that you could face on your Migration to Windows 10

1.Legacy Application Issues

Organisations who are reliant on legacy applications within their environment may be delaying upgrading to Windows 10 or having issues mid-migration due to interoperability issues.

2.Struggling to obtain meaningful and actionable data to migrate

Although Microsoft have made available a number of free tools to help identify what devices and applications will be compatible with Windows 10, it’s actually very hard for organisations to get meaningful data that they can make actionable decisions on around that.

3.Internal capabilities and resource capacity

Upgrading to Windows 10 will most likely be one of many projects your organisations IT team will be involved in at any one time therefore having the time and resource required to properly commit to ensuring a smooth transition may prove challenging.

4.Functionality

Adoption and utilisation of any new technology is dependent on your organisation and it’s employees understanding how to make best use of the full suite of features and benefits Windows 10 offers. Training your workforce can significantly improve their productivity and reduce the burden on your IT support resources ongoing but is often an afterthought for many organisations.

Another point to consider is an understanding of how your organisation can benefit from Modern Management and the efficiencies to be gained from streamlined device provisioning to your users.

If any of these challenges sound familiar, get in touch with us to discuss further.

Our experienced in-house team of Microsoft accredited consultants and engineers are experts in migrating data and systems across a wide range of business systems including Windows 10. We have the expertise and knowledge to guide you through your migration journey, from assessing the readiness of your current applications to migrating data and ensuring you’re making the most of your investment, we can manage the whole lifecycle of your migration project and beyond.

You can also find our more about what to consider for Windows 7 End of Support by listening to our podcast

Listen to Podcast

Making things easier for virtualised businesses: It’s HPE Nimble Storage dHCI, delivering the simplicity of HCI with the flexibility of converged

What’s new

• Disaggregated HCI extends hyperconvergence to workloads with unpredictable growth, scaling compute and storage independently.

Features

Intelligently Simple

How XMA can help

XMA are an HPE Platinum Partner in the UK.  In order to hold the HPE Platinum Partner accreditation, we must be able to demonstrate our commercial and technical ability to understand, design and implement the HPE Hybrid IT portfolio. XMA are an HPEFS Platinum Partner and the largest UK HPEFS partner for Asset Lifecycle Services / Circular Economy.

XMA have a clear strategic alignment and one with HPE, both at commercial and technical levels.

We are capable of delivering a full catalogue of professional and managed services, ranging from standard logistical services through to bespoke transformation projects that deliver our customers’ business outcomes. Over 650,000 orders were shipped last year, with over third being HPE into some large organisations.

Contact us today to find out more

There is no doubt about it, we all love saving money; especially in the current economic climate. Purchasing imitation cartridges for your printer can at first seem like the perfect idea to lower annual costs on your supplies, however there are some hidden risks in doing so…

What harm can be caused from buying cheap imitation toner?

The short answer is: a lot of harm. On the surface the idea of purchasing these products may seem like you’re saving time and money for your business but in reality it can impact your business in a variety of ways:

• Cost your business more money- 25% higher costs due to reprints, failures and services.¹
• Lower quality of print- 19% fewer usable print outs due to poor quality printing.²
• Reduces the indoor air quality in the office.³
• Can cause permanent damage to your printer.⁴
• Can result in 4 x more service calls.⁵

Unfortunately, it’s not just your business that can directly suffer from using these products, as they have also been found to have a negative impact on the environment ⁶.  Not only can they make you use more paper due to poor quality prints but will also use more energy and increase your fossil fuel consumption.

The vast majority of  these products will end up in landfill as the imitation toner producers don’t have organised recycling systems, which could result in them being found washed up on the shores. Not a lovely thought.

Are imitation cartridges worth the gamble?

When it comes to ordering replacement toner cartridges, you have many to choose from, but cheap imitations may not be the best option. And they certainly cannot compare to Original HP.

Imitation- A newly built cartridge with non-HP parts and toner. Ultimately, almost all imitation cartridges end up in a landfill.⁷

Remanufactured- A spent HP cartridge that is disassembled, some parts replaced, and refilled with toner. Nearly 94% of remanufactured toner cartridges end up in a landfill.⁷

Refilled- A spent HP cartridge that is refilled with toner through a hole made in the cartridge shell.

Counterfeit- Any non-HP cartridge that is intentionally labelled and packaged to deceive or mislead a customer into thinking that it’s an Original HP product.

HP Original toner- Features patent protected technology and is designed to work most effectively with your HP printer. Buyers choice for reliable print delivery and has passed numerous safety and environment standards.

So make sure you use Original toner for your HP printer. It can save you money, time and help protect the environment.

Purchase your certified products at XMA Store, a triple platinum re seller of HP print and supplies.

Sources:

¹ HP calculations based on results from a 2019 Spencer Lab Europe, Middle East and Africa Monochrome Reliability study comparing cartridges for the HP Pro M402 and Pro 521 printers, HP 26A and 55A cartridges

² 2019 SpencerLab Monochrome Reliability study, commissioned by HP, compared Original HP mono cartridges with five brands of new-build cartridges sold in Europe, Middle East, and Africa for the HP Pro 400 M402 and M521dn MFP printers, HP 26A and 55A cartridges

³ Dec 2017 WKI Blue Angel Indoor Air Quality compliance study commissioned by HP. The study tested 4 New Build Compatible toner cartridge brands sold as substitutes for HP LaserJet Pro MFP M425dn with cartridge 280A. The tests were carried out in compliance with Blue Angel labelling of office equipment in accordance with RAL-UZ-205P. For details, http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA7-1981ENW

⁴ A 2018 Market Strategies International study commissioned by HP. Results based on 223 surveys from HP ServiceOne Partners who have at least 6 months of experience servicing HP monochrome and/or Color LaserJet printers with HP Original cartridges and non-HP toner cartridges installed in the past 12 months. Study was conducted in 27 countries: UK, IE, FR, DE, IT, , AT, BE, PT, ES, NL, SE, RU, UA, PL, HU, CZ, HR, RO, ZA, SA, AE, EG, MA, QA, and TR.  For details, see www.marketstrategies.com/hp/EMEA-Technician2018.pdf

⁵ A 2018 Market Strategies International study commissioned by HP. Results based on 223 surveys from HP ServiceOne Partners who have at least 6 months of experience servicing HP monochrome and/or Colour LaserJet printers with HP Original cartridges and non-HP toner cartridges installed in the past 12 months

⁶ 2019 EMEA Four Elements Consulting LCA study, commissioned by HP, compared Original HP 55A and 26A monochrome toner cartridges with a sample of imitation alternatives across eight environmental impact categories. See http://www.hp.com/go/EMEA-LJLCA-NBC-2019. The LCA leverages a 2019 SpencerLab study, commissioned by HP, comparing Original HP LaserJet toner cartridges with two brands of imitation toner cartridges sold in EMEA. See www.spencerlab.com/reports/HPReliability-EMEA-NBC2019.pdf

⁷ InfoTrends, 2018 Western Europe Supplies Recycling study, commissioned by HP. Findings are based on average results of interviews with 7 remanufacturers and 6 brokers. See hp.com/go/EMEA-2018InfoTrends.

In 2020 BT have announced they will stop taking new ISDN orders and will complete switching off the ISDN network in 2025. This article will enable you to understand what the impact of this is upon your business and what options are available to you to ensure your business is well prepared.

What is ISDN?

‘Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network’.

Why are ISDN services being terminated?

ISDN was introduced in the 1980’s allowing both voice and data services to be delivered simultaneously. For the technology and services at the time, it served its purpose very well and continued to do so for many years. Now we’re well into the 21st century, technology has moved on and old telephone solutions are lagging behind the alternatives in an increasingly fast paced digital world.

What does this mean for businesses who currently use ISDN?

Quite simply it means that now is the time to review your organisations approach to data services provision in order to avoid the negative consequences in lost revenue that will be experienced if you do not have an alternative network service in place come 2025.

It can take time to review your strategy and understand what the right option is for your business going forwards therefore it is never too early to start planning. Read on to learn all you need to know to ensure you do not end up scrambling to get a solution in place at the last minute, a solution that ultimately might not be right for your business.

So, what options do you have?

If you are currently on an ISDN phone contract now is the right time to start exploring the option of switching to VoIP and SIP technologies.

What is VoIP?

Voice over Internet Protocol, also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks such as the Internet.

What are SIP technologies?

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signalling protocol that is used by technology products for creating session-oriented connections between two or more endpoints in an IP network. These endpoints could be IP telephones, instant messaging clients or a collaborative multimedia conference application.

Whilst the transition may seem complicated and a big disruption to your business, it doesn’t need to be. With upfront planning and budget allocation we can help make the transition as smooth as possible. As always, it’s important to take into consideration some of the below points:

Can your phone system support VoIP?

The latest desk phones already support this technology, however, if yours doesn’t now is the time to upgrade.  Luckily a lot of telephony and IT solution providers offer options to roll handsets into a new contract. You can also look to trade in old hardware for new handsets in order to recoup residual value.

With the switch to cloud becoming ever more popular and feature rich it might be the time to ditch physical handsets for soft phones, replace on premise exchanges with cloud hosted systems or embrace collaboration applications which allow telecommunication integration. There are many options and we can help you identify which is best for your business.

Is my network strong enough to meet the demands of a VoIP phone system?

Having a strong and reliable bandwidth connection is important when switching to voice rather than the traditional circuit-switched telephone system. You don’t want to invest the time and money into switching to a new solution but being let down by poor audio quality due to a poor connection.

We can help you determine how much we predict you will need and work with you to achieve the high Quality of Service your business needs.

So, what’s next?

Now you better understand the impact the ISDN switch off can have on your business and what options are available to you, the next step is to review how your business consumes voice, video and data services now versus what how you anticipate that changing in the future.

At XMA, we are specialists in this field and guide organisations of all sizes and in all sectors to make the right choices. Our wealth of knowledge and team of technical experts can guide you through your decision-making journey, from designing and implementing your solution all the way through to helping you to manage your new network.

Contact us today to begin your journey and to ensure your business isn’t cut off when ISDN services are switched off.

The rise in flexible working has been steady over a number of years now, with each new technological development allowing more freedom to managers and employees – but only if that technology is utilised correctly.

Improvements in technology have enabled businesses to embrace flexibility – but who benefits?

Companies are certainly seeing gains.

• More people needing less desks brings big savings on overheads, as well as easier and quicker onboarding.
• Recruiting by skill-set rather than geography is now possible with businesses no longer confined to the local population to find their perfect match.
• New technologies and cloud storage mean systems and digital objects aren’t tied to a specific location, so their distribution can be easier to manage, as well as providing flexibility for employees.

And there are benefits to employees as well of course.

• Widening your social network has been cited as a benefit of hot-desking, as it naturally encourages the growth of relationships outside an original team. Employees will gain a better understanding of the skills and knowledge of their co-workers, while also growing their understanding of the organisations’ bigger picture.
• As fixed desks are replaced with a more flexible working environment, these spaces might allow for relaxed break-out areas for brainstorming, quiet areas for concentration and meeting areas locally. This brings the opportunity to design a space around the needs of workers and their working practice.
• And of course, the flexibility of choosing your own workspace will benefit many employees.

It’s a win-win then?

Maybe not, the news isn’t all positive.

While workspace flexibility and increased social interaction are improvements for some workers, others are suffering with the loss of security and sense of belonging having their own space gave them.

Research by Brickendon Digital (in the Facilities Management Journal) reports key concerns are:

• The health and safety considerations of setting up a workstation to meet individual requirements.
• Stresses caused by not knowing what seating will be available in the office.
• Concerns about isolation and losing a sense of belonging in the work environment.

The Open Sourced Workplace also identifies a number of negative impacts of hot-desking reporting that many employees, particularly older workers, women and introverts, struggle with it.

• The potential for disturbance means many employees find focus and concentration difficult.
• The lack of privacy can impact employee productivity.

So, what is the answer?

Organisations need to understand their workforce and what makes them tick.

While financial concerns and productivity are key, so too are the needs of employees which will impact on every aspect of business running.

Technology can certainly be utilised to ease some of the concerns identified in these reports.

• Booking solutions can remove the worry that a desk won’t be available by allowing advanced reservation.
• These solutions should also be smart enough to ensure a proximity to team members.
• Meeting room booking systems should highlight the rooms features as well as showing the rooms availability, location and utilise location services to provide directions.

We’re used to smart technology in our homes meaning that we have information and access to systems when we’re not there, the systems we use at work should be at least as smart.

Innovation across workspaces will need solutions which integrate and solve real pain points for real people – any strategy must stem from a wider business focus on employee engagement and productivity.

Find out more

While hot-desking offers opportunities for improvement for companies and employees, there are concerns for employee wellbeing which shouldn’t be ignored.

Smarter, more innovative, solutions will give organisations the opportunity to enhance workspaces by ensuring they work for individuals and the way they work.

If you’d like to find out more about building employee-centred workspaces, get in touch.

Written by Terry Chana – Workspace Lead Consultant @ XMA

The latest model in the HPE hyperconverged portfolio, is now shipping and available worldwide.

Built on the HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen10 server platform, the HPE SimpliVity 325 provides security and performance in a highly dense, 1U model.

HPE SimpliVity 325 Gen10, based on the HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen10 Servers, is a compact, scalable, 1U rack-mounted building block that delivers integrated server, storage, and storage networking services. The HPE SimpliVity 325 Gen10 Server is the secure and versatile single socket server for virtualization and I/O intensive workloads is ideal for remote office or space-constrained locations.

This 1P, 1U server delivers an exceptional balance of processor, memory and I/O for 2P performance at 1P TCO.

Get the most out of your virtualized environment with this versatile server delivering a lower hypervisor software cost and better cost per virtual machine (VM).

HPE InfoSight: Now on HPE SimpliVity

HPE InfoSight has been extended to HPE SimpliVity HCI offerings. HPE is integrating HPE InfoSight AI operations to provide customers with global visibility into detailed system, performance and capacity utilisation – enabling predictive data analytics and recommendations for system and performance optimisation. Automatically predicts and resolves 86% of problems before you even know there is an issue.

Check out the specifications below

XMA are thrilled to announce they have been awarded a place on the office, computer and library supplies framework for a third time, led for the first year by the NWUPC. XMA will feature as a supplier on this framework till up to 2023.

After successfully being awarded as a supplier on lot 2, this means XMA will supply ink and toner through the framework. There are several university consortia that are eligible to purchase through this framework which include: NWUPC (North West), LUPC (London), NEUPC (North East), SUPC (Southern), APUC (Scotland), HEPCW (Wales).

The benefits of purchasing through the framework include exclusive advantageous pricing through a straight forward compliant route to purchase via the HE Hub or through your account manager. In addition to this there are reduced administrative efforts for universities and lowered cost implications.

For more information contact us on:

Telephone: 01158 464 778   Email: info@xma.co.uk

Or visit the HE Hub